Details
[SHAHN, Ben, illustrator]. HEBREW ABC. The Alphabet of Creation. An Ancient Legend from the Zohar. New York: The Spiral Press for Pantheon, 1954.
8o (273 X 171 mm). 45 illustrations and calligraphic designs by Ben Shahn, printed in brown. Original linen, gilt-lettered cover and spine labels; publisher's board slipcase.
LIMITED EDITION, number 7 of 50 copies of the deluxe issue numbered and signed by the artist (500 copies of the ordinary limited issue), printed on Umbria handmade paper and CONTAINING AN ORIGINAL INK AND BRUSH DRAWING AS FRONTISPIECE, SIGNED BY SHAHN. The drawing in this copy is a calligraphic design of the Hebrew letter "ALEF," the first letter in this alphabet of Creation. The text is based upon the Sefer Ha-Zohar (or "Book of Splendor"), an ancient Gnostic work written in Aramaic by a 13th centurySpanish scholar Moses de Leon and based upon mystic knowledge revealed to Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai many centuries earlier.
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LIMITED EDITION, number 7 of 50 copies of the deluxe issue numbered and signed by the artist (500 copies of the ordinary limited issue), printed on Umbria handmade paper and CONTAINING AN ORIGINAL INK AND BRUSH DRAWING AS FRONTISPIECE, SIGNED BY SHAHN. The drawing in this copy is a calligraphic design of the Hebrew letter "ALEF," the first letter in this alphabet of Creation. The text is based upon the Sefer Ha-Zohar (or "Book of Splendor"), an ancient Gnostic work written in Aramaic by a 13th centurySpanish scholar Moses de Leon and based upon mystic knowledge revealed to Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai many centuries earlier.