Bookplate for Sara Hoch, David Kulp (1777-1834) Bucks County, Pennsyvlania, 1808

Watercolor and ink on paper, in Die kleine geistliche Harfe der Kinder zions (The Small Holy Harp of the Children of Zion) (Germantown, Pennsylvania: Michael Billmeyer, 1803)

Inscribed (translated from German) recto, ink: This spiritually rich hymnal/belongs to Sara Hochin / written 28 December 1808.

Mrs. Webster Achey, Spring Valley, Pennsylvania
Harry B. Hartman, Marietta. Pennsylvania
Barry Cohen, New York
Kate and Joel Kopp, America Hurrah, and David A. Schorsch, New York, 1990

"Folk Art Revealed," New York, American Folk Art Museum, November 16, 2004-August 23, 2009

Schorsch, David A. The Barry Cohen Collection. New York: America Hurrah and David A. Schorsch, 1990, p. 59
American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerican Gift to the American Folk Art Museum, p. 233, fig. 204

Some discoloration; worn edges; overall very good.
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Nearly every Pennsylvania German had a library, but only in exceptional cases did it contain more than half a dozen books. Most were religious in nature. A Bible or the New Testament and the Book of Psalms bound together was common to all, but right next to it was the hymnal of one's religious affiliation; each person had his or her own to take along to church or meeting. Before American editions appeared (Brethren, 1744; Lutheran, 1786; Reformed, 1797; Franconia Mennonite, 1803; Lancaster Mennonite, 1804), European hymnals, especially those from Marburg, were used-so many, in fact, that leaders in worship had difficulty specifying from which hymnal to sing. Except for the Mennonite-Amish Ausbund, which was initially compiled in Reformation days, most hymns were from the Lutheran chorale and Pietist hymn traditions, and there was considerable duplication. Johann Arndt's True Christianity (1605-9) and Johann Friederich Starck's Daily Handbook in Good and Bad Days (1727) were also popular. Many individuals also owned a catechism, Luther's among his fellow believers and the Heidelberg for the Reformed. And a book of cures for man or beast or both, the only really secular tome, was frequently to be found.

Ownership was often stated by a signature or a fraktur title page, usually drawn on a separate leaf of paper and tipped into the book. Mennonite schoolmasters such as David Kulp prepared many of these, as in this bookplate for Sarah Hoch. Since the books are kept closed except when in use, ex libris frakturs are usually splendid in their original colors, which often transferred to the facing or a subsequent page. Grandparents or baptismal sponsors were usually the donors of these books, a fact that only enhanced their further role as a keepsake. -F.S.W.