Deutsche & Englische Vorschriften für die Jugend.

[Reading, Pennsylvania], 1833.. 21 copperplate engravings, verso blank. Oblong 8vo. Orig. blue wraps, stitched (front neatly detached and with a small loss; loss to corner of rear). Orange reinforcement. Spine perished. Carl Friedrich Egelmann was an astronomer, newspaperman, and poet, who provided most of the astronomical calculations for the principal American almanacs published in the first third of the 19th century. He was also an engraver, with this being his only book, containing engraved examples of handwriting in German (Fraktur) and English. The engraving on the title-page is a fine example of Federalist art, though influenced by Pennsylvania German folk art traditions. A cartouche surrounds the title, surmounted by an all-seeing eye with the motto “He Shines For All”. A woman (likely Justice; with scales but not blindfolded) is seated on the cartouche to the upper right and holds the Declaration of Independence, and tools for farming, mining, and surveying fill the upper and lower left, with a globe to the lower right. Texts for handwriting practice in Fraktur include texts on lions and elephants, while texts for practice in the Latin alphabet include collections of epigrams along with an example of a bond (dated) and a text on the heavenly bodies. The last two plates show the signs of all the known elements and a demonstration fabric sampler. Included throughout are brief poems signed in the plate by Egelmann. Plates foxed and with a large tide mark to the first ten plates; small watermarks and old stains throughout. Wear to corners. Small red stain to title-page. Rear wrapper pierced (as if by a bored child) with a needle repeatedly in a small area. (Inventory #: B244155-1)