By the 12th Century, the text of the Passover Haggadah had become virtually uniform across Jewish communities. This was true despite the fact that written copies of the text were very expensive, and not all Jews could read. How did families get access to the fixed text of the Haggadah, and what did they do with the copies they had? How did illiterate families or those too poor to own a copy conduct the Seder? How did the spread of the printing press make copies of the text cheaper and more available? How did these changes affect the physical form that Haggadot took?

By the 12th Century, the text of the Passover Haggadah had become virtually uniform across Jewish communities. This was true despite the fact that written copies of the text were very expensive, and not all Jews could read. How did families get access to the fixed text of the Haggadah, and what did they do with the copies they had? How did illiterate families or those too poor to own a copy conduct the Seder? How did the spread of the printing press make copies of the text cheaper and more available? How did these changes affect the physical form that Haggadot took?