Item Info

Scripts/Text: Fraktur; Roman print
Language: German; English
Physical Description: Leaf
Material: Laid paper; ink
Transcription:

Haus=Segen.
IN GOTTES Namen geh ich aus, Ach HERR! regier du heut das Haus: \ Die Hausfrau und die Kinder mein, Laß dir, O GOTT! befohlen sein. Bewahr mein \ Herze, Mund und Hand, Vor großen Lastern und vor Schand: Gib daß ich mein sach \ wohl richt aus, Und wider fröhlich komm zu Haus, Daß solches, O getreuer \ HErr! \ Gereichen möcht zu deiner Ehr. Hüt dich, fluch nicht in meinem Haus, oder geh \ bald zur Thür hinaus: Es möcht sonst GOtt vom Himmelreich \ Auch Strafen mich und dich zugleich.

EPHRATA: \ gedruckt, und zu ha- \ ben bey JOHN \ BAUMAN. \ 1801.

[in heart on left]
O leite mich in Segen, \ dem großen ziel ent= \ gegen, dahin dein \ Wort mich \ weißt.

[in heart on right]
Mein leben und mein \ ende ist dein, in dei= \ ne Hände, befehl \ ich meinen \ Geist.

Translation:

House Blessing
In God’s name I go out; O Lord, rule over my house today. Let the wife and my children be commended to you, o God. Preserve my heart, mouth and hand from great sin and shame; take care that I do my work well, and return home cheerfully, that such, o faithful Lord, will suffice for your honor. Restrain yourself, don’t curse in my house, or go soon out the door. Or else God from heaven will punish me and you at the same time.

Ephrata: printed and to be had from John Bauman, 1801.

[in heart on left]
O, lead me in blessings toward the great goal, to there your word is directing me.

[in heart on right]
My life and my end is yours, in your hands I order my spirit.

Category: House Blessing (Haussegen)
Media Type: Letterpress Prints
Source: Rare Book Department
Notes:

Printed form. The main text in fraktur is within a large heart in the center of the document. The two additional printed verses are in the lower corners within hearts. Flowering vines protrude from the hearts, which are flanked by a pair of birds on branches. In the upper corners are two parrots on flowering branches. Three stems of flowers are in the top center. The woodcut images were printed in red ink and are not decorated.
Klaus Stopp cites an 1802 birth and baptismal certificate as the only known extant dated Bauman imprint and the first one to show Bauman’s name. Stopp notes that other scholars cited examples of 1801 edition but he was unable to locate any copies of it. Therefore this may be the only extant Bauman 1801 imprint as well as the earliest known dated Bauman imprint. John Bauman began printing at Ephrata in 1800 and continued until his death in 1809.

Associated Names: Bauman, John
Bibliography:

Klaus Stopp, The Printed Birth and Baptismal Certificates of the German Americans (East Berlin, Pa.: Russell D. Earnest Associates, 1997) vol. 2, pp. 190-192.

Russell D. Earnest, Corinne P. Earnest, and Patricia Earnest Suter, God Bless This House: The Printed House Blessings (Haus-Segen) of the Pennsylvania Germans 1780-1921 (Clayton, Del.: Russell D. Earnest Associates, 2015), listed on p. 31.  

Creation Place Town/Township: Creation Place Note:Based on location of printshop.
Region/County:Lancaster
City/Town/Township:Ephrata
State/Province:Pennsylvania

Creation Year (Single Year or Range Begin): 1801
Image Dimensions Width: 30.5 cm
ShelfMark: FLP 250
Creator Name: Anonymous - Decorator
Anonymous - Scrivener
John Baumann (1765-1809) - Printer/Publisher