Title: Einfältiger Unterricht, Wie man die Heil.(ige) Schrift (Simple Instruction - About the Holy Bible). Imprint: Halle: gedruckt und. / Lancaster, ad-gedruckt: bey Francis Bailey / 1775 (Halle: printed and / Lancaster, re-printed by Francis Bailey / 1775) . 22 Pages. Original paper wraps. With Bailey's angel and decorations. (Bailey's angel also appears Here.)
Francis Bailey didn't just print Revolutionary War / Firebrand pamphlets. He also printed mild-mannered Pietism pamphlets, like this rare imprint.
The city of Halle, Germany, was a mother city to Pennsylvania's early Germanic community. Eight members of the first board of trustees of Franklin and Marshall College attended school in Halle in the 1700s, at the "Halle Institutions." (F&M College was called Franklin College when it was first founded.)
The Halle Institutions were founded in 1698 by this pamphlet's author, August Hermann Francke, a godfather of Lutheran Pietism.
The University of Halle, with its associated Halle Institutions, was one of Europe's great centers of learning. The university was an early center of German Enlightenment and liberal academic freedom, making it one of the first modern universities in Europe.
F&M College's first president, Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg, was only 10 years old when his Pennsylvania parents sent him to Germany to Francke's school in Halle, where Gotthilf stayed for eight years. Henry became fluent in Hebrew and Greek, there, in addition to his automatic English and German. Gotthilf's older brother Frederick also studied at Halle, and went on to become the first U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives.
By the time Francis Bailey printed this rare little book in 1775, Gotthilf Muhlenberg had returned home to Pennsylvania from Halle. Gotthilf would have been in his early 20s, and would have to wait 12 more years to become the first president of "America's first German university." Today this F&M College is one of the great American private colleges. The school is multi-lingual and multi-cultural, and is a cornerstone of Lancaster's multi-ethnic communites.
This rare Francis Bailey imprint is un-recorded. (No one knows he printed this, except you!!) I have not located another published reference to this printing. O.K. It was un-recorded until I told you about it here.
Now I need to find one signed and inscribed by Francis Bailey to Henry Ernst Muhlenberg, in 1775, with Henry's thank-you letter laid-in looseleaf.
Other Links: Hermann Francke's "Halle Institutions" school is Here. Today the school is called the Frankesche Stiftungen / Franck Foundations.