Stark’s Hand-Buch — 1831 German Devotional Book with Brass Clasps | Johann Friedrich Stark | Antique Leather Binding

A remarkable 19th-century devotional volume: Johann Friedrich Stark’s tägliches Hand-Buch, printed in 1831 in Lancaster for the German-American community by Johann Ritter of Philadelphia.

Bound in full dark leather with two brass clasps, this substantial devotional work features beautiful marbled endpapers, an engraved frontispiece portrait of the author, and a richly printed title page in red and black ink. The text is in German Fraktur type and contains prayers and hymns for every occasion — for the sick, travelers, the dying, and more — a cornerstone of early Lutheran devotional life.

This edition was widely used among early German settlers in Pennsylvania and the Midwest, making surviving copies with original brass clasps highly desirable. The book includes early family notations on an endpaper, offering a tangible connection to its 19th- and early-20th-century owners.

Condition: Very good for age. Light rubbing to leather, hinges sound, brass clasps intact, pages gently toned with some foxing typical of the era. Within are a few pieces of paper scraps tucked in used as page markers from the past. A solid and handsome example of an early German-American devotional binding.

Size: 4 ¾” × 7 ¾”

A wonderful addition for collectors of early religious works, Pennsylvania-German history, or antique devotional bindings.