Le Livre d'Esther SZYK, Arthur ART,BIBLE,JUDAICA,LIMITED,ORIGINAL ART

76 pages in Hebrew and 51 pages in French printed within red borders; a new version by Robert Schmidt. Illustrated by Szyk with 20 exquisite color compositions (19 being full-page plates), and including historiated initials and head/tail-pieces; bound with two extra suites of plates (color & b/w) and a fine ORIGINAL watercolor. 8vo, rebound by E. Maylander in simple 3/4 turquoise crushed morocco; marbled boards and endpapers, top edge gilt; original wrappers bound-in. A fine copy of a scarce book. Number 4 of only 30 examples printed on "Japon Imperial" with the two extra suites of all 20 plates in both color and b/w, printed on thin vellum. Most significantly, there is an original Arthur Szyk watercolor drawing bound at the front, signed and dated 1923, not used in the illustration of the book. "Szyk's vibrant illustrations depict the story of Purim in an Assyrian context" --Ungar p74. The book is "a political statement on anti-Semitism: in the story the beautiful Queen Esther saves her co-religionists from persecution by a government official; for Szyk and his contemporaries, the story was an allegorical commentary on the state of religious freedom in Poland." -- Ansell p33-37.