The collection is arranged in 2 series:
Accession No. RARE.2025.0007: Purchased, 2024 December; Accession No. RARE.2025.0008: Purchased, 2024 April
[identification of item], Gebetbücher, SPEC.RARE.0344, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, Ohio State University
Materials in this collection are available for use, but may be used in the Thompson Library Special Collections reading room only.
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyright, and are made available for research and educational purposes. In general, the OSU Libraries do not own the copyright for materials from our collections and cannot grant copyright permissions for these materials. The user is responsible for making a final determination of copyright status. If copyright protection applies, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exceptions to the law. Works in the public domain are not protected by copyright and do not require permission to use.
Processed by: David Mezick, 2025 February; Finding aid written by: David Mezick, 2025 February
Gebetbücher is the German word for prayer books, referring to books that contain Christian prayers. During the 18th and 19th centuries, a large portion of the population of central Europe was Christian, including both Protestants and Catholics. Prayer books from this period usually included sections for different types of prayers, such as prayers for morning, evening, litany, communion, and confession. They mostly were created for private use and personalized. Also, the books were written in the language of the person using the book.
The Gebetbücher is a collection of manuscript or handwritten prayer books from central Europe. The books are dated 1739 to circa 1850s. Some of the writing is in different colors of ink and includes ornate letters and other decorations. Most of the prayer books are in German with one in that is in Czech.
The titles in the collection inventory were copied from the prayer books themselves whenever possible. Some prayer books in the collection do not have titles or have titles that are difficult to read. These items were given titles in the collection inventory that start with the words "Prayer book" followed by a description of any distinctive features.
The Czech series contains a manuscript or handwritten prayer book in Czech dated 1800s-circa 1850s.
The German series contains manuscript or handwritten prayer books in German dated 1739-circa 1850s. The series is arranged in chronological order with items from the same date arranged alphabetically by title.