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Peter Miller (1715-1796), a German-born religious leader at the Ephrata Cloister in colonial Pennsylvania, directed one of early America's most remarkable printing operations. Under Miller’s leadership, the Cloister press produced several ambitious works, most notably the massive Martyrs Mirror (1748-49), one of the largest books printed in colonial America at the time, along with numerous hymnals, devotional texts, and doctrinal treatises. A bibliography of Ephrata Cloister imprints lists over 450 items printed between 1745 and 1794. Despite Ephrata’s relative isolation, the press achieved exceptional craftsmanship, using hand-cast type and handmade paper to create some of the finest early German-American imprints. Miller’s efforts placed the remote Ephrata community among the important centers of colonial American printing.
