The Sassoon Haggadah

From the Middle Ages on, one of the most frequently illustrated Jewish books has been the Haggadah (literally, "telling"), which is read during the Passover ritual meal, the Seder. This important 14th-century Haggadah testifies to the religious and artistic traditions of Sephardi Jews before the expulsion from Spain. Most of its pages are colorfully embellished with illustrations of the text and the holiday's rituals, along with an imaginative range of grotesques, hybrid creatures, and animals.

Credit: Purchased by the State of Israel through an anonymous donor, London