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BOOK RE VIEW

Karl J. R. Arndt and Reimer C. Eck, eds.

The First Century of German Language Printing

in the United States of America. Volume 1 (1728-

1807); Volume 2 (1808-1830), comps. Gerd-J.

Bötte and Werner Tannhof, with Annelies

Müller. Göttingen: Niederäschsische Staats-

und Universitäts-bibliothek Göttingen, 1989.

Pp. xxx, 1-594; [iv], 595-1245. $100.

Issued as Volumes XXI-XXII (1987-88) of

the Publications of the Pennsylvania German

Society, the present reference work is the

long-awaited updating of the classic bibliog-

raphy of German-American imprints by Prof.

Oswald Seidensticker (1825-1894), published

in 1893 as The First Century of German Printing

in America. The completion of this task by

librarian-scholars associated with the Univer-

sity of Göttingen represents a satisfying com-

pletion of the circle. That university has been

a leader in American studies beginning with

the work of Prof. A. W. Schlözer in the late

18th century. Its library collection of North

American imprints is outstanding in Ger-

many. And finally, Göttingen was the birth-

place of Oswald Seidensticker.

It does not take away from Seidensticker's

pioneering achievement that soon after its

appearance others published notices of items

Seidensticker had missed (Whether intended

or not, one of the results of efforts to compile

complete bibliographies is to bring to light

obscure and hidden copies of rare imprints

previously unseen by scholars). Among the

most active was Ammon R. Stapleton writing

in The Pennsylvania German (1904-1905).

Gerhard Griedrich added further titles in

Pennsylvania History (1940), based on his

cataloging project in the Abraham Harley

Cassel Collection at Juniata College. In addi-

tion to such specific updatings of Seiden-

sticker, a large number of regional and

national bibliographies turned up additional

items. Examples of the latter are A. Rachel

Minick, A History of Printing in Maryland, 1791-

1800 (1949) and Roger P. Bristol, Maryland

Imprints, 1801-1810 (1953). Then Wilbur H.

Oda published a number of bibliographical

articles in the Pennsylvania Dutchman in the

1950's, as part of his revised and enlarged

edition of Seidensticker's early compilation.

Professor Arndt of Clark University, well-

known in the field for his massive annotated

listing of German-American newspapers

(with May E. Olson), sought funding in the

United States and the Federal Republic of

Germany to continue the Oda initiative, cut

short by the latter's death. A German grant

allowed Annelies Müller to pursue the project,

but she soon discovered that a more broadly-

based and better-funded effort was needed to

do justice to the task. This came with a sizable

grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemein-

schaft through the Göttingen library. A

trained librarian, Werner Tannhof, assisted

by his wife Monika, spent two years in the

United States (1983-1985), visiting more than

one hundred public and private collections to

gather data. To ensure accuracy, the Tann-

hofs made extensive copies of titlepages and

other significant material. Back in Germany,

Werner Tannhof worked on the collected

data, using computers and internationally

accepted cataloging rules; when he took

another position, Gerd-J. Bötte completed the

task.

The result of these many years of labor is

impressive. The number of German-American

imprints through 1830 has been more than

doubled (3151 entries). Full titles and meticu-

lous collation (including signatures) allow

much more precise identification of variant

issues. A large number of locations are given

(ordinarily ten is the limit), using the code-

system established by the Library of Con-

gress; specific library designations (or note of

presence in private collections) are provided

for those copies used for the main entries.

Rather inclusive references to other biblio-

graphical listings are appended for each

entry. There are a generous number of illus-

trations of titlepages, often supplied from the

holdings of the library at Göttingen.

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The unprecedented compilation in one

place of this data bank and intensive labor

with it often allowed the compilers to identify

places of printing and names of printers,

where these were lacking on imprints. Dis-

tinctive typefonts and printers' ornamenta-

tions usually provided the distinguishing

clues. The rationale is provided by the com-

pilers: "Since no individual researcher in any

collection may ever have the opportunity to

compare as many individual imprints at any

one time, we felt obliged to try to assign as

many items as possible to individual printing

offices" (xii). The same process allowed the

identification of several "ghosts" (previously

cited titles which never existed). They

acknowledge that these procedures are not

without risk and welcome corrections.

In deference to the Seidensticker model,

imprints are listed year by year from 1728

through 1830, and alphabetically within each

year by place of publication and printer. Also

following the early pattern, sizes of imprints

are given in the older manner (e.g., folio, 4vo,

8vo etc.). Judgements may vary as to the wis-

dom of these decisions. A number of indexes

at the end of Volume 2 compensate for the

limitations of this order; they provide a main

index (including names of authors, editors,

translators, engravers, booksellers, and com-

posers, as well as titles), an index of printers,

publishers and stereotypes, an index of places

of printing and publications, and an index of

genre types (derived from a thesaurus for rare

books). Some considerable use suggests that

the indexes are complete and accurate. It was

not possible for lack of time (and likely of

space) to provide a subject index based on

Library of Congress headings.

By policy decision, the two volumes do not

present a total picture of German-American

printing. They omit newspapers (recently

listed in Arndt/Olson); they also do not

include broadsides, although information on

some 1200 of these usually rare items were

collected in the course of the project. A third

volume devoted to these rare imprints will be

necessary, although no specific plans for this

are reported. This absolutely necessary task

should be given a high priority; it would be an

useful and worthy project for a foundation

grant.

The volumes are attractively designed, with

the typefont well-chosen to allow concen-

trated text without losing legibility. The bind-

ing follows the pattern of the Pennsylvania

German Society. Despite the complex process

of compilation/editing and the detailed text,

typographical and other errors have been

held to an acceptable minimum. That there

are some is revealed, for example, on the page

of acknowledgments, where "truely" is found

instead of "truly" and, more seriously,

"Hover" is listed instead of "Hoover."

There is a mistaken attribution for a Lan-

caster imprint of 1788, Der Besiegte Wiedertäufer

(#707). Following Clifford K. Shipton and

James E. Mooney, National Index of American

Imprints Through 1800 (1969), the compilers

assign the authorship to a Peter Bläser. It

should instead be Dr. John Christopher

Kunze (1744-1807), a recognized Lutheran

divine in Philadelphia and New York. It was a

rebuttal of the Apologie (#696) by Alexander

Mack, Jr. (1712-1803); Mack responded to the

refutation in another small book, Anhang zum

Widerlegten Wiedertäufer (#695).

As monumental as is The First Century in this

form, and as helpful as it will be to many

researchers from a wide variety of disciplines,

it will not be a final word. Recent auction

catalogs from the extensive collection of

German-American imprints by Donald R.

Hinks have several references to relevant

items not included. Because the Hinks collec-

tion was used in the present work and loca-

tions to it were noted, its ongoing dispersal

will make such references out-of-date. Never-

theless, all those connected with the project

deserve much credit for the devoted labors,

great care, and exemplary scholarship mani-

fested in it. It is a very significant achievement.

All academic libraries and many individual

researchers will need to acquire it. It will be

indispensable for many years.

Donald F. Durnbaugh

Elizabethtown College

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