Solingen, History of a City
- Author: Rudolf Heinz Rosenthal
- SKU: 1870
- ISBN: 0897253450
- Our Price:
$59.50
-
Description:
SOLINGEN, History of a City: from its Beginning to the end of the 17th Century. By Rudolf Heinz Rosenthal. Translated by Richard S. Zerbe. 352pp. 70 photos & illustrations; color frontispiece. 1715 fold-out map. Index of names and Index of Places and Events. 8½"x11". 1998. #1870 $59.50
"Just in tie for the 625th anniversary of the city's being granted a city charter."
"...a translation into English of the first volume of Solingen city history." - Solinger Morgenpost
"a memorial for Solingen"....a posthumous honor from the U.S.A. - Solinger Tageblatt
Solingen is one of Germany's older (founded 1174) and better known cities--known worldwide for centuries for its knives and other cutlery, swords, and fine steel. This is a translation of the town's history first published in 1969 in German as Solingen, Geschichte einer Stadt: Von den Angängen bis zum Ausgang des 17. Jahrhundert, and translated here with the kind permission of the author's son. This history is being published in English as an adjunct to the
European Origins of the dunkelberger Family, a Pennsylvania German family whose 18th century founder came from Solingen. The two books will be available singly or as a set. The author has done an excellent job of bringing the city's history, its guild system, and its place in the churhc conflicts to life. The fires of 1535 and 1581, the plagues of 1613-15 and 1638 devastated the area, and were among other factors leading to emigration from Solingen to America.
Mr. Zerbe's translation has brought the text to English while retaining the meaning and feel of the original German text.
Not only have all of the original photos been reproduced here, as well as Ploennies' 1715 map of the city, but also a full-color map of Germany showing Solingen's location in the western portion, north of Bonn and close to the Belgian border has been added.
Extremely few German city and town histories have been translated into English. Here is an almost unique opportunity to read the comprehensive, professionally-written, history of one of the great cities in a country which is the mother of such a large proportion of America's immigrants. This is one of my personal favorites--buy a copy and enjoy yourself!
