Biörck, Tobias Eric

[B’shem Yahweh] Dissertatio gradualis, De plantatione ecclesiæ svecanæ In America, Quam, Suffragante Ampl. Senatu Philosoph. in Regio Upsal. Athenæo, Præside, viro Amplissimo atque Celeberrimo Mag. Andrea Grönwall/ Eth. & Polit. Prof. Reg. & Ord. In Audit. Gust. Maj. d. 14 Jun. An. MDCCXXXI. Examinandam modeste sistit Tobias E. Biörck. Americano-Dalekarlus

THE FIRST BOOK WRITTEN BY AN AMERICAN TO BE PUBLISHED IN SWEDEN

 

בשם יחוח [B’shem Yahweh] Dissertatio gradualis, De plantatione ecclesiæ svecanæ In America, Quam, Suffragante Ampl. Senatu Philosoph. in Regio Upsal. Athenæo, Præside, viro Amplissimo atque Celeberrimo Mag. Andrea Grönwall, Eth. & Polit. Prof. Reg. & Ord. In Audit. Gust. Maj. d. 14 Jun. An. MDCCXXXI. Examinandam modeste sistit Tobias E. Biörck. Americano-Dalekarlus. Uppsala: Literis Wernerianis, 1731. First edition.

Quarto (7 13/16” x 6 3/8”, 198mm x 162mm): π⁴ A-D⁴ E²(–E2) [$2 signed]. 21 leaves, pp. [8] (title, 2pp. dedication to Count Charles Gyllenborg, 2pp. dedication to Nils Barchius Bishop of Västerås, 3pp. dedication to Biörck from Andrew Hesselius), 1 2-34. With a woodcut headpiece, initial, and illustration (Manetto Indianorum, p. 27), and an engraved folding map by Jonas Silfverling.

Bound in modern half calf over marbled boards. Author and title gilt to the front board.  Marbled end-papers.

 

Some rubbing to the extremities. π1 soiled, with some holes. Repairs to the lower edges of π1-2, and a dampstain to the lower fore-corner of π. Unusually large margins (over 45mm at the fore). Bookplate of Arvid Wallgren to the inside front cover.


Tobias Eric Björck (Biörck, 1704–1778) was born in America to his missionary father Eric Björck (1668–1740, with whom he is often confused), who was dispatched to New Sweden (Nya Sverige) in Delaware Bay. As such, he had first-hand knowledge of the establishment of the Swedish (Evangelical Lutheran) church in America. His dissertation at the University of Uppsala took advantage of this experience with the Swedish colony and the workings of the church there, and the present item is the account of the oral defense he made of that dissertation in front of the faculty, with Anders Grönwall as his praeses, a role something like that of a modern supervisor. The title of the work translates thus:

     In the name of God. Graduate disputation on the establishment of the Swedish Church in America, which soberly is to be presented for examination with the support of the distinguished Faculty of Philosophy in the Royal University of Uppsala, with the distinguished and celebrated gentleman Master Anders Grönwall, Regius and Ordinary Professor of Ethics and Politics, as praeses, in the Auditorium of Gustav the Great (i.e., the Gustavium) on the 14^th of June 1731, by Tobias Eric Björck, American-Dalecarlian (i.e., from Dalarna).

Although some dissertations were historically written by the praeses and then defended by the student-respondent, in this case Björck’s epithet (Americano-Dalekarnus) makes clear that he writes with autoptic authority.

The colony of New Sweden, along the Delaware River including Philadelphia up through western New Jersey, was short-lived — although of course the settlement of Swedes in America and the expansion of the Swedish church continued unabated — and so Björck’s dissertation is a valuable document of the community that survived after New Sweden was conquered by the Dutch in 1655 and by the English in 1664. Swedes naturally remained in the area, and Björck’s father’s dispatch in the 1690’s to the community was part of an attempt to support their continued worship. The Dissertatio provides crucial details about the nature of the colony and especially their interactions with indigenous people in the region.

Particularly curious is the extent to which English is present in the Dissertatio. The first dedication, English verses to Count Carl Gyllenborg (1670–1746), who served as secretary of the legation to the Swedish ambassador to London, is made on the basis of Gyllenborg’s kindness to Björck’s father, presumably as an advocate for the Swedes in America under English rule. Andrew Hesselius, also writing in English, succeeded Björck’s father as pastor at Gloria Dei (now known as Old Swedes’ Church) in south Philadelphia. English had long been the dominant language in the Swedish church in America, and eventually many Swedish Lutherans would become Episcopalians.

Particularly interesting — and unusual for a disputation — is the map, Delineatio Pennsilvaniae et Cæsareæ Nov. Occident. seu West N. Iersey in America. It was issued presumably as a guide to those carrying out the examination, who would likely have been unfamiliar with the geography of the region. Its basis is English, but it was cut and printed in Uppsala. It extends northeast to Westchester County north of New York City and southwest to Maryland and Virginia.

Arvid Wallgren (1889–1973) was a Swedish professor of Pediatrics at the Karolinska Institutet near Stockolm, and a member of the Nobel Assembly there that awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He amassed a large collection particularly of early Swedish material (including another copy of this work in our collection).

Bradford-Henkels, Bibliographer’s Manual of American History 383; Church 911; Docktor, Cartobibliography of Pennsylvania Maps 231S5 (photocopy of the map); Streeter II.917.

Item #JLR0205

Price: $8,500