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Einstein, Albert, German-born physicist and Nobel laureate (1879-1955).
Autograph manuscript (fragment). No place, [1948].
¼ page. 112 x 258 mm. Draft of most of the final paragraph of Einstein's article, "Relativity: Essence of the Theory of Relativity", published in 1948 in the American People's Encyclopedia: "als sie zwar zu einer bestimmten Theorie des Gravitationsfeldes führt, aber nicht zu einer bestimmten Theorie des Gesamtfeldes (mit Einschluss des elektromagnetischen Feldes). Der Grund liegt darin, dass dies allgemeine Feldgesetz durch das allgemeine Relativitätsprinzip allein noch nicht hinreichend bestimmt ist". - The present draft shows the original text written by Einstein in German. Written below by a different hand is the English translation as it was finally published: "while it leads to a well-defined theory of the gravitational field it does not determine sufficently the theory of the total field (which includes the electromagnetic field). The reason for this is the fact that the general field laws are not sufficently determined by the general principle of relativity alone". - An exceedingly fine autograph, wherein Einstein implicitly states why he spent so many of his final years searching for a Unified Field Theory. Written on the address side of an envelope addressed to him. Slight damage to edges, somewhat wrinkled.
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Holmes Sr., Oliver Wendell, American physician, poet, and polymath (1809-1894).
Autograph letter signed. 296 Beacon St., [Boston], 29. IX. 1877.
8vo. 1½ pp. on bifolium. With cabinet photograph. To the eminent American botanist Asa Gray (1810-88), a friend of Darwin's: "I am very much disappointed in not being able to come to the Club today. The day after getting back to Boston I was taken with a very severe cold which entirely unfits me for company. I had hoped to meet you and tell you how greatly I regretted that I could not be with you and your distinguished companions [...] and to have a good talk with you and some others of my friends who I hope will be at the Club [...]". A member of New England's "Fireside Poets", Holmes was acclaimed by his peers as one of the best writers of his day. He was also an important medical reformer. His like-named son remains one of the most widely cited Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.
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Lachâtre, Maurice, French journalist and publisher (1814-1900).
"Un épisode de la semaine infernale du 21 au 28 Mai 1871". Manuscript with autograph revisions signed. [Likely San Sebastián, Spain, autumn 1871].
8vo. 13 pp. on blue squared paper, written on rectos only. A long, unpublished manuscript recounting the horrors of the "Semaine sanglante" of May 21st through 28th, 1871, which saw the defeat and collapse of the revolutionary government of Paris. Originally drafted as a preface to a never-published sequel volume to Lachâtre's 1870 "Nouvelle encyclopédie nationale", what the author conceived as an apology for the book's long delay constitutes a powerful first-hand account of the "Bloody Week" and of his own persecution. The manuscript is written in a scribal hand but is extensively revised in Lachâtre's own, characteristically graceful handwriting, showing his deletions, insertions and various textual changes on almost every page. Lachâtre describes the Communards' heroic resistance, in which women fought on the barricades alongside their husbands, brothers and sons against the vastly more numerous and better equipped army. He deplores the atrocities which the Communards, too, committed in their desperation (such as the execution of no fewer than 123 clergymen and gendarmes who had been taken hostage), but his emphasis is clearly on the indiscriminate, ruthless cruelty with which the invading soldiers slaughtered men, women and children, the decrepit and infants alike, if they suspected them of any connection at all with the Commune: "Les Versaillais massacrent, fusillent, percent de leurs sabres - baïonnettes et par milliers tous ceux qui leur tombent sous leur main, innocents ou coupables, hommes et femmes, enfants et vieillards; la vapeur du sang les énivre, la soif de la vengeance les pousse à chercher de nouvelles victimes; ils parcourent les rues, envahissent les maisons, fouillent les demeures des citoyens, arrachent de leur lit les malades, tuent tous ceux qu'ils soupçonnent avoir été partisans de la Commune [...] Ceux là sont conduits par files innombrables, prisonniers de tous les âges, hommes et femmes, des mères tenant de petits enfants par la main, quelques unes allaitant un nouveau-né; ces longues files de victimes enchaînées vont s'engouffrer dans les cours des casernes dont les portes se referment avec un bruit lugubre, et où toutes sont massacrées, toutes, jusqu'à la dernière!!!" - Lachâtre himself barely escaped into hiding before a platoon of soldiers arrived looking for him and his associate Félix Pyat (1810-89), with whom he had published the radical papers "Le Combat" and "Le Vengeur": "Se décida à abondonner la place, laissant chez lui deux femmes, deux jeunes filles dont une de dix ans à peine, son enfant. Dans la maison se trouvait également le caissier de la librairie, M. Profilet, vieillard inoffensif, qui jamais ne s’était occupé de politique [...] On était au mercredi, 22 mai! Vers les deux heures de l’après-midi, moins d’une demi-heure après le départ du citoyen Maurice La Châtre, la maison est envahie par une troupe de soldats [...] Après une heure de mortelles angoisses pour le pauvre caissier, il est lui-même emmené prisonnier! Mr. Profilet était porteur d’une montre en or avec sa chaîne, et d’une somme de 400 fr en pièces d’or, quand il fut enlevé de sa maison… Où fut-il conduit par les soldats de 55e de ligne? Quel a été le sort réservé à ce vieillard inoffensif, absolument innocent de tout acte insurrectionnel? C’est ce que ni sa famille, ni ses amis n’ont jamais su! [...] Nous vous devions le récit de ces évènements, chers lecteurs [...] A vous, aimables lectrices, à vous, chers lecteurs, amis connus et inconnus, l’auteur adresse de la terre d’exil de salut fraternel". - Slight paper flaws to bottom edge of the final leaf, otherwise very well preserved. At the head of the first page, Lachâtre has inscribed the manuscript to his longtime collaborator Félix Pyat: "Maurice LaChâtre à Félix Pyat". A diplomatic transcription of the full text is available upon request.
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[Lachâtre, Maurice, French journalist and publisher (1814-1900)].
Judgment. Handwritten document, unsigned. Versailles, 19 Dec. 1873.
Folio. 1 p. Copy of a court martial's judgment, sentencing the bookseller Maurice de La Châtre to be deported and imprisoned in a fortress for his involvement in the Paris Commune of 1871: "3ième Conseil de Guerre de la 1ère Division militaire séant à Versailles. Jugement par Contumace. Le 3ième Conseil de Guerre permanant de la 1ère division militaire a rendu le jugement suivant: Aujourd'hui 19 décembre 1873 le 3ième Conseil de Guerre de la 1ère Division militaire séant à Versailles, ouïr le commissaire du Gouvernement dans ses réquisitions et conclusions, a declaré le nommé Delachartre (Claude Maurice) homme de lettres et libraire éditeur, contumax, à l'unanimité, coupable d'avoir en 1871, à Paris, pratiqué des intelligence avec les directeurs et commandants de bandes armées dans le but d'envahir des places et des postes appartenant à l'état & de faire attaque et résistance à La Force publique agissant contre les auteurs de ces crimes. - 2° à la l'unanimité coupable d'avoir à la même époque et au même lieu participé à un attentat dans le but de détruire & de changer le gouvernement. En conséquence le dit conseil condamne par contumace, à l'unanimité le nommé Delachartre (Claude Maurice) Sus-qualifié, conformement aux articles 96, 88, 87 du code pénal, 5 de la constitution de 1848, et de la loi du 16 Juin 1850 et 135 du code de Justice militaire, à la peine de la déportation dans une enceinte fortifiée. Le dit Jugement à commencé à recevoir son exécution le 30 Xbre 1873". - Lachâtre, who at this time was publishing the first French translation of Marx's "Kapital", had been able to avoid arrest by flying to Spain, where he lived in San Sebastián, near the border, under the name of "Leconte". Driven away by the Carlists two years later, he again escaped to Brussels and later to Vevey in Switzerland before finally returning to France in 1879. - Traces of folds; some brownstaining; some slight defects to upper edge.
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Hawking, Stephen / Rocek, Martin (eds.).
Superspace and Supergravity: Proceedings of the Nuffield Workshop, Cambridge June 16-July 12, 1980. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1981.
8vo (226 x 152 mm). Publisher's maroon cloth, lettered in silver on spine, original pictorial dustjacket. Author's presentation copy, inscribed on the title page in Hawking's own hand. This is a collection of densely mathematical papers given at a workshop on supergravity organized by Hawking. The dustjacket reproduces a blackboard covered with doodles by Martin Rocek and other attendees at the Nuffield Workshop, including a caricature of Hawking himself: the blackboard itself remained in Hawking's office in Cambridge until his death. A fine copy of the first edition. - Provenance: authorial inscription on title "Love from Stephen x x x"; Judy Fella (Hawking's first secretary and later PA and nursing co-ordinator: Fella typed up some of the manuscript for the work, and is depicted, as "one of the Fella's", in the cover artwork).
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De Kooning, Willem, Dutch-American artist (1904-1997).
Autograph letter signed. East Hampton, NY, [19 May 1966].
Large 4to. ¾ p. With autograph envelope. To Greenwich Village bohemian Helen Elliott: "I did not see Hans Namuth this week-end, ... and I would not want to loose [!] the chance ... I mean not to be in your book, ... I would certainly regret it alright ... With names, with people like Camus, Dostoyesky [!] W. C. Fields ... It is very nice of you to remember me, ... and it will be nice to see you again [...]". - Helen Elliott (1925-1990) is best known for her love affair with Lucien Carr and friendships with Jack Kerouac and Alan Ginsberg. She has been identified as the characters Ruth Erickson in Kerouac's "Desolation Angels" and Eileen Weber in the expanded edition of his "Book of Dreams". - German-born American photographer Hans Namuth (1915-1990) was known for his portraits of architects and artists, notably a series of photographs depicting Jackson Pollock at work in his Long Island studio, which are reputed to have precipitated a change in Pollock’s artistic style. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Namuth photographed de Kooning and his work, most notably, his "Reclining Man", and chronicled his studio’s construction in Long Island’s East Hampton artist colony. - Written in blue ink on a folded sheet of lined yellow legal notepaper.
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Kline, Franz, American painter (1910-1962).
Autograph letter and related ephemera. Boston, 25 Oct. 1931.
6 pp. on wood-grained pattern stationery, with the matching lined holographic envelope. Includes a program for the Lehighton High School commencement, 5 June 1931, with Kline's name listed, and the Lehighton High School football schedule for 1929. To Lavona Edgar, sharing news of life at Boston University: "I have a roommate. He's from Maine. Tonight we bought a Drip-o-Lite coffee percolator, so we laugh to each other while eating doughnuts & drinking coffee. Our mid-nite luncheon. He with me is a supposedly art student, half the time we don't know whether we're Budding Artists, or Blooming Fools, but we're happy and get along fine together.". - All three with signs of wear, some chipping, folds, fading.
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Kokoschka, Oskar, Maler, Graphiker und Schriftsteller (1886-1980).
Eigenh. Brief mit U. Villeneuve (Vaud), 24. X. 1962.
2 SS. 8vo. Mit eh. adr. Kuvert. An den Kunsthistoriker Ludwig Goldscheider, Phaidon Press, London: "Sie haben mir ja einen richtigen Lobbrief geschrieben und diesen liebenswürdig als Versuch Ihre Erschütterung loszuwerden motiviert. Ich wurde rosig wie eine Jungfrau und vergaß für eine kurze Zeit meine Bestürzung daß ja, nachdem die Ausstellung als mein Lebenswerk zu gelten hat, es sozusagen zu Ende wäre. Und ich war doch nie anders als ein Beginner und Morgen sollte ich dann was erreichen, was das frühere überflügelte! Verdammt dieser Kalender, der viel zu schnell abläuft, das fällt einem besonders schwer, denkt man wirklich an die Heiligen und Großen, im Reich der Kunst, die Sie erwähnen, diese kamen aus mit der Lebenszeit während ich fast fertig bin mit der mir gegebenen Spanne Zeit und stehe noch vor der Türe. Aber es war liebenswert von Ihnen, lieber Freund, mir so tröstend zu schreiben. Haben Sie vielleicht meine Schallplatte der Deutschen Grammophongesellschaft noch nicht gehört? Wenn so, dann lasse ich Ihnen diese senden, falls es Sie freut. Die läuft fast 45 Minuten, mit Unterbrechungen, ich wählte Musik, die ich gerne selber höre[,] weil zu langes Reden ermüdet. Ich sprach sie auch Englisch, die deutsche war spontan und improvisiert gemacht. Der Vorschlag selber eine Einleitung zu schreiben? Es wird lange dauern, ich will so viel auf einmal, daß der Tag vorüber ist ehe ich beginne [...] Für die Taktlosigkeiten 'Karl Kraus', 'Altenberg' kann ich nichts, ich hatte Winglers Aufsatz im Katalog erst gelesen nachdem Ihr Brief mich darauf verwiesen hat. Ich bedauere es sehr! Nun mit allen herzlichen Wünschen und Grüssen von uns beiden Ihr Oskar Kokoschka".
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Rops, Félicien, Belgian artist (1833-1898).
Autograph letter signed. Heist, "Hotel des Bains", undated.
8vo. 1½ pp. To the French painter Jules Adolphe Chauvet, sending some drawings: "Vous voyez que je ne me presse guère de quitter la Flandre. Je vous ferai parvenir dans quelques jours 1o Le volume des Rimes de Joie avec tous les états rares des planches & les dessins originaux plus les dessins non gravés | 2o Les frontispices des Diaboliques & d'autres frontispices [...] Je vous envoie en attendant le croquis de La Fleur Lascive [...] Si votre amateur désire les croquis des dernières publications de Gay, - les œuvres de Grécourt [...] Collé [...] etc j'ai gardé les croquis d'après lesquels ces dessins ont été gravés. Ces croquis sont plutôt des dessins faits [...]". - On blue paper.
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Bakunin, Mikhail, Russian revolutionary anarchist, and founder of collectivist anarchism (1814-1876).
Autograph letter signed ("M. Bakunin"). [London], 15 Jan. 1861.
8vo. 1 page. In German. To an unnamed addressee: "Please excuse my not coming today, but it was impossible for me, as I was already committed elsewhere. Even tomorrow I will not be able to see you, as I want to take advantage of an extraordinary opportunity to write to Russia. But the day after tomorrow I certainly want to see your home. Your unchanged, albeit older M. Bakunin" (transl.). - The aristocratic Russian anarchist, a figurehead of permanent revolution, had escaped from Siberia to Japan in 1861, made his way from there to San Francisco, and then to London, where he began to renew his associations in revolutionary circles. A compelling if somewhat intemperate figure, Bakunin loathed Karl Marx and vigorously challenged his authority. This enmity led to Bakunin's expulsion from the International in 1872.
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Bebel, August, Politiker und Publizist, Mitbegründer der Sozialdemokratischen Arbeiterpartei (1840-1913).
Albumblatt mit eigenh. U. Berlin, 8. V. 1897.
1 S. auf Doppelblatt. 8vo. "Geehrtes Fräulein / Um Ihren Wunsch zu erfüllen sende ich Ihnen diese Zeile. / Hochachtungsvoll / A. Bebel". - Mit stärkeren Randläsuren.
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Chiang Ching-kuo, Taiwanese Politician, leader of the Kuomintang (1910-1988).
Autograph signature. N. p. o. d.
56:32 mm. Bold black ink. Neatly affixed to a larger sheet, beneath a clipped piece from German newspaper. The article entitles "The eldest son of Tschiang Kai-Scheks is prepared for his father's legacy". The Taiwanese politician and son of Generalissimo and President Chiang Kai-shek held numerous posts in the government of the Republic of China (ROC). He succeeded his father to serve as Premier of the Republic of China between 1972 and 1978 and was the President of the Republic of China from 1978 until his death in 1988.
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Kropotkin, Pjotr Alexejewitsch, Anarchist und Revolutionär (1842-1921).
Eigenh. Brief mit U. Brighton, 8. VII. 1915.
5½ SS. 8vo. Kropotkin bedankt sich für wichtige Pamphlete und Bücher über den ersten Weltkrieg, von denen er einige nach St. Petersburg geschickt hat und berichtet von Problemen mit der Zensur. Er hofft auf ein Ende der Untentschlossenheit in Russland, besonders auf ein Umdenken im zu deutschlandfreundlichen St. Petersburg, angesichts der Eroberungen durch Deutschland (Kurland, Polen) und die Unterstützung der ukrainischen Separatisten durch die Mittelmächte. Kropotkin setzte sich, entgegen seiner überwiegend pazifistisch orientierten Freunde für die Beteiligung der Anarchisten am Krieg gegen Deutschland ein. "Dear Mr. Unwin / Permit me to express you my very best thanks for the pamphlets and books concerning the war which you do kindly continue to send me. Most of them are extremely valuable, and some of them I sent to Sasha and Boris to Petrograd; but I do not know yet whether they have reached them. Their letters reach us regularly in 11 or 12 days; but our letters remain sometimes 27 to 28 days on the journey, probably on account of the censorship. All letters coming from Russia are opened by the Russian Military Censorship, but are not delayed in transmission. There is a great awakening in Russia - even in that non-Russian - cosmopolitan and German city of Petrograd; so the previous letters of both Boris and Sasha were very sad on account of the pessimism, or indifferent state of mind at Petrograd. The Court, especially its feminine part, is of course pro-German, and the attitudes of a certain portion of the 'intellectuals' was one of sad pessimism. Thus the latest news from Boris and Sasha speak of a serious awakening and consciousness of the seriousness of the conditions. I think that the success of the Germans in Courland, and the conquest of Poland left indifferent, which the stupid attitude of the Russian Government towards the Ukrainian Autonomist tendencies in East Galicia could only provoke the deepest discontent [...]".
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Louis XIV, King of France (1638-1715).
Letter signed. Versailles, 22. VI. 1703.
Folio. 1 p. Counter-signed by foreign minister Colbert. To Cardinal Leandro Colloredo, thanking him for his moral support upon his great-grandson's death: "Mon Cousin, Jay receu la lettre que vous m'avez ecrite le 26 du mois dernier. Linterest que vous prenez a cequi me regarde dans la triste conjoncture de la mort du duc de Bretagne mon arriere petit fils est l'offre des sentiments que vous m'auez toujours temoignez. Ainsy vous ne devez pas douter que je ne continue de vous donner des marques de lestime part[iculie]re que j'ay pour vous, lorsque les occasions s'en presenteront. […] je prie Dieu qu'il vous aye, Mon Cousin, en sa s[ain]te et digne garde. Ecrit a Versailles le 22 Juin 1703".
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Schindler, Oskar - Emilie Schindler, wife of Oskar Schindler (1908-1974), saviours of 1,200 Jewish lives during the Holocaust.
A collection of jewellery and ephemera. Germany and Argentina, apparently 1930s-1950s.
A ms. workbook; 4 bracelets; 3 brooches; a pendant; a typed letter signed; a typed airmail envelope. Comprises: Emilie Schindler's manuscript workbook containing 60 pp. of German-Spanish translation notes, made in preparation for the Schindlers' move to Argentina in 1949, along with other notes; a collection of jewellery comprising four bracelets, three brooches and one pendant from the collection of Emilie Schindler; an airmail envelope sent from Oskar to Emilie Schindler, dated 2 July 1957; a typed letter signed by Emilie Schindler, dated 11 June 1997, to the General Consul Dieter Koepke in Bonn, asking for legal assistance from the German consulate in Buenos Aires. - Together with her husband Oskar, Emilie Schindler (née Pelzl) helped to save the lives of at least 1,200 Jews during World War II by employing them in his enamelware and munitions factories, providing them immunity from the Nazis. She was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Israel's Yad Vashem in 1994. - Provenance: From the estate of Emilie Schindler and thence by descent.
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Trotsky, Leon, Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist (1879-1940).
Typed letter signed. Constantinople, 31 Oct. 1929.
Large 4to. 1 ¼ pp. To his lawyer Gérard Rosenthal about the Trotskist newspaper "La Vérité", which Trotsky had co-founded in 1929: - "[...] La Vérité s'améliore visiblement. On voit que les articles pour la plupart sont écrits avec attention et soigneusement. Je vous ai déjà écrit quelques impressions dans ma lettre précédente. Pour préciser mes idées sur son contenu, je vous dirai quelques mots cette fois sur la bibliographie. Les articles d'A.A. sont très bons et très utiles, mais par le choix des livres et par la manière de les critiquer plus appropriés à une revue marxiste qu'à un hebdomadaire politique. On préférerait voir dans les colonnes bibliographiques de la Vérité des articles sur les Cahiers du bolchevisme, sur la Revue marxiste, sur l'Humanité même, et sur d'autres journaux du parti; naturellement, aussi sur toutes les éditions du Komintern, du Profintern, de la C.G.T.U, etc. Je crois que par l'intermédiaire de la presse, [des éditions mêmes] et d'autres éditions du parti on pourrait mettre en lumière les traits essentiels de l'activité toute entière du parti. Les Cahiers pompeux du bolchevisme avec leur papier de luxe, leurs vignettes originales, etc., démontrent la richesse matérielle et la pauvreté idéologique d'une manière éclatante et même écoeurante. Je crois aussi que l'on devra donner deux ou trois articles sur l'Humanité en les comparant avec les souscriptions précédentes par villes, régions, etc. C'est un travail minutieux, encombrant, mais il peut donner des résultats d'une importance tout à fait singulière sur les changements de l'influence du parti, sur la composition des sympathisants, etc. Sans des études pareilles (aussi par et sur les syndicats) notre critique restera abstraite et parfois même vide. Je parlais dans une de mes lettres à Naville de la nécessité de diviser sérieusement le travail entre la Vérité et la Lutte en en formant un organisme unique. Le camarade Naville me répond que pour cela il faut une organisation unique, ce qui est entièrement juste. Malheureusement je ne vois pas par le journal lui-même ni par les lettres comment on s'y prend pour aboutir à cette organisation unique composée avant tout d'ouvriers actifs. Maintenant quelques mots au 'maître'. Je vous ai envoyé une lettre ennuyeuse sur mes relations avec Rieder. J'ai omis d'y mentionner que Paz lui a accordé le droit de traduction pour les pays européens, à l'exception de l'Allemagne et de l'Angleterre. Rieder retient, dans ce cas, 40% des sommes payées à l'auteur. C'est une piraterie. Il est juste vrai que les éditeurs français pratiquent cette piraterie normalement envers les jeunes écrivains en abusant de leurs besoins d'être introduits par les voies de la 'franc-maçonnerie' internationale des éditeurs. Mais sans parler de ce que j'ai aucun besoin de la protection de Rieder devant ses semblables en Hollande et en Tchécoslovaquie, j'ai reçu un tas de propositions incomparablement plus favorables. J'ai transmis il y a quelques jours à Rieder une proposition analogue d'une société anglo-allemande, qui n'émet pas la prétention de retenir plus de 15% (au lieu des 40% de Rieder). Dans ce cas-ci je suis lié par le traité et Rieder a le droit formel de transporter ce paragraphe dans le nouveau traité. Mais vous pourrez tout de même essayer de faire une certaine pression sur cette matière problématique qui lui sert de conscience. Quant à mon livre sur l'Internationale j'apprends inopinément que toute l'affaire est entre les mains de Madeleine Paz. Je vous envoie ci-joint sa lettre et ma réponse pour vous mettre au courant. Je ne vous encombrerais pas de cette question qu'il ne s'agissait que d'une question personnelle [...] D'ailleurs je vous fais une proposition 'commerciale': les honoraires dus à un avocats dans un cas pareil, nous les déposerons à moitié dans la caisse de la Vérité et dans celle de la Lutte […]". - Atatürk had granted Trotsky political asylum in 1929; he spent the years until 1933 on the Turkish island of Büyükada. In Constantinople he began work on his autobiography. - Slight traces of handling.
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Zaifeng (aka Prinz Chun II.), Manchu prince and regent of the late Qing dynasty (1883-1951).
Autograph signature. N. p. o. d.
1 p. 175:72 mm. Rare signed bold black ink piece, in Chinese characters, by Prince Chun. - With annotation from someone else's hand at the foot.
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Zaifeng (Prince Chun II), Manchu prince and regent of the late Qing dynasty (1883-1951).
Calling card. [Berlin/Potsdam, Sept. 1901].
255 x 120 mm. Presented by Prince Chun as a gift to Anna von Elbe (neé Richthofen), the sister of the German Foreign Secretary Oswald von Richthofen, when he was sent to Germany as a Special Ambassador to offer his regrets for the murder of the German diplomat Clemens von Ketteler during the Boxer Rebellion.
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Byron, Anne Isabella, née Milbanke, 11th Baroness Wentworth, wife of poet George Gordon Byron (1792-1860).
Autograph letter signed ("A. I. Noel Byron"). Moore Place, Esher, 31 Oct. 1842.
8vo. 2½ pp. on bifolium. Includes an engraved portrait of Lord Byron with a print of his poem, "Fare thee well". To an unidentified Lord, contributing 10 pounds towards the erection of a new chapel: "In compliance with the wish you have expressed to me in so kind a manner, I will settle an endowment of Ten Pounds on the Minister of Petton. I should have great satisfaction in doubling that sum, if the New Chapel were open to the use of Christians of a different denomination, as is the case with Protestant Churches abroad - but as long as the present exclusion system is continued I shall feel that Roman Catholics & Dissenters have likewise a claim to the Landowner's assistance. Your Lordship will I trust pardon me for giving this explanation in order to account for the smallness of my contribution. Should I travel Northwards next Summer, I shall be happy to accept yours & Mr Maltby's gratifying invitation [...]". - A highly educated and strictly religious woman, Anna Isabella seemed an unlikely match for the amoral and agnostic poet Byron. Indeed, the marriage lasted but a year, as Byron was given to fits of anger and maintained an incestuous relationship with his older half-sister Augusta Leigh. The couple separated in March 1816. Their only child, Augusta Ada Byron (Countess of Lovelace), was a gifted mathematician and is credited with creating the first computer programme.
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Dumas, Alexandre (père), French writer (1802-1870).
Signed and inscribed cabinet photograph. No place, [c. 1860s].
90:56 mm. An excellent signed and inscribed cabinet photograph. The A. Bernoud image, depicting the French poet in a half length formal pose. Signed and inscribed "A ma bonne amie […] Al. Dumas" in bold black ink, in French, to the lower clear area of the photograph. Matted in off-white to an overall size of 148: 110 mm.
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Gessner, Salomon, Dichter, Maler und Graphiker (1730-1788).
Eigenh. Federskizze und eh. Zitat. O. O. u. D.
2 SS. 8vo. Recto ein ganzseitiger Illustrationsentwurf zu "Damon. Phillis" (Zürich, 1756, SS. 44-47) mit einem Textzitat ("Doch setze mir zuerst den Kranz zurecht | Du hast mein Haar zerzaust") sowie einem weiteren Zitat aus "Die Erfindung des Saitenspiels und des Gesanges" (ebd., 91-99: "[Man pflanzte da zween Bäume auf einem hohen Hügel, dem Mädchen und] dem Jüngling, u. die späten Enkel erzählten [den K]indern in ihrem Schatten d. Erfindung des Saitenspiels u. des Gesangs"). Verso mit zwei Zitaten aus "Der Frühling" (ebd., 107-112) und "Die übel belohnte Liebe" (Salomon Gessners Schriften. Zürich: bey Orell, Gessner, Füssli u. Comp., 1770. Bd. 2, SS. 113-121; S. 120f.). - Gering fleckig.
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Hamsun, Knut, Norwegian author and Nobel laureate (1859-1952).
Portrait photograph signed and dated. Nörholm, 26 Aug. 1939.
135:111 mm, mounted on cardboard. Depicting the poet in profile, writing at the desk.
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Jameson, Anna Brownell, English writer (1794-1860).
Autograph letter signed ("Anna Jameson"). No place or date ("Wednesday"), but probably late 1840s.
8vo. 3½ pp. on bifolium. To Anna Isabella Noel-Byron, "Lady Byron", the poet's wife: "Would the page of whom you were speaking last night, go to Lady Monson for a month or six weeks? - she only wants him while she is in London, & as it is of importance to her to have a boy of good character - & not easy to find one for so short an engagement she would be likely to overlook some outward deficiencies - moreover she is an excellent person & kind to all around her - particularly to her servants. Would you send the boy to 49 Park Street between 11 & 12 on Friday - if the situation suits him? I am sailing in extremest haste - & can only add my earnest hope that you are not the worse for yesterday [...]". - Jameson was a friend of Ottilile von Goethe, the poet's daughter-in-law. Her friendship with Annabella Byron dates from about 1845 and lasted for some seven years; it was brought to an end apparently through Lady Byron's unreasonable temper. The marriage between Lord and Lady Byron had lasted but a year, as Byron himself was given to fits of anger and maintained an incestuous relationship with his older half-sister Augusta Leigh. The couple separated in March 1816. Their only child, Augusta Ada Byron (Countess of Lovelace), was a gifted mathematician and is credited with creating the first algorithm intended to be carried out by a machine - in fact, the first computer program.
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Maffei, Andrea, Italian poet, translator and librettist (1798-1885).
"La Viola" and "Alla Signorina Teresa Martini". 2 autogr. poems signed. N. p. o. d.
Oblong 8vo. 1 p. "La Viola" ("Odorosa foriera d'aprile [...]"), comprising eight stanzas with four lines each, and three stanzas entitled "Alla Signorina Teresa Martini", from whose album the present sheet was removed: "Alla giovane musa un fior dimanda [...]". Maffei's poem was set to music by Anton Rubinstein under the title "La prima viola" (op. 83/7). - Slightly spotty and waterstained; left edge trimmed closely.
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Neruda, Pablo, Chilean poet and Nobel Prize laureate (1904-1973).
Autograph quotation signed. New York, 1943.
Oblong 8vo. 1 p. Reverse with autograph musical quotation signed by Arthur Rubinstein. The second verse of his famous poem "Un Canto para Bolivar", read by Neruda at the University of Mexico on July 24, 1941, for the 101st anniversary of the death of Simon Bolivar, and published in an edition of 500 copies (Imprenta Universitaria, 1941). Neruda noted this stanza in an autograph album in New York in 1943. "Tu pequeño cadáver de capitán valiente | ha extendido en lo inmenso su metálica forma, | de pronto salen dedos tuyos entre la nieve | y el australien pescador saca a la luz de pronto | tu sonrisa, tu voz palpitando en las redes". - Two years earlier, Rubinstein penned four bars of the Polish national anthem "Himno Polaco" in the autograph album from which this sheet originates.
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Qualtinger, Helmut, Schauspieler, Schriftsteller und Kabarettist (1928-1986).
Fräulein Casanova. Wien, 1952.
(2), 248 und einige eingeschobene Bll. Halbleinenband der Zeit. 4to. Bei dem vorliegenden Typoskript handelt es sich um das von Helmut Qualtinger zusammen mit Karl Leiter verfaßte Drehbuch zu dem Film "Fräulein Casanova", der im Jahr darauf in die Kinos kommen sollte; seine Deutschland-Premiere hatte der Film am 9. I. 1953 in Stuttgart, die Österreich-Premiere fand am 13. Februar statt. Unter der Regie von E. W. Emo waren u. a. Angelika Hauff, Josef Meinrad, Walter Giller, Ernst Waldbrunn und (in seiner zweiten Filmrolle) Helmut Qualtinger selbst zu sehen. - Etwas lichtrandig und angestaubt; innen etwas gebräunt und stellenweise (stock-)fleckig.
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Stendhal, French writer (1783-1842).
Autograph letter signed ("Chapuis"). [Milano], 7. XI. [1813].
4to. ¾ p. With autogr. address. A hitherto unpublished letter to his sister Pauline Périer-Lagrange. On the point of leaving Milan, he invites his sister to wait for him on the way to make the trip with him to Paris. "Mes affaires me rappellent à Paris, ma chère amie. Il est possible que je parte le 12 novembre, mais c'est le 15 au plus tard que je me mettrai en route. Je suppose que tu attendras un moment plus brillant pour faire le voyage de Paris. Cependant, si tu as la possibilité de le faire, je suis d'avis de partir, vu que l'occasion est chauve, comme dit don Japhet d'Arménie. Si tu n'as rien de mieux à faire, rends-toi à Cularo le 15 nov. Tu ne m'y attendras pas: 3 jours au plus. Sinon viens à Bourgoin le 16 ou le 17. J'embrasse tendrement ton mari. Je ne resterai que 20 à 24 h. au plus à Cularo; depuis la mort de notre pauvre grand-père, je n'ai plus de coeur dans cette ville. | Chapuis". - As soon as Stendhal arrived in Paris at the end of November 1813, he was to be charged with the defense of his native city Grenoble, a mission which proved impossible considering the superiority of the coalition forces. Like many high-ranking Napoleonic officials, Stendhal found no place in the strictly diminished government of the Bourbon Restoration under King Louis XVIII, and became a Napoleon's nostalgic and liberal, an oppositionist. He once more went to Milan and became the literary man and writer he is known as.
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Beethoven, Ludwig van, composer (1770-1827).
Autograph sketchleaf to op. 117, "König Stephan" ("Ungarns erster Wohltäter"). [Teplitz, 1811].
2 pages in ink and pencil on 16-stave paper (322:234 mm), with two folds. Formerly sewn on the left margin, leaving three punched holes. Accompanied by two autograph letters signed from Friedrich Wilhelm Künzel in Leipzig to Fred M. Steele of Chicago, dated July 16th, 1886, discussing the acquisition and certifying the authenticity of the present leaf. Stored in custom-made green morocco portfolio. A densely-used two-sided autograph sketchleaf containing music to opus 117, "König Stephan" or "Ungarns erster Wohltäter" ("Hungary's first Benefactor"), the front showing, among other motifs, the opening cello/bassoon line for the beginning of the first movement chorus, "Ruhend von seinen Thaten" (Andante maestoso e con moto, C major), and the verso with material from the end of the movement, all over with various freely written passages in ink and pencil, mostly on single staves, some with text underneath, containing many holograph corrections and instances where ink is written over pencil. - The present sketchleaf, apparently hitherto unknown to scholarship, belongs to a book of sketches that Beethoven used while writing his stage music "König Stephan" in 1811. Beethoven created his own book from various paper on hand and used it while at the spa in Teplitz from late 1810 into mid 1811. He finished "König Stephan" between 20 August and mid-September 1811. The sketches are of the first chorus (after the overture). The musical play was commissioned for the opening of the new theatre in Pest along with "The Ruins of Athens". First performed on 9 February 1812, it was published as op. 117. King Stephen I founded Hungary in 1000. Emperor Francis I of Austria commissioned the new theatre, and Beethoven was chosen as the composer to honour the occasion of the opening. The Austrian Emperor was honouring Hungary's loyalty, thus the subject matter on a text by August von Kotzebue. - The Beethoven-Haus in Bonn holds four other sketches from this sketchbook (viewable in their digital online archive, as entries HCB Bsk 2/50, 3/51, 4/52, and Mh 81), all of which share the same three holes punched on the left-side margin of the present sketch. We would like to thank Dr. Carmelo Comberiati, professor of Music History at Manhattanville College, for his assistance in cataloguing this lot. - Provenance: Friedrich Wilhelm Künzel, Leipzig, before 1886; Collection of Fred M. Steele, Chicago, purchased from the above, 1886. Offered in the "Collection of Important Autographs in the estate of Mrs. Ella P. Steele, widow of Mr. Fred M. Steele" (Philadelphia, 1918). Acquired from the purchaser's descendants, last located in Greenwich, CT. For an in-depth discussion of the pages to which this sketch belongs, cf. Douglas Johnson, Alan Tyson and Robert Winter, "The Beethoven Sketchbooks", p. 201-206.
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Liszt, Franz, composer and pianist (1811-1886).
Portrait photograph signed ("F. Liszt"). [Vienna, c. 1870s].
92:58 mm. Vintage albumen print from the studio of Fritz Luckhardt, Vienna.
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Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix, composer (1809-1847).
Autograph letter signed (within the text). "4 Hobart Place Eaton Sqa.", i. e. London, 28 April 1847.
8vo. 1 p. on bifolium. To Mrs. Erskine, possibly the wife of the Scottish orientalist and historian William Erskine: "Mr. Mendelssohn presents his Compts. to Mrs. Erskine & regrets most sincerely not to be able to accept of Mrs. Erskine's very kind invitation; as he must leave London already next week he is not sure whether he will be able to thank Mrs. Erskine in person for her kind note, but he hopes to find an opportunity of doing so [...]". - Mendelssohn was known to have been in London in April 1847, to hear Jenny Lind sing in Meyerbeer's "Robert le Diable". Mendelssohn greatly admired Lind and in the 1840s she became a protégée - it was rumoured that in 1847 he had written to her to suggest an elopement, though she was married at the time. - On laid paper watermarked "J. WHATMAN", with two early horizontal folds, in very good condition. - Though not formally signed, the use of his name at the beginning is effectively a signature.
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Rachmaninoff, Sergei, Russian pianist and composer (1873-1943).
Portrait postcard signed. No place, 1914.
8vo.
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Schumann, Robert, German composer (1810-1856).
Autograph calling card signed ("R. Schumann"). No place or date.
Calling card format. 1 page. To the musical writer and musician August Schmidt (1808-91), in German, on the verso of his printed visiting card, introducing a musician named Puyn visiting from Amsterdam. - "64" written in unknown hand at upper right of printed side.
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Strauß, Johann (fils), Austrian composer (1825-1899).
Autograph letter signed. No place, [c. 1888].
8vo. 2 pp. To Emma Pollak, his wife's cousin, apologizing for having to refuse an invitation, as his wife Adele will go to Franzensbad to take the waters: "So geschieht immer mehr was uns Beide näher zusammenführt! In veritas Ihr aufrichtigster Verehrer und ziemlich nahe stehender Verwandter! Ihrer verführerischen Einladung zu widerstehen wäre nicht denkbar, wenn nicht Adele wegen ihrer leider noch immer grossen Nervosität Franzensbad dringend nothwendig hätte. Wenn wir uns in der einsamen, ruhigen Coburg zu zerstreuen versuchten da sprachen wir von unsern Sympathien für dies und Jenes sich in Wien Befindliches - aber in erster Linie wurde immer Emma der Gegenstand unserer Herzensergießung - der Bewunderung, Verehrung; für Sie zu schwärmen - wahrhaftig bezwingen Sie alle Welt - doch so aufrichtig Ihnen ergeben wie wir Beide dürfte wohl kaum möglich sein. Meine respektvollsten Handküsse von Ihrem Sie hochschätzenden Johann Strauß". - Centerfold repaired; signature slightly smudged.
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Stravinsky, Igor, Russian, and later French and American, composer, pianist, and conductor (1882-1971).
Autograph musical quotation signed. Paris, 1936.
Small oblong 8vo. 1 p. A particularly fine quotation from his second ballet "Petrushka", first performed by Sergei Diaghilev's "Ballets Russes" at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on 13 June 1911. - In pencil; small traces of mounting on reverse.
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Wagner, Richard, German composer (1813-1883).
Portrait photograph (albumen print) with autogr. dedication and signature on reverse. N. p., app. 1876.
138:101 mm (portrait) on cardboard. Dedicated to Carl Brandt, a close collaborator of Wagner at Bayreuth: "Lieber Brandt | wenn wir erst zum | letzten Brand | gekommen sein werden, | wollen wir Lachnerin | einen Hahn | schlachten | Dieses gelobend bin ich | Ihr | dankbarer Richard Wagner". - From the studio of Fritz Luckhardt. - Mentioned in Wagner, Letters (A 673) and in an auction catalogue of Leo Liepmannsohn (cat. 63, no. 193). - Somewhat spotty; script somewhat faded. Hermann Kaiser: Der Bühnenmeister Carl Brandt und Richard Wagner. Kunst der Szene in Darmstadt und Bayreuth. Darmstadt, Eduard Roether Verlag, 1968.
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Einstein, Albert, German-born physicist and Nobel laureate (1879-1955).
2 typed letters signed ("A. Einstein"). Princeton, NJ, 28 July & 16 August 1951.
4to. 2 ff. To Dr. Alessandro Cortese. The first letter (July 28) concerns Cortese's visit ("If convenient I suggest Wednesday afternoon"), the second (August 16) was written afterwards: "I am grateful for the informations [!] you gave me on your visit last week. The realization of your plan to establish a[n] Institute of International Studies in Rome seems to me desirable; because such an Institute could vitalize that supra-national point of view which is so important for the solution of the international problems and could reach those persons who are most influential in this respect [...]". An unsigned carbon copy is recorded at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Archival Call Number: 59-452).
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Morse, Samuel F. B., American painter and inventor (1791-1872).
Autograph letter signed ("Saml. F. B. Morse"). Poughkeepsie, 12. XII. 1862.
8vo. 1 p. on bifolium. To Charles H. Morse, responding to a query about a man who may have been a former employee, and requesting more information: "[...] By having answers to these questions, I might be able to find his friends, and the relief he requires [...]". - With a printed order of service for his memorial service on 16th April 1872 (8vo, 1 p.). - After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system. He was a co-developer of Morse code and helped to develop the commercial use of telegraphy.
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Pasteur, Louis, French chemist and microbiologist (1822-1895).
Autograph manuscript unsigned. [Paris], 24 May 1858.
4to (229 x 175 mm). 1 p. In French: notes on the work of Monsieur Rets entitled 'Present state of studies of silkworms in the Vivrais': "This is what I notice in this note: The few Italian species which, up to now, had resisted the illness and last year had given good results, have now contracted it. They had been left from the early stages by the breeders […] Designation of the species give the best guarantees […] nonetheless there is no sign of any other disease than that of the little ones […] The worms submitted to sulfur and carbon treatment are well up to the present. The worms are vigorous, healthier, steadier […]". - The present manuscript was written well before Pasteur concentrated his efforts in battling a catastrophic disease of silkworms which was then ruining the production of silk in the south of France during the five-year period from 1865 to 1869. In 1853, silkworm eggs could no longer be produced in France, but had to be imported from Lombardy. The disease then spread to Italy, Spain and Austria. Dealers procuring eggs (i.e., seeds) for the silkworm breeders had to go farther and farther east in an attempt to secure healthy products. The disease followed them, soon engulfing Greece, Turkey, the Caucasus, China and even Japan. By 1865, the silkworm industry in France was near ruin. Though Pasteur had never ever seen a silkworm or a mulberry tree, he began at the request of his master Jean Baptiste Dumas, the famous chemist to investigate the cause of the epidemic. To be of value in his scientific endeavor, Pasteur had to become a masterful industrialist and therefore, it is quite expected that he would criticize those who would be willing to let their own economic failures be dismissed blaming disease rather than their own ineptitude or mismanagement.
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Schrödinger, Erwin, physicist and Nobel laureate (1887-1961).
Autograph document signed. No place, [c. 1949].
Oblong small 8vo (87:132 mm). 1 p. A statement to Arthur Keith's "A New Theory of Human Evolution" (London 1948): "It really is a theory of the evolution of ethics. It is quite sufficient to read two or three of the essays. They all say virtually the same. / Erwin". - In pencil.
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[Album amicorum].
Album amicorum der Auguste Büttner. Ammelshain, Borna, Langenhennersdorf, (meist) Pirna und Sorau, 1843-1850.
22 Bll. Mit 1 kolorierten Lithographie und 1 Aquarell. Halbleder-Kassette der Zeit mit Goldprägung. Qu.-kl.-8vo. Hübsche Stammbuchkassette. Nach einem Blatt mit einer kolorierten Lithographie (zwei schnäbelnde Tauben über Spruchband "Liebe entzückt" und gedr. Reim "Freundschaft beglückt") und einem Blatt mit einer kleinen Widmung der Stammbuchhalterin folgen 22 Bll. mit zusammen 19 Einträgen mit Sinnsprüchen für das Leben: "Brich wo Du kannst des Lebens Rose. | Sie brechen ist der Weisheit Pflicht. | Der Weisheit Pflicht ist nebst der Rose | Zu pflücken ein Vergißmeinicht". - Gelegentlich stellenweise stärker fleckig.
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[Lienz in East Tyrol].
Accounting booklet of St. Michael am Rindermarkt in Lienz. Lienz, 1511/1512.
8vo. German manuscript on paper. 25 inscribed pp. on 16. ff. In dust cover with the handwritten dating "1511". A unique testimony of late medieval building, significant for questions of art history as well as economic and social history. On the one hand, the manuscript proves useful for dating the construction works at St. Michael and provides important information about the persons in charge, being, apart from inscriptions in some of his sacral buildings, the only known written source naming the builder Bartlmä Firtaler. On the other hand, it allows a profound insight into the organisation of a late medieval construction site. While other manuscripts document the building of cathedrals or urban edifices, the one at hand lists the expenses of a small site in the periphery, covering about two months. The booklet was probably composed after the work was completed, drawing from notes constantly taken during the building process. It is arranged in several chapters, stating the weekly expenses for bricklayers and carpenters, for day works, the acquisition and transportation of stones, as well as other more general expenditures (such as the purchase of wood, nails, chains, saws etc.). Expenses for sealing by the town judge, for an errand and for the workmen's wine supply complete the picture. - Bartlmä Firtaler, born aound 1480, built many sacral edifices in Carinthia, Tyrol and Carniola/Slovenia, his debut work being the chapel in Schloss Stein near Oberdrauburg in 1505. The lord of the castle, Lukas von Graben, who also appears in the manuscript, probably acted as the principal and financier of St. Michael, which was to become the future burial place of the lords of Graben. The booklet records the offer of 22 guilders to Firtaler, which he didn't accept ("damit hat er aber nit besteen mügen"), leading to a concession of 32 guilders in the end. This episode illustrates Firtaler's esteem as a builder, as well as his self-confidence. Previous researchers didn't assign St. Michael in Lienz to Firtaler, or merely accredited him works in the nave, dating them around 1530, when he might have already been deceased. The accounting booklet proves the church to be a product of Firtaler's first style period, which might have been inspired by Benedikt Ried's work in the Vladislav Hall in Prague Castle. - The expenses were listed by an unknown scribe, giving the total at the end of each page. The grand total of 83 guilders is given at the end of the booklet (a miscalculation, as the total reached by adding the sums of each page amounts to 84). However, not only financial but also social circumstances connected with the Lienz building site can be reconstructed. The scribe distinguishes between masters and assistants, who are mentioned by name, and unskilled workers, whose names aren't given. Personal names also appear in the expenses for the transportation of stones to Lienz, as well as in the general expenses, indicating sellers and handymen. These names could be a basis for further research, not only defining the roles of the historical players involved in the building of St. Michael in the whole of the city's history, but also placing the accounting booklet in a prominent position compliant with its historical relevance.
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[Weinbau im Wiener Umland: Maria Enzersdorf / Mödling / Brunn am Gebirge]. Lissl, Ignaz Ferdinand, österr. Beamter (fl. 1780er Jahre).
Schreiben mit eigenh. U. Wien, 20. IV. 1787.
2 SS. Folio. An einen Fürstlich Liechtenstein'schen Verwalter: "Das aufgehobene Stift Lambach besizet zu Enzersdorf ein Haus, und 10 Pfund Weingarten in Enzerstorfer Gebürg. In Mödlinger Gebürg 5 Pfund Weingarten [...] In Brunner Gebürg 20 Pfund die Hundsführer [...] Es ist zu Folge einer allerhöchsten Entschliessung erforderlich obgedachtes Haus samt den Weingärten ordentlich abschäzen zu lassen, um sonach mit derer Verkauf fürgehen zu können. Da dem Vernehmen nach, diese Realitäten ohnehin der Herrschaft Vesten Liechtenstein dienstbahr sein sollten, so nehme ich mir die Freyheit Euer Wohledelgebohrn zu ersuchen, das Haus durch Bauverständige Werkleute, die Gründe aber durch die gehörige Bergämter ordentlich, jedoch so abschäzen zu lassen, daß man bei künftiger Lizitation wegen einer etwa übertriebenen Schäzung keinen Anstand haben möge [...]". - Lissl zeichnet als "k. k. Staats-Güter-Administrations-Grundbuch-Amtsverwalter". Gefaltet und leicht fleckig mit Randeinrissen.
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[Beethoven, Ludwig van]. Schuler, Johannes, Schriftsteller (1800-1859).
Rede zur Geburts-Feyer Bethovens am 17. December 1838. O. O., [ca. 1838].
4to (ca. 180 x 217 mm). Deutsche Handschrift auf Papier. 37 SS. Zeitgenöss. marmorierter Einband. Zeitgenössische Reinschrift der von Schuler 1838 im Innsbrucker Verein "Die Namenlosen" gehaltenen Beethoven-Gedenkrede, die posthum in seinen "Gesammelten Schriften" (Innsbruck 1861, S. 166-178) gedruckt wurde. Wohl von Schuler selbst als Geschenkexemplar für einen namentlich nicht genannten Freund besorgte Reinschrift, der am Ende des Manuskripts folgenden Eintrag hinterließ: "Ich danke dir lieber Schuler! Unter Thränen gelesen im (!) meinen 7u.7sten Jahr!". - Der Jurist und Schriftsteller Schuler, Abgeordneter der Frankfurter Nationalversammlung und Wegbereiter der Tiroler Literatur im Vormärz, hinterließ auch eine Reihe literarischer Werke, darunter das Libretto zur Oper "Die zehn glücklichen Tage" von Louis Schindelmeisser. Schuler, der in seiner Gedenkrede auf Lebensstationen und Charakter sowie einzelne Werke Beethovens (u. a. die Sonate für Pianoforte und Violine in G-Dur, Op. 96) eingeht, konnte diesem während seiner Studienzeit in Wien ab 1820 noch persönlich begegnet sein. Die überragende musikgeschichtliche Bedeutung des damals noch verkannten Meisters war Schuler bewusst ("obwohl keinem seiner erhabensten Kunstgenossen nachstehend, ist [er] unter unsern Umgebungen am wenigsten gekannt, u. beinahe unverstanden", Bl. 3v), und seine Rede ist ein wichtiges Zeugnis der frühen Beethoven-Biographik, die eigentlich erst 1838 mit den "Biographischen Notizen" von Wegeler und Ries einsetzte. - Einband gering berieben; Papier leicht gebräunt aber insgesamt von schöner Erhaltung.
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Mascagni, Pietro, Komponist (1863-1945).
Eigenh. Brief mit U. Monaco, 13. III. 1905.
1 S. auf Doppelblatt. 8vo. An einen namentlich nicht genannten Freund, mit dem und dessen Freunden gemeinsam zu Mittag zu essen ihm aufgrund seiner vielen Arbeit nicht möglich sei: "Mon cher Ami, il m'est absolument impossible de dejeuner avec vous aujourd'hui, à cause du grand travail et aussi de la grande preoccupation. Je regrets infinitement de perdre l'occasion sympatique de causer un peu d'art avec vous et vos amis [...]". - Mascagnis Oper "Amica" hatte drei Tage später, am 16. März 1905, Premiere in Monte Carlo. - Auf Briefpapier mit gedrucktem Briefkopf des "International Sporting Club".
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Rafn, Carl Christian, Archäologe und altnordischer Philologe (1795-1864).
Eigenh. Brief mit U. Kopenhagen, 31. X. 1848.
2 SS. auf beschäd. Doppelblatt. 4to. Im Namen der Kgl. Gesellschaft für nordische Altertumskunde an den russischen Historiker, Archäologen und Ethnographen Baron Dmitry (Demetrius) von Schoeppingk (1823-95): "Ew. Hochwohlgeboren Abhandlung von den Statuen oder Götzenbildern, welche man in den Steppen Klein- und Neu-Russlands häufig begegnet, nebst den beifolgenden Abbildungen, haben wir richtig empfangen, und statten Ihnen hiedurch unseren herzlichsten Dank dafür ab [...]". Weiters über die Aufnahme Schoeppingks in die Kgl. Gesellschaft. - Das Gegenblatt mit Resten der Adresse, die untere Hälfte verloren.
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Arafat, Yasser, Palestinian political leader (1929-2004).
Autograph letter signed. No place, 21. XII. 1988.
Oblong 4to. 1 p. In Palestinian Arabic, apparently to a Yugoslavian recipient: "My memory of the good Commander Tito stands out boldly in my mind from the shadow, inciting all the perseverance of the excellent men and of those who fight against oppression around the world. So verily the Palestinian people and the revolutionary fighters of the Palestinian Revolution will rise to it successfully, assisted in this noble struggle and supported by the firmness of the champions of our just people. To the spirit of Commander Tito I tribute all the esteem, victorious purity and exaltation; to the people of Tito, I wish the achievement of all prosperity and I pay all our gratitude; to the defenders who fight for the cause of freedom, may be all the support and hope of the fruits of victory. And long live the Revolution until victory!" (transl.). - In fine condition. Autograph letters by Yasser Arafat with such important content are of the utmost rarity; we could not trace an even remotely comparable letter in the trade of the last decades.
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William Waldegrave Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne, British politician and colonial administrator, High Commissioner of South Africa (1859-1942).
Typed letter signed ("Selborne"). Governor's Office, Johannesburg, 31. XII. 1909.
4to. 2 pp. on bifolium. Headed paper. An unpublished official document (to Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl of Kabul and Kandahar, 1832-1914) which sheds new light on the assault on Gandhi in Johannesburg on 10 February 1908, the first attempt on Gandhi's life. Earlier that year, Gandhi had been summoned from prison in Pretoria to meet with the Colonial Secretary, General Smuts, to discuss the British treatment of Indian labourers in South Africa. Gandhi eventually convinced Smuts to allow the voluntary registration of all Indians rather than the punitive system of the "Black Act". However, this settlement did not prove popular with all Indians in the colony; as Gandhi was making his way to the Registration Office in Johannesburg, he was brutally beaten by one Mir Alam, a disillusioned Pathan: "I had scarcely finished the last sentence when a heavy cudgel blow descended on my head from behind. I at once fainted with the words 'He Rama' (O God!) on my lips, lay prostrate on the ground and had no notion of what followed. But Mir Alam and his companions gave me more blows and kicks, some of which were warded off by Yusuf Mian and Thambi Naidoo with the result that they too became a target for attack in their turn" (Gandhi, Satygraha in South Africa, p. 140). According to his own account, Gandhi immediately requested that Mir Alam and his companions not be charged or imprisoned for the assault; for, "according to their lights they could not behave otherwise than they did". Gandhi himself was philosophical about his near-fatal encounter, commenting, "As for me, nothing better can happen to a satyagrahi than his meeting death all unsought in the very act of satyagraha, i.e., pursuing Truth" (ibid, p. 157). - The present document, however, sheds new light on the assault. The letter discusses complaints received by one Mahomed Shah, "Pathan Priest", regarding the treatment of Indian prisoners. High Commissioner Selborne is dismissive of Shah, calling him an "illiterate Punjabi" and "of violent character". Most intriguingly, Selborne reveals that Shah himself "instigated the serious assault on Mr. M. K. Gandhi in February, 1908, and although Mr. Gandhi declined to prosecute he requested the government to remove Mahomed Shah from the Transvaal, where he was a source of danger to other Indians, and deport him to India." Gandhi's account of the incident holds that Mir Alam was responsible for the attack, and that although he insisted on not pressing charges, Alam was convicted by the Government of a public offence and sentenced to three months' imprisonment. The present official document suggests that the affair was more complicated than this and indeed was "instigated" by an entirely different person, and that while Gandhi did not press charges officially, he nevertheless took action against his aggressor. - Original materials relating to Gandhi's South African years - before his rise to international fame - are decidedly uncommon. It is often forgotten that Gandhi spent no fewer than 22 years of his life (1893-1915) in South Africa, promoting his practice of satyagraha to improve conditions for the large Indian population in that colony. "It is only recently that historians have come to recognise the centrality of his time abroad in Gandhi's life, and in particular, the significance of his southern African years [...] it was in southern Africa that he developed the entire spiritual, philosophical, and political programme that he would implement in India...Gandhi's political and intellectual projects, as they evolved in these years, operated across political boundaries, linking India, South Africa, and Britain itself, as well as points beyond" (Cambridge Companion to Gandhi, p. 30). - Traces of horizontal folds; slight brownstains in the left margin of the first leaf.
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Rückert, Friedrich, Dichter und Übersetzer (1788-1866).
Eigenh. Brief mit U. [Wohl Berlin, zwischen 1841 und 1848].
¾ S. Kl.-8vo. An den Anatomen und Pathologen Robert Froriep: "Werden Sie nicht böse, wenn ich Ihnen wieder etwas aufbürde. Sie haben schon für mich eine Visitencharte [sic] stechen zu lassen übernommen; wenn sie fertig ist, möchten Sie nicht sogleich davon eine Anzahl dem Portier Ihres Hauses übergeben zum Herumtragen an sämmtliche Ordinarii der übrigen Fakultäten, u die nöthigen Auslagen dafür wie für das Übrige machen? [...]". - Mit einer annähernd zeitgenöss. Notiz zum Adressaten von anderer Hand am unteren Rand und einem winzigen Randeinriss; mit altem Sammlungsumschlag.
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Houdini, Harry, Hungarian-American escapologist and magician (1874-1926).
Autograph picture postcard signed ("Houdini & Bess"). Münster, 26. VIII. 1908.
8vo. 1 page. With autograph address. To his sister Carrie Gladys Weiss (1882-1959) in New York: "Dear sis. Gladys. Am here on a visit. Leave for Hannover for 1 day than [!] to Berlin. Regards & love [...]". - In August 1908 Houdini had begun his second European tour, starting in Germany, where he enjoyed a particularly enthusiastic audience with his recently developed "milk can trick". - It is surprising that Harry wrote directly to his sister, who had been almost blind since childhood and probably could not have read the card without help. Remarkably, the stamp is affixed at an angle turned 120° to the right: in the "stamp language" common between lovers of the time, this was as much as to say: "I dearly long for you", "You are my happiness" or "Always thinking of you". Another Houdini mystery?
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Schlechta von Wschehrd, Ottokar Frh., Austrian orientalist (1825-1894).
Autograph letter signed. No place, 3. II. 1857.
Small 4to. 2½ pp. on bifolium. With autograph address. To Mr. L. Schwarz, typesetter at the Imperial and Royal Court and State Printing Office in Vienna, about the layout of an upcoming edition of one of his works, explaining the changes he requests to be made in the received typesetting samples, such as reducing the line spacing and inserting asterisks in a few places: "Ich nehme mir die Freiheit Ihnen einige Bemerkungen über die neulich mir zugesandten Setzproben mitzutheilen. Erstens ersuche ich Sie den Satz überhaupt kompresster zu halten, indem ein weiter Satz in den Augen eines Orientalen ein Gräuel ist. Zweitens, wo ein Sternchen zu setzen ist habe ich einen rothen Strich gemacht. Nur an diesen rothbezeichneten Stellen bitte ich mit Leerlassung eines kleinen Raumes ein Sternchen zu setzen [...]". - After finishing his studies at the Vienna Oriental Academy Schlechta von Wschehrd worked as an ambassador in Constantinople and soon became a dragoman. In 1860 he was the provisional director of the Oriental Academy and was appointed a diplomatic agent and Counsel General of Bucharest in 1870.
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