[GERMAN BEADWORK BINDING] Die Glocke der Andacht. Ein Erbauungsbuch für gebildete Katholiken.

Mit Approbation des Bischöfl. Ordinariats Augsburg. Fünfte verbesserte Auflage. Mit. K. Wirtembergischen Privilegium gegen Nachdruck. Augsburg : Matth. Rieger’sche Buchhandlung, 1836. Fifth edition. Small octavo (170 x 102 mm), early binding of full calf, the boards with highly intricate embroidered beadwork panels affixed, each design a mosaic composed from thousands of miniature cut-glass beads within gilded embossed paper borders, the upper board with chalice and cross motif symbolising the Holy Communion, and the lower board with a haloed and garlanded cross symbolising the Resurrection; the designs on both boards have been exceptionally well preserved, with evidence of a small repaired section to the lower left of the chalice on the upper board, and loss to only a very small number of beads forming part of the geometric borders around each design; spine in compartments with gilt rule and decoration, and with a contrasting leather title-label lettered in gilt; all edges gilt; pink endpapers; engraved frontispiece, pp. x (including title-leaf with vignette), 317; text in German in Fraktur; clean and crisp throughout.

Die Glocke der Andacht (The Bell of Devotion) is a German-language Catholic prayer and devotional book that was particularly popular in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, and Austria in the mid-nineteenth century. This exquisitely bound copy is a fine example of a German beadwork binding of the period.