![[TERSTEEGEN, Gerhard (1697-1769). Der Frommen Lotterie, oder Geistliches Schatzkästlein. Germantown: Christopher Sauer, 1744].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2006/NYR/2006_NYR_01680_0284_000(122202).jpg?w=1)
CARD GAMES
GERMANY
[TERSTEEGEN, Gerhard (1697-1769). Der Frommen Lotterie, oder Geistliches Schatzkästlein. Germantown: Christopher Sauer, 1744].
細節
[TERSTEEGEN, Gerhard (1697-1769). Der Frommen Lotterie, oder Geistliches Schatzkästlein. Germantown: Christopher Sauer, 1744].
367 (of 381) paper cards or tickets (52 x 101 mm), printed in German, each with a Bible verse followed by a rhymed explanation taken from Tersteegen's Geistliches Blumen-Gärtlein. The cards are in their original calf box with pull-off lid. Provenance: Benjamin T. Green (?), October 1st, 1788 (contemporary ownership signature on the top lid).
The cards are numbered like lottery tickets, "...each containing a poetic gem composed by the celebrated Gerhard Tersteegen, and a verse or passage from the Scriptures. These tickets were enclosed in neat cases, some made of leather, and others of wood, nicely dove-tailed. The good people in olden time enjoyed themselves, generally on Sunday afternoons, by drawing prizes out of this sacred or spiritual treasury, and often when they felt gloomy or despondent, they would resort to it in the hope of drawing some promise or consolation to cheer their drooping spirits" (Hildeburn). No copies have been sold at auction in the past 30 years, and RLG online catalogue lists copies at Penn State University (number of cards unknown), the Winterthur Museum (318 cards), and Duke University (366 cards) only. EXTREMELY RARE. Evans 5501; Hildeburn Pennsylvania 905; Rosenbach Children's Books 30.
367 (of 381) paper cards or tickets (52 x 101 mm), printed in German, each with a Bible verse followed by a rhymed explanation taken from Tersteegen's Geistliches Blumen-Gärtlein. The cards are in their original calf box with pull-off lid. Provenance: Benjamin T. Green (?), October 1st, 1788 (contemporary ownership signature on the top lid).
The cards are numbered like lottery tickets, "...each containing a poetic gem composed by the celebrated Gerhard Tersteegen, and a verse or passage from the Scriptures. These tickets were enclosed in neat cases, some made of leather, and others of wood, nicely dove-tailed. The good people in olden time enjoyed themselves, generally on Sunday afternoons, by drawing prizes out of this sacred or spiritual treasury, and often when they felt gloomy or despondent, they would resort to it in the hope of drawing some promise or consolation to cheer their drooping spirits" (Hildeburn). No copies have been sold at auction in the past 30 years, and RLG online catalogue lists copies at Penn State University (number of cards unknown), the Winterthur Museum (318 cards), and Duke University (366 cards) only. EXTREMELY RARE. Evans 5501; Hildeburn Pennsylvania 905; Rosenbach Children's Books 30.