The Sabbath - Its Meaning for Modern Man by Abraham Joshua Heschel with wood engravings by Ilya Schor, 1951.

Ilya Schor has illustrated Heschel's beautiful text with 12 relief prints, each one evocative of the text for its associated chapter, We offer here the full set of prints together with a copy of the book for a complete package. There are 5 images from the set shown here. However, we have been unable to reproduce the tonality and complexity of feeling these images have. For that you must see them in hand. While Ilya Schor is best known for his jewelry, he is also a marvelous printer whose work in this genre has been sadly overlooked.

The images vary slightly in size, but all are approximately 4 ½ x 3 ½ in; they are printed on various shades of tan paper, signed (I. Schor) and numbered (11/51) in pencil. All the prints are in excellent condition.

The book is in good condition. The cover has been dinged at the corners, there is a small bleach line at the top of both covers, and a tape repair within the front cover. The title page has the handwritten name of a previous owner. All the pages are in excellent condition with no detected stains, tears, etc.

If I Forget Thee O Jerusalem, Let My Right Hand Fail - is decorated by Amalya Nini in this small (approx. 3 3/4" x 7 3/4"), signed limited edition serigraph (total ed. 73). It will be sent in an acid-free mat.

May this home be a place of happiness and health, of contentment, generosity and hope, a home of creativity & kindness. May those who visit and those who live here know only blessing and peace."

In this Nini serigraph the beautiful text is flanked by two trees on which are flowers, birds, and pomegranates; around the edges are more flowers, birds and vines. The artist has signed the print in pencil on the margin. This print comes in an acid free mat.

image dimensions: height - 6 3/4"; width - 7 3/4"

Destruction of Jerusalem - a relief wood cut taken out of Liber Chronicarum, The Nuremberg Chronicle (author, Hartman Schedel; illustrators, Michael Wolgemuth and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff with contributions attributed to Albrecht Dürer; and publisher, Anton Koberger; Nuremberg, 1493.)

Koberger published the Nuremberg Chronicle only a few months after Columbus had first returned from the new world and five years before the expulsion of the Jews from Nuremberg. There were an estimated 2500 copies of the Chronicle, with 1500 in Latin and 1000 in German. This publication has been described as, "one of the great works in graphic arts of the fifteenth century." Chronicles of this type were not uncommon during the Renaissance. The historical text would start at the beginning of the world (as related in Genesis), continue through a history heavily influenced by the Old and New Testaments, proceed up to the date of publication, and end with a narrative about the city, state, etc. of the publisher and/or author.

This particular image, which comes from the Latin version, depicts the destructions of the city of Jerusalem. While one of the first printed depictions of Jerusalem, there was an earlier and more accurate image in Breydenbach's book about his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. This print is primarily a fantasy of the Temple undergoing the destructions described in the accompanying text. Nonetheless, some reasonable image of Jerusalem must have served as the basis of this version, since the view is obviously taken from the Mount of Olives and the Golden Gate, for example, is in its approximately proper place. Of some interest is that with the city walls and towers in ruin in the background and Solomon's Temple engulfed in flames, some residents appear to be engaged in normal business in the foreground.

The relief print is in very good condition for a print that is over 500 years old. There is a fold with staining running down the center where the page was folded into the book; additional faint stains one of which runs into the image in the lower left corner; and general handling creases. The center fold also has a slight separation at the bottom and a few small losses due to the stitching. The image (excluding text) size is roughly 10" x 21" and the page size 17" x 24".

This is one of the major leaves in one of the most important texts of the 15th c and a marvelous image in its own right.

We ship this print flat in an acid free mat.

Moishe Smith has created a powerful image in this color etching of the sere landscape seen from the top of Masada. This artist's proof print is titled (View From Masada) and dated (1990) in pencil along the lower border, but is not signed. The print will be sent flat in an acid-free mat.

image size 19 1/2" x 13 3/4"

Hermann Struck's sensitive lithographic portrait is of a Jewish luggage carrier working at the Kovno train station. He also published this image in the July, 1916 Skizzen-Mappe, der "Kownoer Zeitung", an issue that was devoted to the Kovno train station. Printed on thin wove paper, the portrait is in good condition with a very faint mat stain. Signed Struck just below the apron, no edition number.

sheet size: height - 11"; width - 8 1/2"