Prague Haggadah

The Prague Haggadah is the oldest illustrated Haggadah printed with movable type. This pioneering technology was not used for Hebrew books north of the Alps until 1512, first in Prague. It was there where the Prague Haggadah was printed by the brothers Gershom (1475-1540) and Grunim Katz. Only a handful of copies have survived worldwide. It contains the texts for the Seder, including stories of the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt and instructions for the associated rituals. They were realized here in a complex and artistic layout which plays with different font sizes, calligrams and ornamental initial words. Hayyim Schwarz also created 60 small and larger woodcuts to illuminate and embellish the religious texts that repeatedly evoke associations with the Seder rituals. A real treasure of the art of early book printing in Prague.