Passover Haggadah – Illustrated Manuscript on Parchment, by the Scribe Meir Kornik – Amsterdam, 1792

Passover Haggadah – Illustrated Manuscript on Parchment, by the Scribe Meir Kornik – Amsterdam, 1792

Passover Haggadah, with fine illustrations. Manuscript on parchment, written and illustrated by scribe Meir Kornik. Amsterdam, [1792].

Ink on parchment.

Small-format manuscript, written in square Ashkenazic script with vocalization and cantillation marks (indicating stress placement in pronunciation). The instructions and Yiddish translations of the piyyutim "Echad Mi Yodea" and "Chad Gadya" are penned in Ashkenazic semi-cursive script (Vaybertaytsh / "Tz'enah Ur'enah"). Hebrew foliation, catchwords, and gathering numbers appear throughout, except in the first gathering.

The scribe signed his name on the title page: "Written by Meir Kornik, currently bass singer [in Amsterdam]". (See further details below).

Illustrations

The manuscript features an illustrated title page, adorned with a pair of architectural columns and three garlands, with an image of King David playing the harp within the central garland. The manuscript also contains 10 additional illustrations, some depicting scenes from the Haggadah narrative and others appearing as miniature decorative elements within initial words. Furthermore, 52 enlarged initials are embellished with geometric or floral designs.

The subjects of the illustrations include:

6a: The Four Sons.

6b: Initial with Miniature illustration – a couple seated at the Passover Seder table.

9b: The Israelites building the store cities ("Arei Miskenot") of Pithom and Rameses.

11b: Initial with miniature illustration (for the verse "zeh hamateh").

19b: Initial with miniature illustration – A figure raising a Kiddush cup.

24a: The initial word "Lo" – the neck of the Lamed is topped with a lion’s head.

25b: Illustration of a musical notation sheet.

26b: Initial with miniature illustration – two figures.

34b: The initial word "Chasal" – the Lamed illustrated with a leaf design.

38b: The initial word "Chad" (Gadya) – kid goats adorning the tops of the letters.

The present manuscript was given as a Bar Mitzvah gift, as indicated by the dedicatory inscription on the inner front pastedown: "Bar Mitzvah gift from the widow, Mrs. Gittele, daughter of community leader R. Yaakov Norden, wife of the late Süsskind Levi Emden". The owner’s name is stamped on the front binding board: "Itzek son of community leader R. Laiser Keyser of London".

The scribe, Meir (son of R. Moshe) Kornik was active in Amsterdam, Berlin, and Breslau in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He is known to have authored "Davar Be'ito" (Breslau, 1817), and in a query addressed to the Chatam Sofer regarding this work, he signs as: "the humble Meir Kornik, researcher of the times, of the community of Greater Glogau..." (Responsa Chatam Sofer, Vol. VI, Section 35).

A closely related manuscript, also created by Meir Kornik in Amsterdam, two years later (1794), is preserved in the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana, Amsterdam (Ms. Rosenthaliana 491; Catalogue Fuks, Rosenthaliana Amsterdam Netherlands 133). This similar manuscript also bears a Bar Mitzvah dedication, presented to Salman son of Laiser Keyser of London, by his uncle Avraham Keyser of Amsterdam. It appears that this second manuscript was dedicated to the younger brother of the recipient of the manuscript at hand.

40 leaves. 10.5X9.7 cm. Overall good condition. Minor stains. Some gatherings loose or partially detached. Light damage and wear to binding, partially professionally restored. Gilt edges. Original leather binding in red and black, gilt-tooled, with the owner's name stamped on the front cover (see above). Preserved in a new leather case with silk lining. Ink stamp on title page and final leaf: "William H. Morley, middle Temple" (within a belt-shaped frame). William Hook Morley (1815-1860) was a British lawyer and Orientalist. A handwritten ownership inscription appears on the inner pastedown, opposite the title page, in the handwriting of Gulielmus [William] Morley, stating that he received the manuscript from Henrici Kayser on December 21, 1837.