[Breverl produced for pilgrims to Wallfahrtskirche Maria Steinbach‏ (Legau, Germany), approximately 1750-1799]

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Henry Charles Lea Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

German

Subjects (All):

Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint--Devotion to--Germany--18th century--Early works to 1800.

Mary.

Maria Steinbach (Church : Legau, Germany)‏--Early works to 1800.

Maria Steinbach (Church : Legau, Germany)‏.

Amulets--Germany--18th century--Specimens.

Amulets.

Talismans--Germany--18th century--Specimens.

Talismans.

Genre:

Amulets.

Physical Description:

1 folded sheet ([9] panels) : 13 mounted woodcuts ; sheet 204 x 144 mm, folded to 69 x 51 mm

Place of Publication:

[Legau, Germany?] : [publisher not identified], [between 1750 and 1799]

Summary:

An unfolded Breverl, a "very popular compound amulet … usually made in a convent" which "contains in a case: (1) a folded prayer-sheet, (2) a folded woodcut or engraving showing nine patron saints, (3) a small print or invocation either of the Three Magi or St. Agatha, (4) a collection of miniature devotional objects pasted on a stiff cardboard, and (5) a largish folded woodcut or engraving of the Pestkreuz (a protection against the plague), surrounded by various patron saints and magico-religious texts …The opening of its case, whether of metal, silk, velvet, embroidery or paper, was believed to destroy its protective virtues. The Breverl was carried on the person, and usually suspended from a string around the neck" (Ellen Ettlinger, "The Hildburgh Collection of Austrian and Bavarian Amulets in the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum," Folklore 76.2 (Summer 1965), pages 110-111). This example was distributed to pilgrims to Wallfahrtskirche Maria Steinbach‏ (Legau, Germany) during the second half of the 18th century.

Notes:

Title devised by cataloger.

Probable place of publication and date of manufacture supplied from bookseller's description.

Paper sheet with one colored (now pink) side, originally folded twice vertically and twice horizontally to enclose on 9 panels on the uncolored side of the sheet 11 mounted woodcuts (2 folded), 1 mounted folded printed leaf, and a collection of miniature devotional objects affixed to a card. Two woodcuts are mounted on the colored side of the sheet, on the front and back panels of the Breverl when folded. The whole may have been housed in a green silk case, of which only a fragment remains. Two of the miniature objects are detached and laid in.

Colored side of sheet contains 2 woodcuts, one (63 x 42 mm) of Our Lady of Sorrows with xylographic caption: S. Maria v Stenibach (probably the front of the Breverl) and one (60 x 47 mm) of the Virgin Mary and Child Jesus surrounded by six-pointed stars (probably the back of the Breverl).

Uncolored side of sheet contains 3 rows of woodcuts, each approximately 60 x 40 mm unless otherwise noted. Top row: woodcut of St. Francis of Assisi and companions (exorcising a demon?) with xylographic caption: S Francis serahus Marie; woodcut of decapitated head of St. Anastasius of Persia surrounded by a wreath, the whole with xylographic caption: S Anasta[s]ius Marter, beneath which is pasted a second woodcut (32 x 86 mm folded to 32 x 29 mm) with image of a crowned figure holding an orb and a torch (?) and five lines of xylographic text; woodcut of St. Giacomo della Marca, right hand blessing a kneeling figure, with xylographic caption: S Iacobus DeMarchus.

Middle row: woodcut of St. Ignatius of Loyola between a snake and a cross with xylographic caption: S. Ignatuus, beneath which is pasted a second woodcut (149 x 107 mm, folded to 51 x 30 mm) containing images of crosses with xylographic text, saints holding various attributes (chiefly crosses, rods, and palms), and stigmatized hands and feet, the whole between two lines of xylographic text at head and four lines at foot; woodcut of a male figure, upper left arm manacled and chained(?), carrying a satchel(?) on his left shoulder, the whole with xylographic caption: gnadenreiche bildnus auf beewise, beneath which are affixed a collection of miniature devotional objects affixed to a card; woodcut of St. John of Nepomuk with xylographic caption: Iohannes Nepomuc, beneath which is pasted a portion of a printed leaf ([2] pages; 111 x 60 mm, folded to 56 x 30 mm) with prayer titled "Oratio contra omnes, tum maleficorum tum daemonum incursus" (with 2 woodcut IHS monograms surrounded by the words LAUDATE NOMEN DOMINI in head margin) on exterior page and prayers attributed to St. Anthony of Padua, St. Francis of Assisi, the Virgin Mary, and St. Vincent Ferrer on interior page.

Bottom row: woodcut of St. Francis of Assisi and companion beneath the seraphic cross, the whole with xylographic caption: S Franciscus Seraph; woodcut of the Virgin Mary with a lily in her right hand (and standing on a snake?), the whole with xylographic caption: Conceph BMV; woodcut of St. Anthony of Padua kneeling before a vision of the Christ Child, the whole with xylographic caption: S. Antonius de Batua.

Local Notes:

Lea Library copy purchased for the Penn Libraries in 2018 from Musinsky Rare Books. Lea copy missing woodcut of St. John of Nepomuk.

OCLC:

1381741648