Der Lange Verborgene Freund

oder getreuer und christlicher Unterricht für Jedermann, enthaltend, wunderbare und probmässige Mittel und Künste sowohl für die Menschen als das Vieh.
Ephrata, PA. J[oseph] B[auman].. 1828.

Pow-wow

Second edition. 158x95mm. 8vo in 4s. pp. 94. Marbled paper covered boards, backed in brown morocco. Edges worn and rubbing to spine and head and foot of spine chipped. Foxed and browned with the occasional marking but overall a very good copy of the second edition (the first appearing in 1820). Not common institutionally and rare in commerce, the last copy of this edition appearing the auction records in 1963.
Der Lange Verborgene Freund (The Long Lost Friend) is a form of grimoire, a collection of folk remedies and spells underpinned by Christianity compiled by Johann Hohman who was a celebrated Pennsylvania Dutch/German pow-wower. Pow-wow (Braucherei in the original language) is a form of Christian folk practice developed by the Pennsylvania Dutch in the eighteenth century, having been brought to the new country from central Europe. The book brings together European grimoires, folk tales and remedies and mainstream Christian texts. The term pow-wow does, of course, have its origins in Native American culture where it means "priest, shaman, healer". This second edition of Der Lange Verborgene Freund was published by Joseph Bauman who was associated with the Ephrata Cloister spiritual community noted for its Fraktur, music and esoteric texts concerning astrological, alchemical and folk magic. Hohman's book was enormously important for 19th century Appalachian and Ozark societies and Hohman himself has been described as "intentionally or unintentionally, a mystery man, one of the most influential and yet most elusive figures in Pennsylvania German history",

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