Neue Testament unsers Herrn und Heilandes Jesu Christi

1828. BIBLE. NEW TESTAMENT. GERMAN. Das Neue Testament unsers Herrn und Heilandes Jesu Christi.... Princeton: D. A. Borrenstein, 1828. 272, [1] p. Contemporary sheep. Covers detached, extremities worn. With manuscript calligraphic ownership of "Wm. Dorris Jr., Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, Jan. 5th 1837" and a crude but charming drawing of Dorris's "country seat" on the front binder's blanks.

The first book in German type printed in New Jersey. Although the actual presswork was probably done in Princeton by David Borrenstein, who we know owned the type, the book was printed from stereotype plates made in Philadelphia by Jedidiah Howe. There is no other evidence of German type in use in New Jersey until the establishment of German newspapers in the early 1850s. It is interesting to speculate on Borrenstein's reasoning in printing a German-language book in New Jersey, which in 1828 had relatively few German-speaking residents. The book is quite rare. In more than 50 years of specializing in New Jerseyana, in Princeton, this is only the third copy we have had for sale. Shoemaker 32319; German Language Printing in the United States 2966; Felcone, Printing in Princeton, 103.