Passover Haggadah, with order of Bedikat Chametz and Passover evening kiddush. Mantua: Giacomo Ruffinelli for Yitzchak Bassan, 1560.
Especially rare complete copy of the first illustrated Haggadah printed in Mantua (see below for further information on the two illustrated Haggadot printed in Mantua).
On title page: "Order of Passover Haggadah, with the miracles and wonders illustrated, as your eyes shall see rightly. Printed and made by Yitzchak son of R. Shmuel Bassan…".
The Haggadah text is printed in a large square font of the Ashkenazic type, with Rafe marks. Bedikat Chametz, several other parts of the text and a few instructions appearing within the Haggadah text are printed in a smaller square font.
All pages are framed, most decorated in vegetal patterns, with illustrations of cherubs (putti) holding flowers and musical instruments, geometrical shapes and various figures, and various Renaissance motifs. Various fine woodcut Haggadah and Passover scenes are featured beside them, at the bottom and sometimes the margin of the page: preparation and baking of matzah for Passover; a family seated at the Seder night and a pauper knocking on their door; a hunter and dogs chasing rabbits (a motif appearing in various Haggadah manuscripts and the Haggadah of Prague, 1527, probably originating as a play on the Yaknehaz mnemonic for festival evening havdalah); the Four Sons; the Children of Israel laboring in Egypt and an Egyptian hitting an Israelite; Pharaoh bathing in the blood of the Israelite babies; the daughter of Pharaoh sending her maidservant for Moses' basket; the Children of Israel crossing the Red Sea and the Egyptians drowning; and more.
The influence of the Italian Renaissance is discernible not only in the Haggadah's decorated frames, but also in several other notable illustrations: Abraham crossing the Euphrates towards the Land of Canaan, depicted on p. [8a] as embarking in a gondola; the Wise Son (p. [6a]), a near copy of Michelangelo's rendition of Jeremiah in the Sistine Chapel; the Wicked Son (p. [6b]), depicted as an Italian condottiero (mercenary commander); and more.
On last page, Almechtiger G-tt piyyut (Yiddish variation of Adir Hu), a concluding poem by the publisher, and a lengthy and detailed colophon: "…printed here in Mantua… most beautifully… and the work was completed in Parashat [Bereshit], Tuesday, 24th Tishrei [1560]… at the end of four future redemptions in the land… And just as He fulfilled His promise with three redemptions, so may He hasten his work in the fourth, to redeem His people Israel from the drudgery of their exile and turmoil… so pleads the typesetter Yitzchak Bassan son of R. Shmuel, beadle at the synagogue of the officer R. Yitzchak Cohen of Porto, here in Mantua".
The Illustrated Mantua Haggadot Printed in the Sixteenth Century
Two typographically similar illustrated Haggadot were printed in Mantua in the mid-16th century. The first was printed in 1560 by Yitzchak son of Shmuel Bassan, at the press of Giacomo Ruffinelli; the second was printed some eight years later by the Filipponi brothers, under the name of Yosef son of Yaakov Shalit. Both Haggadot made use of the same plates for printing, and the format and typesetting of both are nearly identical to the Haggadah of Prague, 1527.
Both Mantua Haggadot served as models for numerous illustrated Haggadot in smaller sizes (quarto and octavo), printed in Venice around the turn of the 17th century.
For a detailed description of the second Haggadah printed in Mantua and variations between the two editions, see: Kedem, Auction 106, 24 February 2026, Lot 12.
Complete copy. [38] leaves. Approx. 30 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, including dark wine and food stains. Worming, tears and open tears (relatively large tears in several places), affecting text, decorations and illustrations, repaired with paper filling (photocopy and handwritten replacements for parts of text, decorations and illustrations). Close trimming, affecting decorated frames on many leaves. New leather binding.
On last page, signatures of censors Domenico Gerosolimitano and Giovanni Domenico Carretto (dated 1618?).
Reference:
• Otzar HaHaggadot 20.
• Cecil Roth, HaHaggadah HaMetzuyeret ShebiDefus, Areshet, III (1961), pp. 13-18.
• Y. Rivkind, Dikdukei Sefarim, Kiryat Sefer, II (1925-1926), p. 61, no. 17 (on pages in this Haggadah known to have been printed in a slightly different design).
• Yosef Haim Yerushalmi, Haggadah and History, A Panorama in Facsimile of Five Centuries of the Printed Haggadah from the Collections of Harvard University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Philadelphia, 1975, pp. 37-38; plates 22-26.
Provenance: Kestenbaum, New York, 17 November 1998, Lot 100.
