[BINDINGS - EMBROIDERED / JEWISH BOOKBINDER]. Allgemeines Evangelisches Gesangbuch für das Grossherzogthum Hessen by Stiebel, Simon (Jewish Bookbinder of Marburg) - 1831

Darmstadt: Im Verlag der Großherzoglichen Invalide und Soldaten-Waisen-Unstalt / Gedruckt vei L.C. Wittich, 1831. 8vo. (155 x 93 mm). viii, 532, [9] pp. Contemporary green morocco by Simon Stiebel of Marburg (ticket on recto of free endpaper), both covers inset with petit-point embroidery: a flower at center enclosed by a leafy lozenge, with an umbrella-like bloom above and below, all worked in shades of green, yellow, and pink, raised bands with gilt rules, spine panels with blind-stamped floral ornament, gilt titling, gilt-rolled turn-ins, green endpapers, all edges gilt. Corners and ends of spine a little rubbed, occasional offsetting in text. In excellent condition, completely unsophisticated, and suitable for exhibition. An important discovery: this appears to be the only surviving binding by the Jewish Master Bookbinder Simon Stiebel of Marburg. Stiebel was born ca. 1807, the son of Mendel Stiebel. Clearly Simon (a.k.a. Schiemeon) was a binder of exceptional abilities: the present specimen is technically perfect, and is further distinguished by having incorporated two panels of embroidered fabric into the green morocco covers. The blind- and gold-tooled decoration on the spine strongly resembles the work of Stiebel's Parisian contemporaries, namely Thouvenin and Simier. Perhaps he trained in France? Naturally Stiebel accepted commissions for binding Christian and Jewish texts alike, as is attested by the present Hymnal, which was published for the benefit of the wounded soldiers and orphans of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Stiebel died in 1856 and is buried in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Marburg.

Literature: Rumpf-Lehmann, Alter Jüdischer Friedhof zu Marburg, Nr. 5/29. See the entry on Stiebel in the online Kommission fur de Geschichte der Juden in Hessen.

Cataloguer's note: there is almost zero information about Jewish bookbinders. Of the 8,033 entries in Schmidt-Kunseuller's "Bibliographie," only 13 are classified as "Judische Einbande" and almost every one of these concerns the 15th-century Lederschnitt binder Mair Jaffe.