Passover Haggadah with '35 coloured illustrations by Ze'ev Raban, "Bezalel" Jerusalem', and a 'Musical supplement'.

The Bezalel school was founded in 1906 in Jerusalem by the artist and professor Boris Schatz and was the first art school to be established in the Holy Land in the 20th century. The establishment of Bezalel was initiated by Schatz, who discussed his vision of opening an art school in the Land of Israel with Herzl, while the two met in Vienna in 1903 at the sixth Zionist Congress. Schatz chose to call the school 'Bezalel' after the biblical artist Bezalel ben Uri ben Hur, mentioned in the book of Exodus as the artist chosen by God to build the Tabernacle (hamishkan in Hebrew). According to the scripture this artist worked in silver, gold, copper, stone and wood. By founding his art school Schatz aimed to establish a national style of art, blending classical Jewish, European and Middle-Eastern traditions. In addition to traditional sculpture and painting training, the school ran craft workshops that produced decorative art objects in silver, leather, wood, brass and fabric, which were sold at exhibitions in Europe and the United States.

Schatz's school was closed in 1929 and then reopened in the mid 1930s as the 'New Bezalel'. In 1955 the school received its official academic acclaim and today the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design is Israel's national school of art, as well as its oldest higher education institution. The art created by Bezalel's students and professors in the first decades of the 20th century is considered the stepping stone for Israeli visual arts and many of the famous Israeli artist's and illustrators studied and worked in or with the school over the years, including Ze'ev Raban (1890-1970) who arrived to Jerusalem 1912 and immediately joined the Bezalel Academy and taught there until its temporary closure in 1929. Raban was a prolific and influential artist, who illustrated several Biblical books and the Passover Haggadah.

4to (31 x 22.3 cm), publisher's blue velvety boards with a gilt title, edges rubbed, small crack to bottom of spine. 35 coloured illustration plates; gilt frontispiece attached to the back of the front endleaf, crisp and clean pages; text in Hebrew and English; 84, [4] pp.