Samuel Saur (1767-1820) German-American Printer
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SAMUEL SAUR (1767-1820) GERMAN-AMERICAN PRINTER AND TYPEFOUNDER A third-generation member of the famed 1776; the first edition was published by the Sauer dynasty of German-American print- grandfather and the second and third by ters, Samuel Saur (1767-1820)1 made his own Sauer II, Samuel's father.3 significant contribution to the publishing his- Samuel was ten years old when his pros- tory of North America. He was a printer and perous father worked out the elaborate terms publisher in Chestnut Hill and Philadelphia, of his will as he prepared to retire from his Pennsylvania, and in Baltimore, Maryland. In publishing enterprise during the turmoil of Baltimore he branched out into typefound- the Revolutionary War: Samuel was to receive ing, achieving fame as the first American substantial real estate in Germantown and founder of the exquisitely-small diamond participate equally, with other siblings, in the type; according to the pioneer printing histo- proceeds from the sale of the printing opera- rian Isaiah Thomas (1749-1831), he was the tion in Germantown, given over, by the first ever to succeed in the feat of casting the bequest of the father, to the older sons Chris- diamond type in italics.2 topher (1754-1799), the third to bear that Although the subject of several articles and name, and Peter (1759-1783). He was also, mentioned with respect in histories of print- according to the terms of the will, to profit ing, Samuel Saur has not received full biogra- from the sale of the large number of printed phical treatment. The present study surveys books on hand, with exact directions pro- his life and work, using dependable previous vided for their safekeeping in good condition.4 research. It further draws on family corres- This promising future for Samuel Saur, pondence and records, known only incom- however, was blasted by the War of Inde- pletely by earlier writers, to add informative pendence, which saw the Sauer estate confis- details. It concludes with a listing of Samuel cated and auctioned off (in depreciated Con- Saur imprints, intended to be comprehensive; tinental currency) for the benefit of the because it is a pioneer effort, it may miss that revolutionary American government. Chris- mark. Despite possible shortcomings, the list topher Sauer II, on the basis of strained evi- demonstrates the wide range and diversity of dence, and his son Christopher III, on the Saur's publishing efforts. Clearly, his contri- basis of accurate evidence, had been butions as printer and typefounder merit solemnly declared Tory traitors in May, 1777, renewed attention; his efforts place him by the Supreme Executive Council of Penn- within the ranks of outstanding German- sylvania, and their substantial property sub- Americans in the early National Period. sequently seized. Despite laws protecting minors in such proceedings, the Sauer chil- Early Life dren never recovered their rightful inherit- The tenth and youngest child of Christoph ance, given the turbulence of the times and Sauer II (1721-1784) and Catherine Sharpnack the presence of opportunistic patriots who Sauer (d. 1778), he was the second to bear the knew well how to fish in troubled waters. name Samuel, a predecessor dying soon after Isaiah Thomas estimated that the senior birth. According to family records, Samuel Sauer lost $90,000 by this confiscation. In was born in Germantown, north of Philadel- 1792 the Pennsylvania Legislature passed a phia, at 3:30 AM on March 20, 1767. By that law granting to his heirs any residue of the time, his father had taken over the flourishing confiscated estate that remained unsold; this printing business of the grandfather, Johann produced little relief.5 Christoph Sauer I (1695-1758), who had In 1784 Samuel Saur wrote to his older initiated the press in 1738. The most famous brother Christopher (then in London seeking products of the press were the three editions compensation as a Loyalist from the Commis- of the German bible, issued in 1743,1763, and -65- sioners of American Claims) to tell of the famous almanac; Saur was to publish this with death of their father, which occurred on considerable success each year (although in August 26 of that year. Their mother had died three different locations) through 1807. The some six years previously. These deaths in the cover page for the 1792 almanac showed the immediate family were not to be the only ones interior of a printing shop, with a press, com- suffered by young Sauer. Four years later positor's table, and three printers at work. A Samuel married Sarah Landes, the first of flying figure of Mercury bore a sheet of paper three wives; she died already in February, with the inscription: "Was ich jetzt nicht 1791. His second marriage, to Hannah offenbar, bring ich dir das nächste Jahr.9 Schlosser, was also of short duration, again Saur issued at least sixteen other imprints at terminated by death. His third wife, Elizabeth his Chestnut Hill shop from 1790 through La Motte (Lamotte), was the daughter of a 1794. Included, among other items, were an Baltimore businessman, a trustee of the ABC book, a Lutheran catechism, a compila- Dunker congregation there at Paca and Lom- tion of folk medicine, accounts of supernatu- bard Streets. She bore him his only child, a ral appearances, pietistic essays, and Matthew dearly-beloved daughter Maria (1796-1875). Carey's account of the yellow fever epidemic This third wife outlived him by more than that struck Philadelphia in 1793. He con- forty years, dying in March, 1862.6 tinued the tradition of his grandfather and father by printing hymnals for the Brethren Chestnut Hill and other sectarians, with the sixth edition of As a young man Samuel Saur became a Das Kleine Davidische Psalterspiel (1791) and the carpenter ("housewright") and then an small but influential first edition of Die Kleine apothecary; finally in 1790, at the age of Harfe (1792), which contained original hymns twenty-three, he saw his way clear to take up of the Brethren.10 the family trade of printing. In that year he Likely a best seller was the useful pocket received a small inheritance through trustee book of calculations by Daniel Fenning, Der Justus Fuchs or Fox (1736-1805), a typefounder Geschwinde Rechner, Oder: des Händlers Nützlicher who had worked with his father. In the same Gehülfe (1793), the only book he also pub- year he borrowed $267 from his brother lished in the English language, using the title Daniel (1755-1818). Evidently he used these The Federal, or New Ready Reckoner. Following a funds to set up a printshop in Chestnut Hill, a typical pattern for newspaper publishers, Saur village just north of Germantown. It was also carried on a bookselling business. An located "near the tenth milestone, where the issue of his newspaper for March 20, 1792, Reading and North Wales roads meet;" this offers nearly 200 titles of literature for sale. was identified by local historians as the Barge During this Chestnut Hill period, Samuel car- house at 8502 Germantown Avenue, earlier ried on business as well with his older brother used as a printshop by printer Nicholas Has- Daniel, according to records in the latter's 7 selbach after 1764. daybook.11 Samuel Saur issued a prospectus for a weekly newspaper, Die Chestnuthiller Woch- Philadelphia enschrift, on October 8,1790, to cost five shil- In 1794 he moved from Germantown lings per annum.8 This is thought to have Avenue in Chestnut Hill to 71 Race Street, begun publication in December, 1790, and Philadelphia, between Second and Third continued into 1794. It contained many arti- Streets. This location was next door to that of cles favoring a nonresistant or pacifist posi- his brother David (1764-1835), who had main- tion, reflecting Saur's Dunker training and tained a business as a wholesale and retail harsh wartime experiences. One of Saur's grocer at 73 Race Street. David Sauer had first publications was the traditional cash cow fallen ill during the yellow fever incident; his for printers, an almanac for 1791. The title was long illness and generally poor economic Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender, conditions forced him to liquidate his stock picking up the title of his grandfather's and settle all his debts and liabilities, includ- -66- ing many notes he had co-signed. After 1794 exact title is unknown. Only one issue of he began a book and stationery business Saur's paper has been preserved, but it has nearby with a partner, William Jones. It is not been calculated that the first to leave the press known why Samuel Saur's stay in Philadel- was probably dated March 25,1795. The peri- phia was so brief. Perhaps the relationship odical continued until ca. 1798.15 with his brother did not develop as planned; Saur may have contemplated the move to perhaps also, the lively publishing activity of Baltimore and his issuance of a newspaper other German-American printers, such as two years before. According to Klaus Wust, Peter Leibert and Michael Billmeyer in Ger- printer Matthias Bartgis began a German- mantown or Carl Cist and Melchior Steiner in language newspaper in Frederick, Bartgis's Philadelphia made for too much competition. General Staatsbothe, early in 1793 because At any rate, by early 1795 he had moved to "Samuel Saur was about to move to Baltimore Baltimore, where there was no one currently and was trying to solicit one thousand sub- printing both in German and in English.12 scribers before starting a German news- In the brief months in Philadelphia, paper." Wust's interpretation is that Bartgis's Samuel Sauer was not idle: he continued the initiative succeeded in delaying Saur's enter- 16 almanac, began another weekly (Das Phila- prise but not in totally discouraging him.