Lissitzky's illustrations to The Legend of Prague, executed in 1917, are among his earliest book designs. In contrast to the Jewish children's book illustrations of the same period, these are of a precise and linear nature, in keeping with the importance of the text as a Hebraic document by the Yiddish Poet, Moïshe Broderson. Scribed in Hebrew by another hand, the text is illuminated in the manner of an ancient manuscript by Lissitsky, using the lithographic ink as if from a calligraphic pen.
The work was published in a full edition of 110, though opinions vary slightly as to how many of these copies were printed in scroll form with handcolouring (see Costakis Collection, no. 451). What is certain however is that none of the other three copies known to exist in book form (two in private collections in Moscow, one in The National Library in Jerusalem) possesses either the original linocut cover page or the lithographic dedication 'We dedicate our work with love and gratitude to Rabbi Jacob Kahan-Shabshai...The authors, Moscow, 1917' present in this copy. It is possible that the original linocut cover was replaced by a metalised paper cover before a full edition was printed, as present in the copy in The National Library in Jerusalem (exhibited Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover, 1965). The absence of both original cover and dedication in all other known copies suggests that the present copy is perhaps a unique trial proof copy, printed for the author and artist themselves, before the published edition.