Includes bibliographical references (pages 125-126) and index.
An example of a house blessing can be found here: https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/5861
Summary
This book features printed house blessings, a type of Pennsylvania German broadside that is often classified with fraktur because major fraktur artists decorated them. In fact, as God Bless This House points out, few fraktur artists made freehand examples of these blessings, but some artists designed press-printed examples, and many others added color and freehand artwork to printed sheets.
The Pennsylvania German Society, v. series 2, volume 52.
Notes
Printed endpapers.
Summary
Gustav Samuel Peters deserves recognation as the first successful color printer in America. As such, his importance can hardly be overstated, and yet he remains largly unknown. In addition, he can be honored as a pioneer in stereotype printing, a Bible publisher, an engraver and illustrator, a creater and publisher of juveniles and toy-books, as well as a popular broadside and print maker. The list could go on. The story of his life and work reveals a man of talent and innovative genius From immigrant origins he rose to singular importance as a printer and publisher in his adopted country. Throughout his 25-year career he exercised a significant influence on the intellectual and cultural life of America, especially within the Pennsylvania German community.
Penn State University Press for the Library Company of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania German Society,
Date of Publication
2005.
Physical Description
xviii, 367 p. : ill. ; 29 cm.
Series
Publications of the Pennsylvania German Society ; v. 39. Pennsylvania German history and culture series ; no. 6
Notes
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
Song and ballad broadsides -- The broadside and customs of the year -- Political and military broadsides -- Medical broadsides -- Sale bills, advertisements, and bookplates -- Dialect broadsides and community events -- Religious broadsides -- House-blessings and heaven-letters -- The broadside and the rites of passage -- Prints : the picture world of the Pennsylvania Dutch.
Summary
"Fifteenth-century Germany was the birthplace of movable type and of one of its powerful consequences, the broadside. These mass-produced printed sheets allowed both the Renaissance and the Reformation to spread with previously unimaginable speed, and when German immigrants made their way to North America, the cultural significance of the broadside followed.The author defines a broadside as any piece of paper printed on one side that is intended to be given away or sold. Where some experts have narrowed the definition of the broadside to focus primarily on song and ballad broadsides, Professor Yoder’s definition encompasses a much wider range of material. In this more comprehensive approach to the medium, not only “street literature†but also such documents as elegies, spiritual testaments, and certificates of birth, baptism, confirmation, and marriage are all considered legitimate broadsides that tie the individual to the culture of the community. After tracing the migration of the broadside from Germany to America, the author dedicates each of ten chapters to a specific broadside subject." [publisher's comments]
