174

eight pages, that the distinction of being the first
Hagerstown book belongs.

This book, published in September of 1791¹², was
A Letter from Miss S—a to Miss R— who on her way to
Bath visited St. Rozo Villozo¹³, which was printed
first in Shepherdstown and was now reprinted by Stewart
Herbert. Its subject matter was local, a fact remark-
able in itself, for American books of the eighteenth
century, aside from publications of laws, seldom dealt
with domestic occurrences. It had to do with Rosa
Orndorff, daughter of Major Christian Orndorff of
Washington County, and sister-in-law of Jonathan Hager,
Jr. It was a description of the singular disease with
which Rosa was afflicted, catalepsy; she was a spiritu-
alist, would go into trances and converse with spirits,
and while in these trances seemed to be entirely in-
sensible of any pain. Visitors came from as far away
as two hundred miles to see and experiment on this
phenomenal personage,¹⁴ and it is probable, although
there is no record, that this early pamphlet from
Herbert's press found a ready audience locally.

Transportation over the mountain roads must have
been difficult during the early days of the Washington

12 Williams, T.J.C. History of Washington county,
V. 1, p. 92.

13 Appendix A. Imprint bibliography, item 37.

14 Williams, T.J.C. op. cit. v. 1, p. 93.