Author: [Pennsylvania German]
Title: Eine Wahre Geschichte, Oder Eine Probirte Kunst in Feuers-Gefahr Wie Auch in Pestilenz-Zeiten Zu Gebrauchen
Description: [Pennsylvania?], 1815. Broadside. Illus. with decorative border. 25 x 13 cm. on sheet 29 x 15 cm. Surpassed only by the Magdeburger Himmelsbrief, the most widely printed and circulated German-American broadside that promised protection, this work is a magic charm to protect pregnant women and unborn infants. "The broadside has two parts: the first tells the story, which was 'invented'- the German term is erfunden (found) - by a Christian singing master from Egypt. It tells of seven gypsies or heathens who were condemned to death in Prussia. Six of them were executed, and the seventh, an eighty-year-old man, was to be executed some days later. At the moment of execution a fire broke out, and the old man was rushed to the fire and was able to quench it quickly. This feat earned him his freedom. The second part of the broadside - the implication is that it represents what the old man said in quenching the fire - is a text that a person had to repeat while circling a fire, conjuring it, in the name of God, to cease spreading and burning. One line is 'I commend you, fire, to place your embers next to Jesus Christ, precious blood he has shed for us for our sins and misdeeds.'. The last section of the text informs the reader that whoever has this broadside in his house will be protected against fire, and that a pregnant person who owns this broadside will be shielded against sorcery, evil, and illness. Additionally, everyone in the house is promised protection from the black death. The house blessings as well as the protection texts respond to a desire for protection that seems, in this form, to be peculiar to the Germans in America," Hermann Wellenreuther, 'Citizens in a Strange Land: A Study of German-American Broadsides and Their meaning for Germans in North America 1730-1830' (University Park: Penn State, 2013), p. 72-4. Scarce, and unusual to survive without having been folded. OCLC locates only two copies of this edition: Lib. Co. of Phila. and Penn State; there are 4 copies of a slightly larger version at: American Antiquarian Society, Penn State, Lib. Co. of Phila. and Univ. Rochester Medical. Yoder: Pennsylvania German Broadsides, p. 221-222. Wellenreuther: No. 500. OCLC: 55500468. OCLC: 775787359. A very good copy, some marginal spotting and tiny nicks on the edges.

Keywords: , Americana, Science & Medicine, Charms Folklore Romanies incantations Fire Prussia Germany German American Pennsylvania , Broadside Science & Medicine


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