From William Reese Company - Americana, New Haven, CT, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
AbeBooks Seller since 13 July 2006
About this Item
[8],120pp., including woodcut head and tailpiece. Modern half calf and marbled boards, spine gilt with raised bands and morocco label. Internally clean with only a few small, scattered stains. Very good plus. A mid-18th-century account of German colonists in Pennsylvania, by compatriot and traveller Gottlieb Mittelberger, reprinted in Frankfurt from the initial Stuttgart edition of the same year. Mittelberger's narrative is highly valuable for its firsthand information on the state of colonial Pennsylvania just prior to the French and Indian War. In particular, he gives many details of religious and cultural practices, social customs, societal structure, aspects of trade and agriculture, prevalent illnesses, and Indian relations, as well as providing a detailed and lengthy description of the hardships of the transatlantic journey. The work is also notable for its frank appraisal of sexual behavior in Pennsylvania, and its denunciation of indentured servitude. Mittelberger travelled to Philadelphia from Heilbronn in 1750, and became a music and German teacher, before he returned in 1754, disappointed by his experiences. Indeed, his account is intended as warning to Germans not to immigrate to the colonies. Not only was the voyage a miserable one, according to the author, but the German immigrants were at great risk of being exploited in indentured servitude, which was often the price of passage, and being put to work in horrific conditions. Beyond this danger, Mittelberger reports on a widespread lack of religious belief and a prevalence of loose morals that he finds to be overwhelming. A fascinating although highly critical report on Pennsylvania in the early 1750s. HOWES M705, "aa." SABIN 49761 (ref). REESE & OSBORN, STRUGGLE FOR NORTH AMERICA 35. Seller Inventory # WRCAM52604
Bibliographic Details
Title: GOTTLIEB MITTELBERGERS REISE NACH ...
Publisher: Frankfurt
Publication Date: 1756
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