The Haggadah, Haggadah by Arthur Szyk, printed on parchment; English translation and foreword by Cecil Roth. London: Beaconsfield Press, [ca. 1940]. Hebrew and English.
A bibliophile edition of superb aesthetic quality, designed in the spirit of medieval illuminated Hebrew manuscripts, and considered Arthur Szyk's magnum opus. Copy no. 70 of 240 (half were intended for sale in the United States, and half in England), signed on the colophon leaf by Arthur Szyk and Cecil (Bezalel) Roth.
Each page of the Haggadah is scribed in neat calligraphic script, with rich illustrations, ornaments and illuminated initial words. Fourteen full-page illustrations. Hebrew text and English translation on facing pages, occasionally with small ornament. Illustrated dedication to King George VI of England at the beginning of the book: "At the Feet of Your Most Gracious Majesty I humbly lay these works of my hands, shewing forth the Afflictions of my People Israel. Artur Szyk, illuminator of Poland" (the very first copy of the Haggadah was dedicated by Szyk and Cecil Roth to King George VI).
The Szyk Haggadah was created between 1932-1938 – 48 breathtakingly beautiful leaves, qualified by the London Times as "worthy to be placed among the most beautiful of books that the hand of man has produced". Syzk produced the Haggadah against the backdrop of the increasingly deteriorating situation of European Jewry, and it is interweaved with allusions to the persecution the Jews were suffering and the dangers they faced. Szyk portrayed the wicked son, for instance, as a German figure with a Hitler-like moustache, wearing clothes reminiscent of the S.S. Uniform. The battle against Amalek, as Cecil Roth writes in his foreword, is the central motif of the Haggadah illustrations. Due to its sharp messages, no European press was willing to print the Haggadah, and it was eventually printed in London, in the Beaconsfield Press (established specially for printing the Haggadah), during the war years.

Fine copy. Leather binding with gilt ornament after an illustration by Szyk. Placed in original, velvet-lined gilt decorated case, with leather spine and corners.
XXVI pages, [46] leaves. Vol: 28 cm. Case: approx. 33.5 cm. Good condition. Some stains and defects. Marginal stains to first and final leaves (blank). Several tiny holes to binding (repaired with paint). Minor wear to binding. Wear and stains to case.

There is a certain lack of clarity in regard to the Haggadah's year of publication: the year 1939 is printed on the page opposite the title, under Szyk's brief preface (French). In Otzar HaHaggadot, the Haggadah is dated 1940 (Otzar HaHaggadot, no. 3712). Yaari dates the Haggadah for 1941 (Yaari, no. 2285). Cecil Roth himself gives once 1939 (Printed Illustrated Haggadot, Areshet – III, 1961, p. 28) and once 1940 as year of printing (A Bibliographical Note on the Syzk Haggadah, by Cecil Roth, Studies in Bibliography and Booklore, vol. 9, no. 1, 1969, pp. 50).
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, ALE.68.