1 vol.
(German Folk Binding.) Neu-vermehrt und vollstandiges Gesang-Buch zur Uebung der Gottseligeit in 750. Psalmen und Gesangen, Herrn D. Martin Luthers und anderer gottseliger Lehrer. Philadelphia: Ernst Ludwig Baisch, [1774]. 12mo, orig. decorated parchment. Portrait frontis. Frontis affected by past insect infestation with small area of paper loss, title-page affected with minimal paper loss, several text leaves affected with occasional paper loss. Trimmed with loss of date on title page & several lines of text below frontis. portrait. This hymnal is bound in parchment stamped on the front & back covers with a heart-shaped vase on which the following text appears: Singet und spielet dem Herrn in eurem Hertzen, followed by a trade mark 4; the cover designs are completed by colored stamped floral motifs, colored stamped sunflower motifs appear on the spine. Somewhat dust soiled, some splitting along joints, front cover rather faded & soiled, back cover relatively bright. Remnants of clasps only.
The Philadelphia bookseller & publisher Ernst Ludwig Baisch, traveling in Germany in 1774, ordered from certain German printers copies of four German-language religious works, including the above, to be issued with title-pages citing Philadelphia as the place of issue and his name as the publisher. A certain number of these were bound before shipment to Philadelphia in decorative folk bindings like the above. However, the binding design of the above hymnal is not recorded by Goff, cited below.
Goff, Frederick R., "German folk bindings on 'Philadelphia' books of 1774," Gutenberg-Jahrbuch, 1968, pp. 324-330.