Fraktur is both a style of lettering and a highly artistic and elaborate illuminated folk art created by the Pennsylvania Dutch

Pennsylvania Dutch

Pennsylvania Dutch refers to immigrants and their descendants from southwestern Germany and Switzerland who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries...

 (also known as Pennsylvania Deitsch or Pennsylvanian German). Most Fraktur were created between 1740 and 1860.

Fraktur drawings were executed in ink and/or watercolors and are found in a wide variety of forms: the Vorschriften (writing samples), the Taufscheine (birth and baptismal certificates), marriage and house blessings, book plates, and floral and figurative scenes. The earlier Fraktur were executed entirely by hand, while printed text became increasingly common in later examples. Common artistic motifs in Fraktur include birds, hearts, and tulips, as well as blackletter

Blackletter

Blackletter, also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule, or Textura, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 to well into the 17th century. It continued to be used for the German language until the 20th century. Fraktur is a notable script of this type, and sometimes...

 and italic

Italic script

Italic script, also known as chancery cursive, is a semi-cursive, slightly sloped style of handwriting and calligraphy that was developed during the Renaissance in Italy...

 calligraphy

Western calligraphy

Western Calligraphy is the art of writing. A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner." The story of writing is one of aesthetic development framed within the technical skills, transmission speed and...

.

Today, many major American museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is among the largest art museums in the United States. It is located at the west end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. The Museum was established in 1876 in conjunction with the Centennial Exposition of the same year...

 have Fraktur in their collection. Important Fraktur have been sold by major American auction houses and antique dealers for prices in excess of $100,000. The definitive text on Fraktur is widely considered to be The Fraktur-Writings or Illuminated Manuscripts of the Pennsylvania Germans, written by Dr. Donald A. Shelley and published by the Pennsylvania German Society in 1961. In late 2004, part of Dr. Shelley's Fraktur collection was sold at public auction

Auction

An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...

in Pennsylvania for $897,833.

Further reading

• Hartung, Ruthanne. Fraktur: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Learning the Craft. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 2008.
• Shelley, Donald. The Fraktur Writings or Illuminated Manuscripts of the Pennsylvania Germans. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania German Folklore Society, 1961.
• Earnest, Corinne and Russell. To The Latest Prosperity: Pennsylvania-German Family Registers in the Fraktur Tradition. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania German Society, 2004.
• Earnest, Corinne and Russell. Papers For Birth Dayes: Guide To the Fraktur Artists and Scriveners. East Berlin, Pennsylvania: Russell D. Earnest Associates, 1997. 2 Volumes.
• Earnest, Corinne and Russell. Fraktur: Folk Art & Family. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1999.
• Earnest, Russell and Corinne. Flying Leaves and One-Sheets: Pennsylvania German Broadsides, Fraktur, and Their Printers. New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Books, 2005.

External links

• ExplorePaHistory.com
• Fraktur and related resources.
• Schwenkfelder Museum.
• Pennsylvania Fraktur.
• Penn State University Press To the Latest Posterity, the most recent book published by the Pennsylvania German Society on the Fraktur tradition.
• Pennsylvania German Arts and Antiques: News and Commentary by Clarke Hess
• Auction report by Maine Antique Digest on the auction of the Shelley's fraktur.
• Free Library of Philadelphia - Fraktur - Digital Collections