Miniature Library of Pious Thoughts

Bibliothek.
[Switzerland], 1794. (BRMS 127)

At first glance this devotional object resembles a small leather-bound book with the German title Bibliothek (“Library”) on the spine. When opened, however, it appears to be a miniature bookcase containing six bound volumes. These volumes are in fact slipcases containing 219 handwritten cards, alphabetically arranged, each bearing a German keyword and a corresponding motto intended to inspire pious meditation. For example, the first card, bearing the word “Abendmahl,” reads (in translation) “The Lord’s Supper, miracle of simplicity and greatness.”

An inscription on the inside cover of the book-box, written on St. Frederick’s Day [March 5], 1794, indicates that the Bibliothek was a gift to Georg Friedrich im Thurn, Herr zu Girsberg (1747–1799), governor of the Canton of Schaffhausen, Switzerland, from Johann Georg Müller (1759–1819), a noted professor of Greek and Hebrew in Schaffhausen, and his wife, Maria Catherina Müller.