Christ-katholisches Bettbuch: Gebetter aus vielen geistlichen Buecheren gezogen, fuer mich: Mararetha Pfaden-Hauerin. . . .

Keuth an der Crassen, 1797. Full Blindstamped Calf. Good. A fine Folk Art manuscript prayer book from the late eighteenth century. 8vo. 17.5 by 10.5 cm. 516, [13], [1] pp. With eight full page paintings, plus vignette decoration throughout, much pretty floral ornamentation, but also a serpent, a basilisk, etc. Most writing is a neat, now archaic cursive, but headings and the like rendered in an easily readable, ornamental Fraktur Gothic. The paintings are the highlight, most will find. Their subject matter is quintessential and perhaps not unusual or original -- Momento Mori, St. George slaying the dragon, etc. -- but the execution is done with uncommon polish. The authorship is stated, but also a tad confusing. Our interpretation is that a Konrad Mueller created the book for Margaretha Pfaden-Hauerin. Condition: moderate wear to contemporary full calf binding. Unusual is a 13 page "Register", or Table of Contents, in the rear. By unusual, we mean for such a manuscript prayer book. Also a page of handwritten genealogical notes written on a prior blank leaf, and written much later, in the mid to late 19th Century. Moderate, sometimes heavy, soiling to margins of leaves. Corner cut out of front endpaper. Some loose gatherings.