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)

•  American Imprints (1845) 45-6554.   Original plain sheep over printed paper boards. Covers rubbed and darkened; corners worn. Early inked ownership signature and jottings on front and back pastedowns, and stray ink marks on title-page. Lightly waterstained throughout. Lacking front free endpaper. Scraped on front pastedown. Ex-library with call number in pencil on verso of title-page.  (20827)

•  Publisher's quarter cloth with printed and engraved pictorial paper covering on the sides; neatly respined with cloth tape. Rubbing to board edges. Endpapers with illustrated advertisements for pianos, etc.  (3589)

Binding:  Dark green publisher's cloth, cover edges bevelled and title gilt-stamped in a cartouche on front one, this within a blind-stamped vaguely “gothic” frame. Glossy brown endpapers and all edges red.

•  Bound as above, somewhat scuffed and with loss of cloth at head and foot of spine; hinges (inside) open. Ticket of a music publishing concern and “musical merchandise” establishment in Worcester, MA, inside front cover; endpapers chipped. Text age-toned, generally clean; a few pencillings.  (3192)

•  Publisher's quarter sheep with printed sides; neatly respined with cloth tape. Signed by previous owner on front pastedown.  (4182)

Provenance: Old inked signature of L.(?) E. Ammisdown to fly-leaf.

•  Publisher's quarter sheep with printed sides; respined with cloth tape. Joints cracked, without separation; rear cover loosening. Text clean and paper quite decent.  (4183)

Nicely printed, this is illustrated with an engraved frontispiece portrait of John Fellows, with the titles of some of his other works (see above) appearing beneath it; preliminary pages (8 pp.) consist of a dedication to the Rev. Mr. John Ryland of Northampton, and a preface. Stated at foot of title-page: “Price One Shilling and Six-Pence.”

Rare:  ESTC locates only two copies in the U.S., and this is one of them, now deaccessioned; and OCLC adds only the copy at Yale.

•  ESTC N39616; on Fellows, see: Edwin F. Hatfield's The Poets of the Church (New York, 1884), & Josiah Miller's Singers and Songs of the Church (London, 1869).   Recent quarter calf and marbled paper over boards; gilt-stamped leather spine labels, gilt-ruled raised bands, gilt rule where leather meets paper of covers. Title-page chipped at upper right corner, one leaf a little ragged at outer edge, another leaf repaired at outer margin. Pages overall clean, but with some random spotting and slight age-toning, including to title-page and frontispiece; light offsetting to title-page from facing plate. Ex-library with “no. 5" marked in blue crayon at the top of title-page; faintest traces of library call number on the verso; no other markings. Final three pages (pp. 94–96) mispaginated 118, 119, and 120. Handsome.  (24459)

Evidence of use/readership: Some hymns marked for use, a handwritten index inside front cover, and many added hymns tipped in from a different hymnal.

•  Bound as above, hinges cracked, front free endpaper missing. With some small staining and a limited section of pages tattered along bottom edge; “personalizations” as above.  (2392)

Binding:  An example of a painted and tooled vellum binding known in Germany as a “Bauern Einbände,” or “Peasant Binding” — but, though betraying a strong influence of folk art, such bindings were certainly not for peasants! The style almost certainly began in Hungary with early examples first appearing in southern Germany, and it was to gain greatest favor in northern Germany and Holland during the 18th century.

This vellum binding is elaborately tooled, embossed, and painted. There is an outer border on each cover lettered in black with a motto; the center area is occupied by an embossed and painted bouquet arising from a heart-shaped jar inscribed with “Das herze mein soll dir Allen a Jesu sein.” The bouquet is painted in red, green, and yellow, and below the quoted matter is a stylized device of a “4" above the letters “C G R” (or “C R G”). All edges gilt.

•  Bound as above, lacking the metal and vellum clasps; binding rubbed, but charming and evocative. Overall in good+ condition.  (29117)

Binding:  Original russet brown morocco, covers gilt-stamped with arabesque and foliate motifs, spine gilt extra. Board edges and turn-ins with gilt rolls. All edges gilt.

•  Binding very lightly rubbed with corners bumped and spine a bit sunned. Small rectangular piece (1.5" x .5") cut out from top third of front free endpaper and front flyleaf; title-page once with similar excision, sometime very well repaired. Mildly ex-library with pastedowns showing signs of once-present bookplates, etc., five-digit number rubber-stamped at base of p. [iii], and some light penciling; otherwise, scattered old spots only. A handsome book, strong and with its gilt still bright.  (20789)

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 4172; Goedeke, Grundriss zur Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung aus den Quellen, 572; Arndt, First Century of German Language Printing in the United States of America, 1337. Andachten: Shaw & Shoemaker 4360; Arndt 1338. Anhang: Shaw & Shoemaker 4171; Arndt 1334. Contemporary sheep, spine with later and sympathetic gilt-stamped title and author labels, binding with brass and leather clasps (intact); leather rubbed and some chipped away with joints open though holding, and spine leather showing some cracking. Front pastedown, free endpaper, and fly-leaf with early inked ownership inscriptions; back pastedown with later pencilled notation; front free endpaper separated and back free endpaper lacking. Pages age-toned and spotted (as usual in German imprints of this period); some corners dog-eared. One leaf with portion of outer margin torn away, with loss of a few words. Condition actually rather typical, for this sort of volume!

Provenance: Julia Bedell.

Binding:  Black morocco with gilt extra spine and a gilt border on covers; gilt roll on board edges. All edges gilt.

•  Rubbed with spine cracking down center; small chip to top of spine. Ex-library with rubber-stamp to endpaper and pencilled notations. Private pencilled gift/ownership inscription as above. Paper age-toned and with occasional spots; strong. A lovely edition and a volume in lovely condition, save for the vulnerability of that spine crack (which much lowers the price).  (22965)

•  Evans 23823; ESTC W21016; Arndt & Eck 805.   Contemporary mottled sheep, covers framed in blind, with remnants of original clasp, spine with later gilt-stamped leather title and publication labels; leather mildly rubbed, spine leather with small cracks, spine and joints unobtrusively repaired. Front free endpaper with pencilled ownership inscription dated 1835; afterwards, ex–theological library: Old-fashioned bookplate on front pastedown, title-page pressure-stamped, pocket on back pastedown. Pagination erratic; several pages appearing out of order. A few corners bumped or dog-eared; a good many sections moderately browned and stained as is commonly seen with these Germantown imprints.  (27905)

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 30511; Richmond 1416.   Full original calf, plain style, rubbed overall with small chips on front cover; chip at head of spine, front joint starting. Paper browned, and some stains; a bit of blue crayon doodling in blank area of top left corner of p. 50. Early leaves with stitch holes in inner margin, not touching text; three leaves with tears, not affecting text. Ex–theological library with area of spine blacked out where call number once was; library name and five-digit number rubber-stamped on front pastedown, accession number inked and rubber-stamped at base of p. [iii]. (21139)