SHELOMOH HA-MELEKH VEHA-'ADERET HA-ME'OFEFET: AGADAH שלמה המלך והאדרת המעפפת: אגדה
Frankfurt am Main: Verlag "Omonuth" [Omonu, Omanut, Omanuth]; Bet ha-defus shel M. Lerberger ve-shutafav, 1924. Item #43472
First edition. Original illustrated paper wrappers, horizontal 8vo, 22 pages, includes dramatic Bezalel-style art nouveau illustrations, 18 x 25 cm. In Hebrew. Title translates as “King Solomon and the Flying Cape: A Story.”
Illustrated children’s book by Chaim Bialik which tells a legend of King Solomon and a flying cape. With illustrations by N.Yidel
“Hayim Nahman Bialik (1873-1934) is widely considered the greatest Hebrew literary figure of his age. Born in the Ukrainian village of Radi, he was orphaned at the age of seven and sent to live with his pious grandparents. At seventeen he left for the famous Volozhin Yeshiva in Lithuania and then for Odessa, where he emerged as the youngest of a remarkable group of Hebrew writers and intellectuals. He and his wife, Manya, made their home in Odessa for more than twenty years but were forced to flee the newly established Soviet Union in 1921 for Germany. In 1924, he set sail for British Mandatory Palestine. He died in Vienna.” (NYRB)
In this work, the artist, N. Yidel, “ is revealed as a skilled illustrator in a dramatic, ornamented style but one that lacks levity and grace. Solomon, depicted in the illustrations as a king in sumptuous medieval Russian attire, recalls the Biblical figures of Ephraim Lilien, inspired by the Assyrian kings on the one hand, and Theodor Herzl on the other hand. In his drawings he makes ample use of the laws of perspective… the decorations do not diminish the sense of depth but rather enhance it… compared to Nachum Gutman, who illustrated the same story a decade later, Yidel completely lacks humor". (From: Ayala Gordon, Iyurim Ivri'im [Hebrew Illustrations], Nachum Gutman Museum, Tel Aviv, [2005], p. 80).
“A year after opening and before a single book had even been published, Omanut closed its doors in Moscow and moved to Odessa, a bustling port on the Black Sea located in the Ukraine and as yet untouched by the Revolution. Odessa was already a flourishing center of Jewish culture, home to such luminaries of Modern Hebrew literature as Mendele Mocher Sforim and Chaim Nachman Bialik. But the events of 1917 sent even more Jewish writers and artists pouring in. With such a stable of local talent from which to draw, Odessa was to prove fertile ground indeed for Omanut…
…As the Bolsheviks advanced on the Ukraine, Persitz relocated again, this time to Frankfurt-am-Main in Germany. There she republished the beautiful picture books illustrated by the young art students in Odessa and also began publishing the polished Hebrew translations of world literature for children by which the press was to become famous.In 1925, Omanut left Europe altogether, establishing itself once and for all in Tel-Aviv” (LOC).
The book is featured in the 2014 National Library of Israel slideshow “Sifri Yaladim Sarokim ve-Sifriyah ha-Laomit. Sifri Chaim Nachman Bialik Liladim” (“Scanned Children’s Books at the National Library. Chaim Nachman Bialik’s Books for Chidlren”), part of a project to digitize volumes in its rare book collection. The slideshow is viewable online at
https://www.slideserve.com/lily/5219468.
SUBJECT(S): Solomon, King of Israel -- Fiction. Solomon, King of Israel. OCLC: 19146225. OCLC locates 5 copies worldwide (LOC, Cleveland, HUC, Bar Ilan, and NLI), none at any Ivy League Institution. Our colleague offers a copy with rusty staples, soiling and scribbles, loose signatures, and a damaged spine for $750. Purchase our more attractive copy instead!
Some foxing, light discoloration, Good Condition. (BK) (GER-61-7).
Price: $550.00