Claustro

1745 · ref. 41368 — Ephrata. 1745. From the Ephrata Press Evans calls this "The first book printed at the Brotherhood press" of the Ephrata Cloister and it is generally accepted as such. Seidensticker suggests that a press was in operation before 1745 although he locates no earlier Ephrata imprints. The "Golden Apple" is a devotional book of the Swiss-Mennonite brethren originally printed in Basel in 1702 and reprinted there in 1742. This Ephrata printing is the third edition of the text containing devotional works from a variety of sources including the Anabaptists. The overall emphasis of the texts is to shore up the spirit in the face of adversity and would have been especially useful to the relatively new Ephrata Cloister which was established in 1732 in what is now Lancaster County Pennsylvania. Known for their simple and monastic lifestyle the community established their own printing press after their leader Conrad Beissel had a falling out with pioneering German-American printer Christoph Saur. There are two issues of this collection one with a titlepage noting its intended use by the Ephrata community as in the present copy and another with a titlepage noting its use by the Mennonites. The "Mennonite titlepage" is also found in this copy bound in at the rear as is sometimes the case. 12mo. Contemporary calf over wooden boards rebacked with portion of original backstrip laid down lower clasp on binding present upper clasp lacking. Boards worn leather stripped from lower portion of rear board exposing word born. Text intermittently tanned some foxing. Titlepage and following thirty leaves with an old stain in outer portion of each leaf; several later leaves stained in lower margin not affecting text. Overall a good plus copy. ARNDT 76. EVANS 5603. ESTC W6901. HILDEBURN 932. DOLL & FUNKE 370. BENDER p.2. SEIDENSTICKER p.26. hardcover