#etchings

Arachne (1884)

Today we bring you a few lovely bookplates, designed by Frederick Garrison Hall (1879–1946)! Hall was an architect by trade but is better-known for his etchings.

These images are from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open access collection, available to browse on JSTOR (1, 2, 3, 4).

חג פורים שמח – Chag Purim Sameach – Happy Purim!

Purim begins at sundown today. Purim, of course, commemorates the saving of the Jewish people by Queen Esther from annihilation at the hands of Haman, vizier to the Persian king Ahasuerus. In the end it is Haman who is hung and all the conspirators executed. The story is related in the biblical Book of Esther (Megillat Esther), which is read to Jewish congregations during Purim, always a festive and raucous affair!

It is sadly ironic, then, that this year, because of the new hostilities in the Middle East and with the threat level being so severe, Israel's IDF took the extraordinary and almost unthinkable step of banning public megillah readings across Israel. Jews in the Jewish state cannot gather publicly to hear the story of their survival or come together in joyful celebration.

To help lighten this irony, we offer three aquatint etchings depicting scenes from Esther by Italian artist, designer, and filmmaker Emanuele Luzzati (1921-2007) in the dual-title fine-press book Ester e Rut, printed in Prescia, Italy, by Edizioni Il Polifilo in 1991 in an edition of 200 copies, with the prints pulled at Alfredo Meconi's Bostrico printing house in Albissola Marina, Italy.