Unique book found on Öland.

Wulfschmidt was a less successful military man with a keen interest in agriculture. He was mainly active on the west coast. The book Bondestolpe is a collection of descriptions and simple drawings of various agricultural tools, trapping devices, etc. that poor farmers themselves could build. If you wanted, you could order more precise drawings. A kind of Clas Olsson catalogs stuck in the 18th century! Wulfschmidt himself seems to have been behind the printing and that is probably one of the reasons why there are several variants of the book.

One theory is, in fact, that he himself owned the printing presses and printed books as they were in demand. We know that he was here in Kalmar in the early 1780s. With the help of an announcement from the county administrative board, he sends the book out for inspection to the parishes with an offer to buy it. We do not know how he succeeded in this, but in Gräsgård they apparently bought one of his books.

The spread in the 18th century is uncertain, but it is clear that so many copies of the book have not survived to the present day. The book is printed on a thin piece of paper and in addition it was intended as a form of catalog that you would use practically. The specimen from Gräsgård is in very fine condition; the occasional spot and a minor infestation of pests is quite good for a book of that age.

 The image digitization group scanned the book, which was then posted on the web. The congregation must have a display of both the book and the scanned version in connection with activities in the church during All Saints' Day. Browse the book here »