Germany

Notes on Examination of the Effects and Various Objects Found on German Soldiers

The year 2017 marks the centennial anniversary of the United States’ involvement in World War I. This 1917 government publication, marked "Secret and confidential [now scratched out in red]; Not to be taken into front line trenches," provides a tiny window into life on the battlefield. Designed to help military staff on the front lines collect and analyze personal effects from captured German soldiers, it explains the importance of seemingly mundane items like postcards or letters in indicating where entire units of the German Army were located.

The Balloon Buster, Frank Luke of Arizona

This book tells the story of Frank Luke. Luke was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1897, one of nine children of German-American immigrants. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Aviation Section in 1917 during World War I. He was an agressive pilot who took on the unique challenge of attacking and destroying enemy observation balloons. These balloons were always heavily defended by anti-aircraft guns and enemy aicraft, but 2nd Lt. Luke was adept at the challenge and accounted for 14 enemy balloons destroyed and 4 enemy aircraft shot down.

Das Weisse Haus Kochbuch

Translated into German from the original “White House cookbook” first published in 1887, this book served the rising and prospering German-speaking immigrant population of the period.  As the lengthy sub-title tells us, it’s more than just a cookbook –it is an encyclopaedic compendium of recipes for foods, salves and medicaments, lotions and personal products, cleaning and polishing compounds, etc.

Beschreibung Eines Ellipsograph

A superb monograph on the theory, construction and use of a mechanical drawing device to describe ellipses. The author, Georg Friedrich Parrot (1767 – 1852) was a German scientist, the first rector of the Imperial University of Dorpat (University of Tartu), being elected by the University Council consisting of all chaired professors. In this capacity, Parrot skillfully fought for the academic freedom and the self-government of the university, protecting her from the political pressure of Baltic German barons who had been given the right to autonomously govern in the Baltic provinces.

Initia Doctrinae Physicae

Early edition (first 1549) of this influential physics text by the German humanist and reformer, Philipp Melanchthon (1497-1560). Melanchthon's importance as a religious reformer has tended to overshadow his achievements as a writer of science and medicine. His natural history course, which he held at the University of Wittenberg, mentioned Copernicus, but he did not accept his theory.

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