Umständige Geographische Beschreibung Der zu allerletzt erfundenen Provintz Pensylvaniæ, In denen End-Gräntzen Americæ In der West-Welt gelegen. . . BOUND WITH Continuatio Der Beschreibung der Landschafft Pensylvaniæ An denen End-Gräntzen Americæ. Uber vorige des Herrn Pastorii Relationes. . . AND WITH Curieuse Nachricht Von Pensylvania in Norden-America, Welche, Auf Begehren guter Freunde. Uber vorgelegte 103. Fragen. . .
GERMANTOWN, CRADLE OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION TO AMERICA
FROM THE RUSSIAN HYDROGRAPHIC DEPOT LIBRARY
Pastorius, Francis Daniel. Umständige Geographische Beschreibung Der zu allerletzt erfundenen Provintz Pensylvaniæ, In denen End-Gräntzen Americæ In der West-Welt gelegen, Durch Franciscum Danielem Pastorium, J. V. Lic. Und Friedens Richtern daselbsten. Worbey angehencket sind einige notable Begebenheiten, und Bericht-Schrieben an dessen Herrn Vattern Melchiorum Adamum Pastorium Und andere gute Freunde. Frankfurt and Leipzig: Andreas Otto, 1700.
bound with
Gabriel Thomas. Continuatio Der Beschreibung der Landschafft Pensylvaniæ An denen End-Gräntzen Americæ. Uber vorige des Herrn Pastorii Relationes. In sich haltend: Die Situation, und Fructhbarkeit des Erdbodens. Die Schifftreiche und andere Flüsse. Die Anzahl derer bißhero gebauten Städte. Die seltsame Creaturen an Thieren, Vögeln und Fischen. Die Mineralien und Edelgesteine. Deren eingebohrnen wilden Völcker Sprachen, Religion und Gebräuche. Unde die ersten Christlichen Pflantzer unde Anbauer dieses Landes. Beschrieben von Gabriel Thomas 15. Jährigen Inwohner dieses Landes. Welchem Tractätlein noch beygefüget sind: Des Hn. Daniel Falckners Burgers und Pilgrims in Pensylvania 193. Beantwortungen uff[1]vorgelegte Fragen von guten Freunden. Frankfurt and Leipzig: Andreas Otto, 1702.
and with
Daniel Falckner. Curieuse Nachricht Von Pensylvania in Norden-America, Welche, Auf Begehren guter Freunde. Uber vorgelegte 103. Fragen, bey seiner Abreiß aus Teutschland nach obigem Lande Anno 1700. ertheilet, und nun Anno 1702 in den Druck gegeben worden. Von Daniel Falknern, Professore, Burgern und Pilgrim allda. Frankfurt and Leipzig: Andreas Otto, 1702.
Octavo (6 1/8” x 3 5/8”, 155mm x 92mm): )(6 A-H8 I6, 2A6 2B-C8, 3A-D8 [$5 signed; –)(1, H5, 2A1, 3A1]. 130 leaves (Beschreibung: 76, Continuatio: 22, Nachricht: 32), pp. [12] (title, blank, 2pp. to the reader, 8pp. preface) 1-140, [4] (Continuatio title, blank, 2pp. to the reader) 21-40, [6] (Nachricht title, blank, 4pp. preface) 31-58. With a folding engraved map of “Pennsylvania und West Jersey” in the Beschreibung (but issued with the Continuatio).
Bound in contemporary sprinkled sheep. On the spine, four raised bands. Author and title (“PASTORII/ Beschreibung/ von/ PENSYLVA”) gilt to citron sheep in the second panel. All edges of the text-block speckled brown and red.
A little splayed, with some peripheral rubbing. Wear and a small patch of skinning at the fore-corners. Paper pasted label (completed in ink manuscript: “7”) to the first panel (lifting a little), obscuring an earlier paper label. An ink manuscript shelf-mark (A2048) to the lower spine-edge of the rear cover. Passages of foxing to E1-I6 and throughout the second and third works. Remnants of a library label to the front paste-down, with some faded ink-stamps below. A faint oval ink-label (fluoresces under ultra-violet light) to the title-page, along with manuscript shelf-marks and early ink ownership marks at the lower edge: ?“Sl. Franc/ 1704” and an HE monogram. Library label of the Hydrographic Depot Library (Библiотека Гидрогр. Депо) completed in ink and graphite manuscript.
Francis Daniel Pastorius (Franz, 1651–ca. 1720) was born in Sommerhausen in the duchy of Franconia, within modern Bavaria in Germany. He received his doctorate in law in 1675 and practiced and taught for a few years before going abroad in 1680, including to England. Upon his return in 1682 he heard of the early Christian settlements in William Penn’s Pennsylvania, a promised land of tolerance and abundance. By the 16th of August 1683 he had landed in the New World and quickly sought and obtained the friendship of Penn himself. Penn and Pastorius were twin lights in the Commonwealth; Penn of religious tolerance, Pastorius of abolition.
Pastorius, on behalf of the Teutsche Landcompagnie — which would eventually re-organize as the Frankfurter Landgesellschaft — bought land from Penn north-northwest of Philadelphia and established Germantown (Germantaun, to use German orthography) as a dedicated settlement for immigrants from along the Rhine: German, Dutch and Swiss. Here Penn’s utopia of religious pluralism came to nourish a multitude of denominations (Lutheran, Mennonite, Quaker, Pietist, Brethren (Dunkers or Dunkards) etc.) and eventually gave birth to the first American condemnation of human bondage: Pastorius’ 1688 Germantown Quaker petition against slavery.
The present Sammelband brings together, in essence, answers to questions regarding Germantown, immigration and America. The 1700 Beschreibung (description) draws on Penn’s own “Letter to the Committee of the Free Society of Traders” first published in Hamburg in 1684 and includes additional letters, including from Pastorius to his father Adam Melchior. The 1702 Continuatio (continuation) of the first work by Gabriel Thomas — as the title notes, a 15-year resident of Germantown — delves into broader questions of climate, landscape, flora and fauna. Daniel Falkner — who took over from Pastorius when he was finally relieved of his duties at Germantown in January 1700 (Arader has handled the official letter releasing Pastorius) — takes the FAQ model the most literally: he answers 103 specific questions (the “193” in the title to the Continuatio is perhaps an intentional error) in his Nachricht (bulletin or report). In brief, the book is designed for the curious German-speaking immigrant, as much informational as persuasive, to the New World.
The map of Pennsylvania and West Jersey — the division of the two parts of the future state obtained from 1674 to 1702 — first appeared in the London 1698 edition of Thomas’s History of Pennsylvania, and is attributed to Philip Lea.
Although the earlier marks of ownership have been obliterated, the label of the Библiотека Гидрографического Депо (Biblioteka Gidrographicheskogo Depo) places this volume in the Russian naval library in the narrow window of 1827 (its foundation) to 1837 (its conversion to the Office of the Hydrographer General). It is a curious provenance, but one that points to the importance of the work for the history of early Pennsylvania, as well to the usefulness of the map.
Alden-Landis 700/212 (Beschreibung), 702/188 (Continuatio), 702/72 (Nachricht); Howes P 115 (Beschreibung), T 167 (Continuatio), F12 (Nachricht); Sabin 59028 (Beschreibung), 95394 (Continuatio, incl. Nachricht), 23739 (Nachricht).
[1] I.e., “auff”?
Item #JLR0815
Price: $18,500