First Group of Arthur Szyk Haggadah Sets Delivered in Time for Passover 2008

Bibliographic Landmark Meets Target Date, Delights Recipients

Burlingame, CA. April 28, 2008: The noted firm of antiquarian booksellers Historicana announced today
that the new edition of The Szyk Haggadah sets shipped to its initial subscribers in time for Passover Seders on April 18th. Devoting countless hours to final proofreading, press checks and packaging design, Historicana founder and Haggadah Publisher Irvin Ungar completed the project on Friday, April 17th.

"The last several weeks have been particularly exciting as all the elements of this extraordinary project came down to the custom-fitted foam packaging, internal and external boxes, labels and other shipping details," said publisher Irvin Ungar. "The out-of-town subscriber sets shipped on Wednesday, April 16th, and on Thursday and Friday I hand-delivered sets, non-stop, to my subscribers in the San Francisco Bay Area," he continued.

The new edition of The Szyk Haggadah marks the first time any publisher will have had access to Szyk's original art since the first edition was published in 1940. Through state-of-the-art digital technology in photography and printing, viewers of the book will have the opportunity to see Arthur Szyk's most renowned and beloved art as never before. The new limited edition combines the best of the new with the mastery of tradition, featuring the work of some of the book arts' most highly regarded practitioners, including hand bookbinder Paul Vogel, photographer Ardon Bar Hama and printer Rick De Coyte of Silicon Gallery Art Prints.

The new edition of The Szyk Haggadah includes a companion volume of essays by leading scholars of Jewish art as well as a DVD on the remaking of the Haggadah. Historicana is publishing a total of 300 sets, the Deluxe edition at $8,500 and the Premier Edition at $15,000.

Initial reaction from subscribers has been very strong, including these comments:

"The package arrived a couple of hours ago, and I must say you outdid yourself. This publication is beyond beautiful! We are very proud...to have this edition in our possession." University Gallery Director

"What a great job! I am amazed! I will have to find a way to display this Book in some special way. I know I am very, very lucky to have such a magnificent work as my own." Subscriber, Mattapan, Massachusetts

"I just received the Haggadah and look forward to spending time with it. It is beautiful, obviously the result of your extraordinary work. Have a wonderful Passover." Rabbi, Major New York City Synagogue

Several noteworthy museums and universities have acquired copies of the new edition of The Szyk Haggadah including The British Museum, London; The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; University of California at Berkeley; University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls; The Judah L. Magnes Museum, Berkeley, California; Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida; The University of Indiana, Lilly Library, Bloomington.

Key participants in Producing the Haggadah Include Pantheon of Book Arts Masters

  • Ardon Bar Hama, regarded as a master of ultra-high-resolution digital photography of art and documents, photographed the original art as the basis for the reproduction. Bar Hama was recently commissioned to photograph the Codex Vaticanus at the Vatican and the Dead Seas Scrolls at the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem.
  • Paul Vogel, renowned bookbinder who has earned a reputation as one of the most creative book binders in America through his work for such entities as publishing firms Forbes and HarperCollins and private clients including Colin Powell, Ralph Lauren, Robin Williams and The White House, has designed and hand crafted the Haggadah bindings.
  • Rick De Coyte founder of Silicon Gallery Fine Art Prints, executed the printing, using an eight-color giclée process developed by Epson. While the tools at Silicon Gallery are digital, the philosophy is deeply rooted in the belief that it is the chemistry between the artist and the printmaker that results in the finest work. Silicon's client base extends throughout the US and Europe, printing for more than 1,200 artists and producing more than 15,000 original works.
  • Byron L. Sherwin, Distinguished Service Professor and Director of Doctoral Programs at Chicago's Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, has written the translation and commentary for the Haggadah and is the editor of the Companion Volume of essays. Ordained a Rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, he also received a Bachelor of Hebrew Literature, a M.H.L and an honorary Doctor of Hebrew Letters from that institution. The author and editor of more than 26 books and 150 articles, his works have been translated into eight languages, including Polish and Chinese.
  • Irene Morris is the designer for the national and international traveling exhibition "Justice Illuminated: The Art of Arthur Szyk." Having designed more than 200 books for the fine arts and photography worlds, as well as the philanthropic and museum communities, Irene's almost decade long association with Syzk's art brings an intimate understanding of the artist's palette to the text design of The Haggadah. Irene apprenticed into the craft of graphic design under the mentorship of Charles Carter, an award winning graphic designer in California.
Companion Volume Offers New Insights Regarding Szyk's Life and Work
  • Tom Freudenheim, former director of YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and head of major museums in the United States and Germany, wrote on Szyk the artist, placing his work in the context of his time as well as the current day.
  • Shalom Sabar, chairman of the Department of Jewish and Comparative Folklore at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, examined the iconography of Szyk's Haggadah and placed it historically among the greatest illustrated Jewish books.
  • Irvin Ungar, Curator of The Arthur Szyk Society and Historicana CEO, wrote on Szyk's life and the bibliographical history of his Haggadah.
  • James Ruxin, an Emmy-nominated film maker, directed a film about the making of our new edition of the Szyk Haggadah, entitled "In Every Generation," which is included with every set.
Haggadah History

Szyk designed and painted the original artwork in Lodz, Poland, between 1934 and 1936, when European Jewry endured heightened abuses on the eve of World War II. His artwork drew parallels between the Passover narrative, with its Egyptian taskmasters, and the Nazi taskmasters, who were plotting the enslavement and death of the Jews of Europe. Illustrations included illuminated serpents and tigers with Nazi swastikas, their cut heads replaced with images of Hitler and Goering and among the Four Sons, with the "wicked son" portrayed with a Nazi armband. No publisher would produce it with German imagery, so Szyk had to remove them prior to publication. The Haggadah was originally printed in London in 1940, in a limited edition of 250 copies on calfskin vellum, with commentary by Anglo-Jewish historian Cecil Roth. Compared to the great illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages, it was produced by The Sun Engraving Company for the Beaconsfield Press.

At that time it was the most expensive new book in the world and has since become one of the most reproduced of any 20th century Passover Haggadah. "No edition until now," according to publisher Irvin Ungar "has been able to capture Szyk's palette which was one of unusual brightness and intensity; his virtuoso draftsmanship extraordinary in its detail. Our edition takes advantage of every recent advance in photography, color reproduction, and papermaking technology, and as such, our publication promises to be a bibliographic landmark on all levels."

About Historicana

Historicana, established in 1987 by its sole proprietor and owner, Irvin Ungar, specializes in the buying and selling of historic Judaica including rare books, manuscripts and works of art. In addition, Ungar is a leading expert on the art of Arthur Szyk and has curated exhibitions of Szyk's art both in the US and in Europe. He is a member of the ABAA, Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America.