Bell Ringers of Breslau look forward to the New Year. Unrecorded broadside.

[Bell Ringers] / [New Year]. St. Elisabet. Unvergeßlich bleibt dies Jahr 1807, was mit Seufzen ist verschwunden, Wegen Angst, Gefahr und Noth, die wir in ihm tief empfunden… S.l. [Breslau]: s.n., s.a. [late 1807]. [32.5 x 19.6 cm], [1] f. woodcut in contemporary hand-color, with letterpress text. Dustiness, wrinkles, stains, and toning, color still fresh.
 
 
An unusual, rather large hand-colored woodcut broadside issued by the Bell Ringers of the church of St. Elisabeth to celebrate the New Year 1808. Although not stated explicitly on the print, the item would seem to come from Breslau (Wrocław, Poland), where there was a special tradition for the Bell Ringers (‘Glockenläuter’) of the city’s various churches to issue such prints (see Heinrich Wendt, Katalog der druckschriften über die stadt Breslau, vol. 1, p. 244).
 
Depicted is a bell on which is the image of a Crucifix. Below it are verses referring to the city’s difficulties in 1807 (it was occupied by the Confederation of the Rhine during the Napoleonic Wars). The poem reads:
 
Unvergeßlich bleibt dies Jahr 1807, was mit Seufzen ist verschwunden, 
Wegen Angst, Gefahr und Noth, die wir in ihm tief empfunden. 
Ach! nun wissen wir, wie Krieg und Belagerungen schrecken, 
Und daß Gott in solcher Angst nur allein kann schützend decken. 
Dankvoll rühmen wir’s heut laut, daß Gott uns bisher erhalten, 
Flehn Vertrauensvoll zu ihm um sein ferners gnädig Walten, 
Daß sich alle Noth und Furcht mit dem alten Jahre ende, 
Neuer Segen aber sich mit dem Neu-Jahr zu uns wende.
 
Trans.:
(“Unforgettable still is this year 1807, which passed with a sigh of relief,
Because of the fear, danger, and distress we deeply felt in it.
Ah! Now we know how war and sieges terrify,
And that during such fear only God can offer protection.
Thankfully, we praise loudly today that God has preserved us thus far,
Praying confidently to Him for His continued gracious guidance,
That all distress and fear may end with the Old Year,
And that new blessings may turn to us with the New Year”).
 
The text at the foot of the broadside reads: “Dieses wünschen zum Neuen Jahre die Glockenläuter zu St Elisabet 1808” (“This is the New Year’s wish of the Bell Ringers of St. Elizabet, 1808”).
 
 
OCLC and KVK do not locate any examples of this broadside, nor is it recorded in Wendt’s Katalog.