•  Publisher's yellow bookcloth wrappers, front wrapper with affixed photographic label. Very clean and crisp.  (30630)

Binding: This copy is bound in ornately blind-tooled and -stamped alum-tawed pigskin over wooden boards, the front cover with three of its original etched corner bosses and with its two etched clasp-catches. (Bosses of back cover no longer present, remnants of clasps.) A martial portrait is centered on each cover; unfortunately these are now so worn that they are no longer identifiable. Perhaps they belong to the electors of Saxony who safeguarded the Lutheran faith in its infancy.

Provenance: Ownerhship signature of Ludwig Buehl, Philadelphia, 1852.

•  Binding as above. Covers abraded and worn, some scraping to back upper board, leather peeling back from fore-edge of front cover and opening at ends of joints, most notably at bottom of front one. Front free endpaper with inked inscription, in German, dated Philadelphia, 1852. Frontispiece with a fore-edge chip (not into image) and tears in from bottom margin and at gutter, with small loss to plate area at bottom inner corner. A number of pages with tears extending into text, a few places with chips to bottom outer corners with loss of words but not of sense. Scattered foxing, with occasional darker small stains. Last leaf (of Confession, NOT Bible), only, lacking. Despite faults, a grand volume both usable and inspiring. (2802)

In the upper outer corner of the front pastedown is the large printed binder's label of “Henrich Miller, buchbinder, in der Ost – Dranien Strasse, gegeneuber der Lancaster.”

•  O'Callaghan 146; Shaw & Shoemaker 47206; Arndt & Eck, German Language Printing in the U.S., 2363.   Contemporary calf over wood boards, evidence of metal and leather clasp closures; leather perished, joints (outside) open, front board much loosened but holding tenuously and rear board more securely attached. Foxing and brown staining, as usual. Lacks the plate opposite the New Testament title-page. A good copy only yet stilla touching “story” and a touchstone American Bible.  (35752)

Arndt and Eck cite Bender, who says “This first American Mennonite Hymnbook isnot to be confused with one of similar title printed by Saur at Germantown in 1753, called erroneously by Seidensticker and Flory a Mennonite hymnbook.” Each portion of this item has a separate title-page, with the second section's title-page reading Sammlung altre und neuer Geistreichen Gesänge. The woodcut frontispiece depicts David playing his harp.

•  Arndt & Eck 2419; Shoemaker 2239.   Contemporary calf rebacked some time ago, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and publication labels; rubbed, original clasps now lacking. Front fly-leaves with early inked and pencilled inscriptions. Final leaf (pp. 21/22 of the 22-page appendix of brief hymn texts, not of the main portion of the work) lacking. Edge nicks, chips, and tears, some extending into text; three leaves torn in half from outer margin, without loss of text; two leaves (one index) with lower outer corner torn away, with loss of a few words; last two leaves with outer edges ragged. Some upper corners bumped. Pages browned, with waterstaining to lower inner portions of about a third of the volume.  (25569)

Provenance:  Early 17th-century ownership inscription on title “Ex bibliotheca Magister Joannes Makgill” (a Johannes Makgill graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1602); 18th- or early 19th- century signature of George Blair on front fly-leaf; 18th-century signature of Daniel MacKinnon on title-page. (Our thanks to Eric White of Princeton for deciphering the Makgill's last name and his university affiliation.)

•  Index Aurel. 139.245; Adams C1769; Schweiger, Handbuch der classischen Bibliographie, II, 200–01; VD16 C3211. On Wolf see: Schweiger, Handbuch der classischen Bibliographie, II, p. 268.   Recent blue-grey paper–covered boards; spine with printed paper labels, new endpapers, all edges speckled red. Age-toning, some spotting, and light to moderately heavy waterstaining throughout; perhaps a dozen leaves with corners bumped and perhaps another dozen with minor, very unobtrusive touches of worming, a few light markings in pencil and ink. Title-page and three index leaves artfully repaired with Japanese tissue, the first with no loss of text and the latter with some loss; an internal blank and three index leaves lacking, otherwise complete. A well-used and imperfect but solid and still useful compilation of extensively analyzed classical texts, and from an important press.  (36087)

Luther was unable to attend the 1537 meeting; consequently, the League ended up being largely influenced by Melanchthon and decided not to adopt the Articles chiefly because of their stand on the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper. The Articles did, however, circulate widely and were incorporated in the 1580 Book of Concord.

Searches of NUC and WorldCat locateonly one U.S. library reporting ownership UPenn).

Provenance:  From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  VD16 C4347; Index Aurel. 142.161; Claus 187, 28; Spahn 132.   Removed from a sammelband. Very good condition.  (38083)

The main title-page is printed in black and red, the text in black letter (i.e., gothic, fraktur) and the footnotes in roman.

•  Contemporary vellum over paste boards; later paper spine label with hand lettering; small area of lower spine with black spots. Vellum loosening at the turn-ins. Board edges soiled. Few stray stains in some margins. Private bookplate.  (18856)

•  Rosenbach, Children, 418; Welch 431; Shaw & Shoemaker 20192; German Language Printing in the U.S. 1770; Hamilton, Early American Book Illustrators, 1406. Not in Pomeroy, Alexander Anderson.   Very nice copy in original light boards covered with salmon-colored paper. Light age-toning and light scattered foxing.  (36290)

The text is in fraktur, of course, and the title-page hasa wonderful woodcut border.

Evidence of readership: Meaningful marginalia in German on nine of the leaves.

Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only two U.S. libraries (University of Chicago, Columbia University) reporting ownership.

•  VD16 E91; Hase, Erfurter Drucke, 639; Kuczynski 627; Köhler, Bibliographie der Flugschriften, 782 [Fiche 234/ Nr. 654]; Luther, Titeleinfassungen der Reformationszeit, 70; Gatch, Library of Leander van Ess, D1071; Goedeke, II, 223; Hohenemser 2976; Schrodt, Reformation Era pamphlets in the Ambrose Swasey Library, 57.  Recent quarter red morocco, some worming touching and occasionally costing letters but never seriously impairing the sense of a sentence. The usual age-toning; no tattering. (40455)

Provenance:  Title-page with old and decorative but partially obscured rubber-stamp and with early inked inscription (“Kopp”); front free endpaper with rubber-stamp of R. Weiss (“Fairmount Ave”). Later in the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).

Personalizations: Spine with hand-inked English title embellished with a small key drawing, and with place/date at bottom; affixed coat of arms taken from chocolate packaging; and an affixed gilt “knowledge” label (possibly a cigar band in a previous life). Front endpapers with affixed slip of old cataloguing, a printed clipping aboutglow-in-the-dark ink, pencilled annotations, and an early inked inscription in German.

•  19th-century quarter cloth with speckled paper–covered sides, spine with German title-label, rubbed overall, edges reinforced some time ago; additions as described above; vol. I only, of four, with front hinge (inside) cracked, front free endpaper and frontispiece separated. Paper foxed, in parts browned, with pencilled marks of emphasis as above; two leaves each with a closed tear just touching text, without loss, and one leaf with lower outer corner torn away. Early printings of this work are uncommon, and this copy is particularly engaging as an object. (41258)

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with ownership inscription by Henry Binkly, dated 1833; several laid-in slips of paper include a recipe for hair dye and a concoction involving sulphur, sugar of lead, and bay rum.

•  Shoemaker 8591; First Century of German Language Printing in the U.S., 2565. Contemporary sheep framed in blind, spine with blind-ruled raised bands, abraded but solid. One clasp lacking, one present and working. Moderate foxing; one sectional title with pencilled annotations. Clearly a volume that saw both use and reasonable care. Plain, and pleasing.  (3424)

The cataloguer at the Penn State University library describes its uncolored example: “The form is generally dated ca. 1830, but could have been in use as early as 1814. The lower design depicts Jesus with the disciples, while the upper scene shows Jesus' baptism. The form stretches between two pillars, flanked by columns of smoke, all within line border. Distinctive mix of [stipple] engraving and etching, probably on copper plate, by Egelmann.”

The present copy is handsomely hand-colored with the entirety of the baptismal certificate written out, not “filled in,” in red ink in a clear hand. That is, the “form” part of the engraving has been neatly, precisely excised and replaced with fresh paper to record Louisa's baptism.

•  Weiser & Heaney, Pennsylvania German Fraktur, 495; Stopp, Printed Birth and Baptismal Certificates of the German Americans, IV, pg. 2784.   Gently age-toned, small amount of spotting to lower right corner, a bit of waterstaining to upper right corner. Excellent repair to a few tears around the margins, plate expertly altered/repurposed within the manuscript portion as described above.  (36105)

Provenance:  Ownership inscription dated 1762 of “R.P. Eugenius Peters” on front free endpaper. Two names inked of old on title-page, one “Jacobus Cramer” and another not deciphered, with a third entry inked over.

•  Contemporary half vellum with marbled paper sides; soiled, worn, and rubbed with loss of much paper on rear board. General age-toning, occasional faint waterstaining in some margins, title-page with small spot of paper lost at the end of that “deleted” inscription; overall, very good copies of the texts, in a solid but used binding.  (34734)

Evidence of Readership: An early reader has pencilled marks of emphasis in some margins — most frequently single short lines, with one series of one, two, and three short lines plus a zero or O lined through and another of arrows and hashmarks; several faint annotations adding to or questioning content; and a few instances of expressive punctuation such as “?!” or “!?.” Unfortunately, what looks to be the accompanying ownership inscription on the back pastedown is difficult to decipher.

Provenance:  From the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).

•  Contemporary quarter dark green sheep and dark green marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title, gilt- and blind-tooled decorative bands, and gilt-stamped foliate decorations in compartments; rubbed overall, especially corners and joints with the latter starting/cracking. Gentle age-toning, spots of mild foxing, pencilled annotations as above. Excellent example of contemporary engagement with this influential text.  (40101)