So amenable to artistic creativity, variety, subtlety, and multiplicity, the Haggadah is less a text than a genre. The richness of this extreme heterogeneity extends from the earliest illustrated examples of the text right up to the present day. Of Haggadot with some of the more unusual illustrations we can mention the so-called Geismar Haggadah.

Bilder-Bibel, Berlin (1928). A book of bible pictures for children.

Bilder-Bibel, Berlin (1928). Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Otto Geismar (1873-1957) was a graphic artist, who produced a number of illustrations for Jewish text. His images are featured not only in this Haggadah but also in works for Purim and Chanukkah as well as a picture Bible for children. Geismar had been an art teacher in a school run by the Jewish community of Berlin during the Weimar period. Before the outbreak of the war, Geismar and his wife escaped Germany and moved to Brazil and thence to England. The simplicity and cleanliness of his designs for the children’s picture Bible are echoed in the Haggadah.

Bilder-Bibel, Berlin (1928). The Israelites enslaved in Egypt.

Hagadah shel Pesah, Amsterdam (1941). A similar scene appears in the Haggadah.
The Haggadah was published originally in Germany in 1927. The following year, two editions were published, one in German and the other in Dutch. Its popularity is evident from the printings that followed. Here are illustrations from the fourth Dutch edition from 1941, with translations and explanations by the head of the religious school of Amsterdam’s Hoofdsynagoge. Even amidst the war and during the German occupation, this Haggadah, with its charming illustrations, was being printed, distributed, and used. The Library’s copy bears an inscription—“Von Mama u. Papa”—dated Amsterdam, 1947, testifying to the ongoing story of the Haggadah as a text of redemption.

Hagadah shel Pesah, Amsterdam (1941).

The Haggadah title page, including the Dutch printer’s information.

The depiction of the 10 plagues.

The closing scenes of the Haggadah, with an unfortunate fellow asleep at the table.
Contributed by Jordan Finkin, Rare Book Librarian