Lot Essay
Henrich Otto (Feb. 5, 1733-d. 1799) came to America on October 2, 1753 on board theEdinburghand settled in what is now Tulpehocken Township, Berks County. He appears, however, to have worked largely in Lancaster County between circa 1755-97, and most of his fraktur were printed at Ephrata Cloister. Henrich Otto worked as a school master from 1758-1759, staying in the Berks-Lancaster area through 1766. By 1790, Otto and his family moved to Northumberland County just south of Sunbury.
Otto's certificates and illuminated texts include a range of techniques. His earlier, hand-drawn fraktur appear to have been executed largely in the 1770s, while in the 1780s he began to have his birth and baptismal records printed. Several birth and baptismal certificates by Henrich Otto exist in museum collections including a printed and hand-decorated certificate for Johan Ernst, post-dated 1769, in the Titus C. Geesey Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art (see Garvan et al, The Pennsylvania German Collection (Philadelphia, 1982), p. 296, fig. 1), as well as a birth and baptismal certificate for Barbara Miller in the Free Library of Philadelphia, see Heaney and Weiser,The Pennsylvania German Fraktur of The Free Library of Philadelphia,Vol. II (Breinigsville, 1976), fig. 282. A printed and hand-decorated house blessing sold Christie's New York, Pennsylvania German Folk Art from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Flanders Smith, On the Premises of Lebanon Valley Exposition Center, Saturday, June 3, 1995, lot 164.
Otto's certificates and illuminated texts include a range of techniques. His earlier, hand-drawn fraktur appear to have been executed largely in the 1770s, while in the 1780s he began to have his birth and baptismal records printed. Several birth and baptismal certificates by Henrich Otto exist in museum collections including a printed and hand-decorated certificate for Johan Ernst, post-dated 1769, in the Titus C. Geesey Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art (see Garvan et al, The Pennsylvania German Collection (Philadelphia, 1982), p. 296, fig. 1), as well as a birth and baptismal certificate for Barbara Miller in the Free Library of Philadelphia, see Heaney and Weiser,The Pennsylvania German Fraktur of The Free Library of Philadelphia,Vol. II (Breinigsville, 1976), fig. 282. A printed and hand-decorated house blessing sold Christie's New York, Pennsylvania German Folk Art from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Flanders Smith, On the Premises of Lebanon Valley Exposition Center, Saturday, June 3, 1995, lot 164.