Item #112743 A collection of approximately 110 books, principally children's books, from the small German-language lending library at Light Pass in the Barossa Valley. Included with the collection is the original manuscript catalogue for the library ('Verzeichniss der Bücher'), which gives the reference number, short title and brief borrowing history of each book. German-Australian Children's Library.
A collection of approximately 110 books, principally children's books, from the small German-language lending library at Light Pass in the Barossa Valley. Included with the collection is the original manuscript catalogue for the library ('Verzeichniss der Bücher'), which gives the reference number, short title and brief borrowing history of each book
A collection of approximately 110 books, principally children's books, from the small German-language lending library at Light Pass in the Barossa Valley. Included with the collection is the original manuscript catalogue for the library ('Verzeichniss der Bücher'), which gives the reference number, short title and brief borrowing history of each book
A collection of approximately 110 books, principally children's books, from the small German-language lending library at Light Pass in the Barossa Valley. Included with the collection is the original manuscript catalogue for the library ('Verzeichniss der Bücher'), which gives the reference number, short title and brief borrowing history of each book
A collection of approximately 110 books, principally children's books, from the small German-language lending library at Light Pass in the Barossa Valley. Included with the collection is the original manuscript catalogue for the library ('Verzeichniss der Bücher'), which gives the reference number, short title and brief borrowing history of each book
A collection of approximately 110 books, principally children's books, from the small German-language lending library at Light Pass in the Barossa Valley. Included with the collection is the original manuscript catalogue for the library ('Verzeichniss der Bücher'), which gives the reference number, short title and brief borrowing history of each book
A collection of approximately 110 books, principally children's books, from the small German-language lending library at Light Pass in the Barossa Valley. Included with the collection is the original manuscript catalogue for the library ('Verzeichniss der Bücher'), which gives the reference number, short title and brief borrowing history of each book
A collection of approximately 110 books, principally children's books, from the small German-language lending library at Light Pass in the Barossa Valley. Included with the collection is the original manuscript catalogue for the library ('Verzeichniss der Bücher'), which gives the reference number, short title and brief borrowing history of each book
A collection of approximately 110 books, principally children's books, from the small German-language lending library at Light Pass in the Barossa Valley. Included with the collection is the original manuscript catalogue for the library ('Verzeichniss der Bücher'), which gives the reference number, short title and brief borrowing history of each book
A collection of approximately 110 books, principally children's books, from the small German-language lending library at Light Pass in the Barossa Valley. Included with the collection is the original manuscript catalogue for the library ('Verzeichniss der Bücher'), which gives the reference number, short title and brief borrowing history of each book
A collection of approximately 110 books, principally children's books, from the small German-language lending library at Light Pass in the Barossa Valley. Included with the collection is the original manuscript catalogue for the library ('Verzeichniss der Bücher'), which gives the reference number, short title and brief borrowing history of each book
A collection of approximately 110 books, principally children's books, from the small German-language lending library at Light Pass in the Barossa Valley. Included with the collection is the original manuscript catalogue for the library ('Verzeichniss der Bücher'), which gives the reference number, short title and brief borrowing history of each book

A collection of approximately 110 books, principally children's books, from the small German-language lending library at Light Pass in the Barossa Valley. Included with the collection is the original manuscript catalogue for the library ('Verzeichniss der Bücher'), which gives the reference number, short title and brief borrowing history of each book

The books are generally in original cloth or simple trade bindings of half or quarter roan; the books are well-used (some defective), but generally in acceptable condition.

The library principally contains children's books (most with moral and religious themes), together with some devotional works and popular histories, published from the 1850s to the 1880s, although dates range from as early as 1833 to around 1915. Several volumes have the ink ownership stamp of Reverend Gustav Julius Rechner (1830-1900), pastor of the Strait Gate ('Zur Engen Pforte') Lutheran Church at Light Pass, and the library may have been associated with the Sunday school attached to his church.

The library shows the community at Light Pass actively maintaining its linguistic and cultural traditions, and reveals much about the diffusion of German-language literature in the first half-century of German settlement in South Australia. Surprisingly few of the books in the library point to its antipodean setting (several volumes of the 'Missionsblatt für Kinder' from the 1840s and 1850s, including the first year, are noteworthy exceptions).

Each volume is numbered in ink, either on an early leaf or on a paper label on the spine, and many have an ink annotation 'Lights-Pass Bibl.', 'Lights-Pass Leihbibliothek' or similar. The library appears to have been reorganised at some point, most likely in the early years of the 20th century, with the earlier reference numbers in black ink systematically crossed out and replaced with numbers in blue ink. The catalogue of the library reflects this reorganisation, containing two lists beginning at opposite ends of the volume. The earlier list in black ink contains some 246 items, while the later list in blue ink contains 90 items. Approximately 70 books from this later list are present here. Over half of the volumes are in hand-sewn canvas covers produced prior to the reorganisation (the later reference numbers are often found on the endpapers, with the old spine label obscured by the new covers).

Item #112743

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