1787 MICHAEL BILLMEYER. Ezell Family Franktur in Rare First Billmeyer American German Bible.

A very attractively aged first Martin Luther edition New Testament printed in America and with a superb fraktur seemingly for Elizabeth Ezell [Etzel, Ezzell]. The Ezell family seems to have originally settled in Virginia, with family members moving to what is now North and South Carolina by the late 19th century, where they began operating plantations with enslaved persons. By the early 19th centuries, the family had establishing extensive landholdings and plantations in Mississippi, Alabama, and throughout the south. There are several persons in the family with the name Elizabeth. We have as of now not been able to identify one with the birthdate mentioned in the fraktur. 

A very nice Billmeyer first edition. Michael Billmeyer (1752-1837), a Lutheran, along with his father-in-law, Peter Leibert, a Brethren minister, were the successors to Christoph Sauer. They acquired in 1783 what was usable of the Saur printing equipment, and established a printing business in Germantown. After about three years, Leibert started a new printing business, and Billmeyer became sole proprietor. Billmeyer was a prolific printer of the German New Testament (Das Neue Testament) in the Martin Luther version, beginning with the 1787 first edition (Evans 20236).The Billmeyer New Testament (1787) was popular enough to warrant a 1788,1795, 1803, 1807, 1808, 1810, 1819, and 1822 reprint.

The first edition is a critical foundation piece of any collection of early American biblical imprints.

[Michael Billmeyer. Bibles] Das Neue Testament unsers Herrn und Henlandes Jesu Christi, nach der Deutschen Uebersetzung D. Marin Luthers. Mit kurzen Inhalt eines Jeden Capitels, under Vollstandiger Amsweisung Gleicher Schriftstellen. Wie auch aller Sonn-und Festagigen Evangelien und Episteln. Erste Auflage [First Edition]. Germantaun, Michael Billmeyer. 1787. 

Very handsomely preserved true first edition of Billmeyer's first edition of the German / Martin Luther text for the rapidly expanding German-American population. Textually quite good with some occasional staining and the signatures at the rear a bit forward and thus rolled at the foredge. Binding a bit skewed, the rear being further back. Both leather straps and clasps present, but hasps absent. Front hinge tender at interior only [very stable], ffep with tears and losses. Rear gutter exposed and rfeps quite worn and chipped. All of this is overstating the case. It's a rather nice example.