religion

Though the binding has the name S. Cohen, the scribe of this beautifully written Jewish prayer book is unknown. Containing just 7 leaves of text written on vellum, this small prayer book contains selected prayers for use during the High Holy Days.  With sparse decoration within, it is the faith and meaning held in the words that shines. 

The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Library has an extensive collection of books about European and American architecture and architectural ornament. This copy of the rare 1834 Essay on the Architecture of the Hindús written by Rám Ráz (1790-1830), a native of India, is not a book you would typically expect to find in the collection. The author compares Hindu architecture with the Greek, Egyptian, or later European architecture that is helpful in understanding sources of design, particularly of temple architecture.

This volume was commissioned by the president of Costa Rica and published in 1902. The Comisión Conmemorativa de Costa Rica en el Siglo XIX worked with various authors to highlight the social history, local customs, and artistic contributions of Costa Rica during the 19th century. The book also covers the history of the Catholic Church in Costa Rica during this period. The goal of this volume was to highlight the many successes of Costa Rica following its independence. The cover depicts a silver angel holding aloft a burning torch inscribed with the Roman numerals XX (20).

The British Punitive Expedition against the Kingdom of Benin in 1897 spawned an outpouring of curiosity about this African kingdom, its stunning bronze sculpture (confiscated booty), and its tyrannical king. H. Long Roth’s Great Benin is one of the classic pieces of literature written about Benin. It is not a product of direct observation—the author never traveled in West Africa—but rather of careful research on eyewitness accounts and museum collections.

Although only about two percent of the population of India is Christian, it is common to find both Christian and non-Christian Indian artists who have used Christian themes in their art. The beginnings of Christianity in India are not well known but tradition has it that the apostle Thomas founded a number of churches in Kerala in 52 AD. Vasco da Gama (1469-1524), the Portuguese explorer, landed in Calicut in 1498 and by 1542 the Roman Catholic missionary Francis Xavier (1506-1552) had reached Goa. These contacts with the west brought examples of European art into the Indian subcontinent.

This book is a truly original and innovative look into the often unknown and complex “micropractices” of preparing sacred foods that are important religious rituals in their own right.