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The first printing press known to be established in a Mennonite community was set up by Christopher Sauer at Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1738, and it was here that the first quarto edition of the German Bible was printed.

This printshop is said to have been patronized in a general way by Mennonites, but it is shown that their patronage along this line turned in part in the direction of the Pietist community at Ephrata in Lancaster county.

Heinrich Funck had his work entitled, "Em Spiegel der Taufe, Mit Geist, Mit Wasser, und Mit Blut," issued from Sauer press. Sauer also published a reprint of Christopher Dock's "Schuleordnung," but the original issue of this work is thought to have come from the Ephrata printshop as early as 1744. Copies of this work may still be found in some of the large public libraries of the United States, as it is prized very highly by the antiquarian as the first book ever printed in America on the subject of school discipline.

Aside from the Bible, "Der Blutige Schauplatz oder Martyrer Spiegel" is perhaps the largest and most extensive literary work ever produced by Mennonites. It was in 1748 that the great work was undertaken and completed at Ephrata under