Gebett Bücht

Hardeck, Bavaria, 1817. Full Morocco. Very Good. A magnificent example of Folk Art and Peasant Rococo decoration. 12mo. 17.5 by 10 cm. 246 pp. Created by Thoma of Hardeck, in Bavaria, for his betrothed, Maria Dorothea Seidlerin of Maiersreith. Hardeck is now a district of Bad Neualbenreuth which is by the Czech border, and we assume that Maierreith was a nearby village now also absorbed by a larger municipality. This manuscript prayer book abounds in art. It is tricky and elusive to give a precise accounting of the quantity, given the subjectivity of distinguishing ornamental vignettes, which are generally repeated and generally are stereotypical watercolored decoration in such manuscript prayer books, such as flowers and foliage, and pages dominated by artwork that can claim more originality in its actualization, even if the subject matter is that which one finds in virtually every such manuscript prayer book and ubiquitous generally in Catholic literature and artwork. Nonetheless, we would say that between 15 and 20 pages are fully or mostly covered with artwork, and twenty or more pages have vignettes beyond the border bands which appear on every page. Plus there is, on a separate card, a watercolored rendering of the Virgin Mary. Some of the watercolor illustration is heightened in gold, thereby justly qualifying the artwork as illuminated in the fuller sense. The binding shows some wear, with minor loss to the leather. The title page suffers from moderate staining, with a resulting blurring of a few letters. Minor staining crops up throughout the manuscript.