Oberammergau Passion Play
BLACKBURN, Henry. Art in the Mountains. The Story of the Passion Play. London; Sampson, Low, Marston & Co. 1870

8vo.; original chocolate brown cloth over bevelled boards, elaborately lettered and decorated in black and gilt to both spine and upper cover, lower board blocked in blind, top edges rough, others untrimmed; pp. [xii], [9]-162 163-[168] appendices, + [11] illustrated publisher’s catalogue; with engraved frontispiece and many other illustrations after engravings, including chapter-headings, some full-page; a good and attractive copy with bruising and softening to spine ends and a 6mm split to tail, joints and edges rubbed, wear to lower forecorners exposing board, internally with some cracking, including to inner hinges, but sound and neat, with a neat calligraphed ink inscription, dated 1 August 1871, to top margin of title, one text page scattered with foxing which has migrated to adjoining blank but otherwise quite clean with only the occasional spot, book block edges dust-soiled; scarce in commerce in first printing.

First edition, including an appendix of information for travellers and details of the performance of 1870. An enchanting story of the Oberammergau Passion Play, which was performed every ten years between 1634-1674 and then (with few exceptions) every decadal year since 1680, in a tiny village in the Bavarian Alps. It is one of the most extraordinary cultural events in Europe and this seminal book looks at the play’s historical significance, its artistry, and its local impact, transporting the reader to 1870 and the project of that year. The text used for the script is composed from four different manuscripts dating from the 15th and 16th centuries.

According to legend, on October 28th 1633, the villagers of Oberammergau made a vow to God that if he would spare them from the bubonic plague, which was ravaging the region, they would perform a play, every ten years, depicting the life and death of Jesus. The story descended through oral history from the seventeenth century and was not written down until 1733, about one hundred years later.