INLIBRIS Gilhofer Nfg.

Ten archives
August 2010

 

The unpublished responses to his famous work
1 Attomyr, Joseph, homeopath (1807-1856). Correspondence archive of 154 letters to the physician and writer. Various places, 1830s and 1840s. 528 ½ pp. on 315 ff. Various formats. Several addenda.
  € 15,000
Copious correspondence archive of the Slavonian-born pioneer of homeopathy. His "Briefe über Homöopathie" ("Letters on Homeopathy") were first published in 1833 and have been reprinted often. The letters written to him by his correspondence partners, forming the bulk of the present collection, are unpublished. - Joseph Attomyr studied in Vienna under Emil von Marenzeller and in Budapest under Josef Müller; after having healed himself from tuberculosis, he was expelled from the Vienna Josephinum. After having lived in Munich, Köthen, and Leipzig, he settled in Budapest as a well-known homeopath from 1839 until 1845 (cf. ÖBL I, 34). - As might be expected, Attomyrs correspondence with his 21 colleagues Bernstein, Claudius, Fleischmann, Gulyas, Gutmann, Ivanovich, Jaekel, Kazinski, Keiller, Melicher, Müller, Necher, Pezval, Sator, Schellhammer, Scholz, Schwarz, Stantzky, Starovessky, Vattenchich und Wirkner as well as with the politician Gustav von Struve, the treasurer Count Karoly Csaky de Korosszeg et Adorjan, Count Emmerich Festetics and his patient Julie Szumrak concerns mainly issues of homeopathy and the treatment of patients as well as the dissemination of the homeopathic doctrine and the activity of the German Central Association of Homeopathic Physicians founded in 1829. Wilhelm Fleischmann (c. 1789-1868) for example, then one of Vienna's leading homeopaths, answers Attomyr's question regarding the cure of Typhus abdominalis (letter dated 11 March 1840); the Bohemian physician Georg von Necher (who introduced homeopathy to Naples and cured the Duke of Bourbon) thanks Attomyr for a diploma (letter dated 18 Feb. 1836). Gordianus Jaekel, surgeon at the Erlau convent of the Brothers Hospitallers, describes several case histories and suggests a chair of homeopathy at Pest University. His letter (dated 31 March 1833) also provides a detailed account of an interesting case of Mesmerism. Attomyr's correspondence with his teacher Josef Müller (1773-1852) in Budapest encompasses 13 autograph letters. - Among the numerous addenda, a letter by Dr. Haubold to Samuel Hahnemann and a ms. copy of his answer deserve special mention.
  ¶ Joseph Attomyr, Briefe über Homöopathie. Reprint of the 1833-1834 complete edition (= Klassische Werke der Homöopathie, vol. 6. Euskirchen, 1998).
 

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"We have finally perfected the method on which we have been working for so long"
2 Cori, Carl Ferdinand (1896-1984) and Gerty Theresa (1896-1957), Nobel Prize winners in Medicine 1947. Collection of 163 (147 autogr. and 16 ts.) letters and postcards by Carl Ferdinand and 72 mostly autogr. letters and postcards by Gerty Theresa Cori. Various places, 1920-1954. C. F. Cori: 379 pp. (21 of which in his wife?s hand); G.T. Cori: 201 pp. (2½ of which in her husband?s hand). Also includes 69 ff. mostly ts. carbon copies of letters and telegrams by C. F. Cori?s father C. I. Cori, 243 ff. letters and postcadrs of third parties to Cori sen. and jun. as well as 54 ff. miscellaneous documents. Various formats.
  € 28,000
The correspondence of the two Nobel Prize winners with their Viennese family documents life and work of the renowned Austrian scientists Carl Ferdinand and Gerty Theresa Cori through more than three decades. The letters, frequently written by both, span the years from their first activity as physicians in Vienna in the early 1920s to the time after their winning the Nobel Prize, which Gerty Theresa Cori was the third woman to receive in a field of natural science (after Marie Curie and Irène Joliot-Curie). Their common research remains a central theme in the letters mostly addressed to Carl Isodor Cori (1865-1954). - "In subsequent work Gerty Cori used the enzymes involved in the biological cleavage of glycogen as tools for the chemical definition of its molecular structure. This was achieved in 1952, almost exactly 100 years after the discovery of glycogen by Claude Bernard [...] Gerty Cori's work thus demonstrated the central importance of the isolation and characterization of individual enzymes, both for the structural definition of the macromolecules on which they act and for the understanding of dysfunctions of metabolic processes in which these enzymes participate [...]" (DSB III, 416). - Detailed description available upon request.
  ¶ Cori, Carl Ferdinand, and Gerty Theresa Radnitz Cori, in: American National Biography, vol. 5 (New York, 1999), pp. 513-514.
 

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With letters by Oskar Werner and Ingeborg Bachmann
3 Haeusserman, Ernst, actor and theatre director (1916-1984). Archive, consisting of manuscripts, typescripts, letters by and to Ernst Haeusserman and his widow, numerous documents, and extensive collections. Also includes the partial Nachlass of Ernst Haeusserman's father Reinhold Häussermann. Various places, c. 1890-1983.
  € 25,000
"With Haeusserman, a part of Vienna died", wrote Rolf Hochhuth in his obituary in the "Weltwoche", and truly, the final, splendid age of Austrian theatre history passed away with this great man, an age that had begun in 1954, when Haeusserman was appointed director of the Josefstadt Theatre. A favourite of 1930s audiences, the yong romantic lead Haeusserman had to forsake his acting career when Austria joined the Third Reich; after his emigration to the U.S., he continued behind the scenes as personal assistant to Max Reinhardt. After the end of the war, he served as director of the Vienna Burgtheater and of other important Viennese playhouses. - Haeusserman's copious estate contains not only 317 pp. of manuscripts and typescripts and 45 pp. of autograph letters, but also some 3680 pp. of letters to him by such prominent writers as Rosa Albach-Retty, Ingeborg Bachmann, Albert Bassermann, Hedwig Bleibtreu, Franz Theodor Csokor, Ernst Deutsch, Richard Eybner, Adrienne Gessner, Nora Gregor, Friedrich Hacker, Marte Harell, Mirko Jelusich, Oscar Karlweis, Fritz Klingenbeck, Leopoldine Konstantin, Alexander Lernet-Holenia, Wolfgang Liebeneiner, Fred Liewehr, Ernst Lothar, Lilly Marberg, Fritz Molden, Lothar Müthel, Susi Nicoletti, Marcel Prawy, Géza von Radványi, Gottfried Reinhardt, Hermann Röbbeling, Adolf Rott, Robert Stolz, Hans und Helene Thimig, Hilde Wagener, Oskar Werner, Else Wohlgemuth, and Carl Zuckmayer. - Upon Haeusserman's death, Senta Berger, Maria Bill, Gertrude Fröhlich-Sandner, Paul Hubschmid, Friedrich Kayssler, Marthe Keller, Rudolf Kirchschläger, Erni Kniepert-Fellerer, Cissy Kraner, Gustav Kropatschek, Erwin Lanc, Ingrid Leodolter, Conrad H. Lester, Ernst Wolfram Marboe, Fritz Marsch, Peter Matic, Kitty Mattern, Federik Mirdita, Heinz Moog, Herbert Moritz, Klaudia Nagy, Brigitte Neumeister, Romuald Pekny, Gisela Prossnitz, Harry Reich-Ebner, Gottfried Reinhardt, Georg Robor, Sieghardt Rupp, Günther Schneider-Siemssen, Walter Schuppich, Dany Sigel, Marietta Torberg, Siegfried Trebitsch, Michael Verhoeven, Eberhard Waechter, Senta Wengraf, Oskar Werner, Guido Wieland und Hugo Wiener were among those who offered their condolences (a total of 224 pp.). No less interesting is the partial Nachlass of Ernst Haeusserman's father, the Burgtheater actor Reinhold Häessermann (1884-1947), containing some 275 ff. of letters to him, 267 ff. of various documents, 163 photographs (portraits and costume photos, photographed postcards and snapshots, notebooks, and speeches by contemporaries such as Rosa Albach-Retty, Hedwig Bleibtreu, Eugen Schmalenbach, and Otto Tressler.
  ¶ Cf. E. Haeusserman, Der Weg war schon das Ziel. Chiffre für das Unverwechselbare (Munich, 1978).
 

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The beginnings of the monarchy's most famous makers of glasswares
4 Lobmeyr. Correspondence archive from the early days of the important glass producing firm, containing 296 ALS to the company's founder Josef Lobmeyr (until 1855) and to his sons Josef jr. and Ludwig. Some additional material (including a letter by Ludwig Lobmeyr). Altogether 526 pp. Various places, 1837-1891.
  € 12,000
The present archive offers impressive documentation of the early years of the company, which quickly established its position as the leading maker and supplier of glassware in the monarchy. Ludwig Lobmeyr and his achievements remain in the focus of art-historic scholarly attention, as shown by the tribute paid to him at the recent exhibition "Kunst und Industrie - Die Anfänge des Museums für angewandte Kunst in Wien" (May 31-Sept. 17, 2000). - The great international importance of this distinguished company, which was trend-setting for the reform of the glass industry as in independent branch of applied arts and crafts, is obvious not only from Lobmeyr's correspondence with the various World Exhibition committees (from 1850 onwards), but also from the senders of the numerous private letters within the collection, which form a veritable register of not only Austria's great noble families: many of the the detailed orders come from far beyond the borders of the Austrian monarchy. Letters poured in from all the great European cities, from London, Brussels, Stockholm, Lisbon, and Florence, from St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Constantinople. Even customers from Mexico and China wrote to the Imperial Purveyor to the Court with business premises on Vienna's renowned Kärnterstrasse. During the years from 1855, when Josef Lobmeyr's sons Josef jr. and Ludwig took over the business, to the early 20th century, the Lobmeyr glass manufacture was in its first prime. It is this period of change and artistic re-positioning of the business (1855-1880) from which most of the present archive's documents date. "In order to win their customers over to the modern style, the brothers destroyed their father's entire Biedermeier stock. The new business philosophy, strictly in support of the artistic avant-garde, was successful. At the 1862 World Fair, the Lobmeyrs exhibited exceptional drinking sets made of ground and engraved glass" (cf. Czeike IV, 80). Several letters by Wilhelm Schwarz, head of the Imperial Austrian fair committee, refer to this very exhibition. - From 1864 onwards, Ludwig Lobmeyr was sole proprietor. Two separate exhibitions at the Imperial Austrian Museum for Art and Industry (today the Museum of Applied Arts), of which Lobmeyer was made curator in 1874, further boosted his company's fame: "This is full proof of the exceptional development which a branch of the artistic industry can undergo through the energy and genius of a single man", wrote the Neue Freie Presse on April 6, 1879 (p. 8). Jacob von Falke noted in his autobiography that, "from an artistic point of view, Lobmeyr today is the world's premier glass manufacturer, without equal in England, nor in France" (Leipzig 1897, p. 209f.). It is thus not surprising that the Bavarian king Ludwig II commissioned the chandeliers for his magnificent palaces to be manufactured by Lobmeyr - a job which the latter fulfilled to the King's utmost satisfaction, as evidenced by the letters of the Royal Director of Constructions, Georg v. Dollmann (1830-1895, cf. Thieme/Becker IX, 395): the just-delivered chandelier for Schloss Herrenchiemsee is "so splendid, so perfect in style and superb in its effect, that it is a joy to behold it". - Detailed correspondence list available upon request.
  ¶ U. Scholda & P. Noever, J. & L. Lobmeyr. Between Tradition and Innovation: Nineteenth-Century Glassware from the MAK collection (Munich, 2006).
 

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Ferenc Nadasdy's Last Will and Portrait, from the Sermage Family Archives
5 Nádasdy, Ferenc III Graf Fogáras, Hungarian High Judge of the Crown Court, printer, historian, and conspirator (1625-1671). Collection of family documents from the archives of the Counts Sermage de Szomszedvár, descendants of the Hungarian conspirator Ferenc Nádasdy, including his last will and testament in a ms. copy with autogr. authentication by Empress Maria Theresia. Various places, c. 1660-1830. 6 Imperial documents for members of the Nádasdy and Sermage families (issued by Franz Josef I, Franz I, Maria Theresia, Ferdinand I, and Ferdinand II), 4 portrait miniatures, several photographs and miniature coats-of-arms.
  € 12,000
Ferenc Nádasdy, a descendant of King Edward I Plantagenet and grandson of Ferenc Nádasdy, the "Black Prince" (1555-1604), who had led many successful campaigns against the Turks but is mainly remembered as husband of the "Blood Countess" Elizabeth Báthory (cf. T. Thorne, Countess Dracula. London 1998), served as Hungarian High Judge of the Crown Court. He was beheaded in Vienna on 30 April 1671 as one of the four principal leaders of the so-called Wesselényi conspiracy. The conspirators had conducted secret talks with France and Turkey for support against Emperor Leopold I; the conflict escalated when they arrested the Hungarian governor Count Rüdiger von Starhemberg. It was Nádasdy's failed attempt to throw off Habsburg rule that brought about Austria's absolutist and repressive regime in Hungary (cf. Encyclopaedia Britannica, s. v. "Wesselény Conspiracy"). Nádasdy's fortune and property were seized by the Crown, but the Emperor is said to have returned most of it to several of his children. Simlilarly, the change of name originally demanded of the sons was not enacted, as they served in high positions of church and state under their true name (cf. Wurzbach XX, 16). A fine ivory miniature portrait of Ferenc Nádasdy that was passed on within the family until the 19th century bears witness to the uninterrupted veneration of the executed national hero. The portrait is accompanied by an explanatory document by Nádasdy's great-granddaughter to her son, the poet and statesman Karl Johann Peter Graf Sermage von Szomszedvár (1792-1851). The 19-page document in booklet form prepared for Joseph Graf Nádasdy contains the text of several last wills and entailments concerning the family and bears Mariua Theresia's autogr. authentication and seal; it is countersigned by Nikolaus Palffy. The miniature portraits of Nádasdy's descendants by some of the most highly regarded portrait painters of their times, such as Wenzel Schránil (1821-84) and Georg Koberwein (1820-76), bear witness to the eminent position that the family had regained by the 19th century. - Detailed list upon request.
  ¶ Cf. Claudia Ham, Graf Franz III. Nádasdy. Held oder Rebell (Vienna 1991).
 

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Unknown sources concerning the education of Napoleon's son in Vienna
6 Napoleon II Franz Joseph Karl, King of Rome, Duke of Reichstadt, only son of Napoléon Bonaparte and Marie-Louise (1811-1832). Collection of letters and other documents from the possession of his instructor Johann Baptist von Foresti, including autogr. letters and mss. by Duke himself, several letters by his mother Marie Louise, and Foresti's autogr. notes concerning the education of the Duke. Various places, 1815-c.1843. 125 ff. Various formats. Includes a curl of hair from the Duke's head and a pressed flower given to Foresti on the occasion of his last drive with his pupil. In polished wooden box (c. 1850) from the Foresti family's collection.
  € 28,000
The present, entirely unpublished documents from the personal collection of Johann Baptist von Foresti (1776-1849) concern exclusively his young charge and contain letters, school notes, contracts, memoranda, quotations, autobiographical notes etc. The earliest document extant is that letter in which Foresti was summoned by the Duke's mother Marie Louise in September 1815 to come to Schönbrunn for a first meeting with his four-year-old pupil; later material includes the flower that the Duke presented to his teacher at their last outing and unknown sources concerning the young Duke's tragic death. The collection contains several items in the Duke's own hand, including an ALS (Laxenburg, 26 June 1827; torn through) and an autogr. letter draft, as well as 12 letters from 1826 to 1831 in contemp. copies (14 ff.), 5 ff. of autogr. school notes from language and history classes, and 8 ff. in another hand concerning "fortification and the invention of cannons", "definition and classification of fortification", mathematics, and geography. There are 5 ALS and 1 LS by the Duke's mother Marie Louise (1830-43) and a signed contract of employment (1816), as well as further contracts in ms. copies and translations (18 ff.). After the Duke's death, Foresti was responsible for screening his archives. The collection contains 7 autogr. letters (14 ff.) in which he describes the Duke's last night and funeral: "[...] He had lost so much weight during the last weeks of his illness that he resembled an age-old man. I was alarmed when I entered his bedroom a few days earlier and he shook my hand with great effort, sitting on a sopha. He was terribly restless the evening before his death, and this naturally increased the attention of his surroundings. It grew more vehement after midnight: he found everything too cramped, too close [...]" (26 July 1832). After the Duke's death, Foresti wrote his "Memories of the Time of my Engagement by the Duke of Reichstadt". Spanning the years 1815 to 1836, these records are supplemented by various notes and letter fragments, all concerning the Duke (9 ff.). - In addition, the collection contains 21 letters (mostly autogr., 41 ff.) by Adam Adalbert Graf von Neipperg (1775-1829), the Duke's stepfather after Napoleon's death in 1821, and 7 letters (mostly autogr., 14 ff.) by Moritz Graf Dietrichstein (1775-1864), who was the Duke's third educator besides Foresti and Matthäus von Collin (1779-1824). - Letters by the Duke of Reichstadt, who died of tuberculosis at the age of 21, are exceedingly rare in the trade, as are original sources concerning his biography: German auction records of the past decades list a single item (Stargardt, 22 March 2006, lot 1122: 3,400 Euros for a 2-page letter); two further records at Sotheby's London in 1979 and 1980.
  ¶ A. Castelot, King of Rome: A Biography of Napoleon's Tragic Son (New York, 1960).
 

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Unpublished artist's letters with 170 watercolours and sketches
7 Orlik, Emil, painter and graphic artist (1870-1932). Collection of 197 autogr. letter, poems, and postcards. Various places, 1917-1923. Altogether 468¼ pp. With some 170 illustrations (mostly watercolours and pen-and-ink drawings), 3 photographs, and 1 vignette. Various sizes. Mounted within am album bound in silk embroidery with a brocade border on the front cover. Large 4to.
  € 12,000
Important collection of love letters to his "dearest Ollyne", i. e. Olga von Bayer-Ehrenberg, who was frequently away in Budapest or at various Austro-Hungarian resorts. In his letters, written at Berlin, Brest-Litowsk, Kagel, Kissingen, Hiddensee, Copenhagen, Krefeld, Kreuth, Luckow, Prague, Stuttgart, and other places, Orlik variously comments on his work, his contemporaries, and his times: "[...] Such a rare work, such a rare tie, such experiences as the great sessions are something exceptional, even for a man who has seen enough. Today I will see Prince Leopold again. The portrait will be excellent, I think. I have now drawn thirty likenesses. Think of the work. I am treated wonderfully, the food is excellent. Only my quarters are somewhat primitive [...]" (letter from Brest-Litowsk, dated 12 Jan. 1918; Orlik participated in the German-Russian peace negotiations as official portrait painter of the German government). The letter includes a large washed pen-and-ink drawing, showing Orlik taking a winter walk through Brest-Litowsk.
  ¶ E. Otto & B. Ahrens, Emil Orlik: Leben und Werk, 1870-1932 (Vienna, 1997).
 

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An Austrian diplomat at the Ottoman Court
8 Penkler, Heinrich Christoph Frh. von, Austrian diplomat in the Ottoman Empire (c. 1700-1774). Collection of diplomatic corresponence, court decrees, instructions, appointments, etc. to Heinrich Frh. v. Penkler. Mostly Vienna, 1717-1767. 22 official missives to Heinrich von Penkler, 1 to the ambassador Leopold von Talman, 12 to Heinrich's brother (?) Johann Karl Penkler; 5 missives in Ottoman Turkish (one with contemp. Latin version on the reverse); 4 receipts for H. v. Penkler and others in connection with his diplomatic duties. Altogether 81 ff., mostly with papered seal. Folio and large folio.
  € 18,000
Fine collection of source material relating to the diplomatic activities of the Imperial envoy to the Ottoman Court, Heinrich Christoph von Pen(c)k(h)ler. Penkler's entire youth belongs to the time in which, due to a series of Habsburg victories against the Turks, the Ottoman East began to open up for the Habsburg Empire. Penkler was born in Vienna in 1699 or 1700, just as a decisive change in the power relationship between the Emperor and the Ottomans was achieved with the Treaty of Karlowitz. Still a minor, he entered civil service in 1718 (the year in which the Habsburgs - after another Turkish War - had significantly expanded their territory in the East at the expense of the Ottomans through the Treaty of Passarowitz); after completing his preparatory studies, he went to Constantinople as a "Sprachknabe" in 1719, accompanying the Austrian envoy ("Internuntius"), to learn the oriental languages. The writ of deployment, preserved here, states that "nachdeme die Anzahl der vorhin gehabten Kays. Sprachknaben linguarum orientalium theillß durch Beförderung theillß auf andere weiß in einigen Abgang gerathen, Ihrer Kayß. Mayt. Dienste [...] erheischet, absonderlich bey in dem lezteren Türckhenkrieg merckhlich erweitterten Gränitzen auch mit der Ottomanischen Porthen erreichten Commercij-Tractat widerumben neue Subiecta herzue zuzüglen, die sich in besagten Orientalischen Sprachen, und Gebräuchen gründlich unterrichten, und qualificiren" (16 March 1719). From 1726 on, Penkler worked as interpreter at the Ottoman Court; "he was called upon for all negotiations between the Imperial and the Ottoman Court since the Treaty of Passarowitz, and soon gained a deep understanding of the principles and mainsprings of Turkish politics" (cf. ADB XXV, 350). After that, he served as Court interpreter and secretary "in orientalicis" in Vienna for 13 years, later accompanying the Internuntius Count Uhlefeld to Constantinople in the function of Secretary to the Hofkriegsrat (the Habsburgs' Court Council of War). Closely acquainted with Ottoman diplomacy, he succeeded in negotiating several important interventions in the interest of the Habsburgs; among other things, he is credited with keeping the Ottoman Empire out of the Austrian War of Succession. In 1745, Penkler (by now a Baron) was made Internuntius himself. "After having notified the accession of Joseph II to the Sultan in 1766, he was finally granted the recall he had often requested [...] He spent the remainder of his life in Vienna" (cf. ADB XXV, 352). He was the father of the politician Josef Frh. v. Penkler (1751-1830), whom ÖBL acknowledges as a "typical representative of the conservative gentry in pre-revolutionary Austria". - The writs preserved in the present collection mainly constitute instructions by the Hofkriegsrat (later by the State Chancellery) regarding issues such as the treatment of the "Türkhischen Abgesandten Mustaffa Effendy"; the transmittal of reports; the delivery of diplomatic correspondence: "Die nebenliegende drey Türkhische Briefe seynd uns von dem Kayl. Herrn Residenten aus Constantinopel angeschlossen worden, mithin an Ihne Effendy und dessen Sequito sicher abzuliefern"; the escorting of various diplomats to the Ottoman borders, etc.). "After the Viennese Court had for six years in vain demanded the recall of the Shahbender (or consul-general) Omer Aga, placed to protect the interests of Turkish trade and merchants, Penkler finally succeeded in having him dismissed and his post shut down. As the Ottomans insisted that Omer Aga be escorted to the border with all honors, Penkler set out once more in March 1732" (cf. ADB XXV, 351). The present collection contains the relevant instruction, stating that it had been resolved "daß [Penkhler] den von der Ottomanischen Porten abgeruffenen dahier bishero gestandenen und dahin zurükh abfertigenden dero Consul Omer Aga bis an die Türkhische Granitz beglaithen, beobachten, und in all behöriger erfordernuß assistiren solle" (10 March 1732). Also preserved are Penkler's appointment as Imperial Internuntius (17 June 1746; signed by Count Harrach, President of the Hofkriegsrat), his recall from Constantinople (19 Dec. 1755, signed by Count Cordova), and his appointment as Privy Councillor (2 Jan. and 16 Feb. 1767). The missives date from the reign of Charles VI (9) and Maria Theresia (13, the last 2 of which belong to the early Josephinian era). The collection also contains several documents in Ottoman Turkish (with brief German or Latin synopses). While most of these are written on smooth Turkish paper (including two large firmans with a tughra), one is written on European paper and bears on its reverse the draft of a Latin letter by Prince Eugene of Savoy to Osman Pascha (dated 29 June 1724), recommending the swift advancement of a courier. Is is likely that the Turkish translation on the other side is in Penkler's hand. An earlier Turkish document fragment is described as a "missive by the Grand Vizier to Prince Eugene at the outbreak of the Venetian War in 1716". The collection is topped off by several receipts in connection with Penkler's activities, an official chancellery copy (prepared for Penkler) of a writ by the Hofkriegsrat to the Imperial envoy Leopold v. Talman regarding peace negotiations in the Russo-Turkish War (4 Oct. 1738), and a separate collection of 12 missives (1717-1730) by the Hofkammerrat (Aulic Chamber Council) to Johann Karl Penkler, official clerk in the Court Accountancy and probably Heinrich's elder brother. Among the top officals signing the documents are, among others: Anton Joseph v. Öttl, Ignaz Joseph Hefenstockh, August Thomas Frh. v. Wöber, Johann Philipp Gf. Harrach, Kaspar Gf. Cordova, Rudolph Fst. Colloredo, Georg v. Leykam, Heinrich Gabriel Frh. v. Collenbach, Pius Nikolaus v. Garelli, Johann Jakob Gober, and Matthias Heinrich Pirckhert.
  ¶ For Penkler cf. ADB XXV, 350ff. and Wurzbach XXI, 452ff.
 

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Partial Nachlass of the Emperor's mistress
9 Schratt, Katharina, actress (1853-1940). Collection of letters, postcards, telegrams, etc. to the actress, by more than 50 writers, including Johann Strauß, Hans von Wilczek, Helene Odilon, Max Devrient, Hugo Thimig, Victor Tilgner, Wilhelmine Sandrock, Hansi Niese, Adam Müller, Müller-Guttenbrunn, Francis Saville, and Franz Tewele. Various places, 1885-1907. 182 pp. Various formats.
  € 15,000
Collection of correspondence from the Nachlass of Katharina Schratt, providing a panorama of the acquaintances and society of the actress who was introduced to the court as reader to Empress Elisabeth and later gained fame as Franz Josef's mistress and confidante. Although the entire material dates from the years when her relationship to the Emperor was popular knowledge, there are naturally no explicit references to this connection in any of the letters. Similarly, we can only speculate about the nature of Miss Schratt's gift to Johann Strauß: "To be thus honoured by your kindness is more than I have deserved. I beg to say my most heartfelt thanks. Please rest assured that this support which I have received from you will accompany me on all my paths and I will always honour it as a precious good [...]" (J. Strauß, ALS, 2 pp. Vienna, 25 Dec. 1894). The letter by Hans von Wilczek to the Emperor's mistress is of especial interest, as it contains indications of her close relationship to the great Austrian explorer: "[...] I stay away from Vienna as much as possible - but when I arrived at Herrengasse at 11 last night my doorman told me that you had called at half past 10. But I did not want to call back, it already being 11 - I beg forgiveness and - don't be angry with me! Is there anything I can do? [...]". - We also learn that the popular poet Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn had written a comedy just for her, "Die lächelnde Gräfin" ("The Smiling Countess"): [...] Naturally I would be prepared to fulfil any request regarding the title role. Also, the Countess's court need not be Vienna. That way we might even get it performed at the Burgtheater. Nobody has seen the play's ms., nobody knows it exists, it entered your hands quite virginal [...]" (2 June 1905). - Her colleague Helene Odilon, one of the greatest actresses of her age, who after suffering a stroke in 1903 was put under tutelage by her grasping relatives, writes a touching plea for help: "My desperation made me think of appealing to you, my dear lady, to help me achive my human rights. I beseech you to save me! Save me - I bessech you. My physical and mental sufferings have gone on too long. As my physical condition improved, the emotional torture of tutelage grew and torments me and today is a spectre that haunts me like death [...]" (25 Dec. 1906, 6 pp.). - The collection is topped off by several ephemera from Schratt's possession, including invoices, invitations, and a bill of exchange for 170 florins, written by herself.
  ¶ Joan Haslip, The Emperor & the Actress: The Love Story of Emperor Franz Josef & Katharina Schratt (New York, 1982).
 

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500 unpublished letters by the author of 'The Voyage of Forgotten Men'
10 Thiess, Frank, German writer (1890-1977). Collection of 480 autogr. letters and postcards and 2 telegrams to Yvonne Thiess (1446 pp.) and 18 autogr. and ts. letters and carbon copies to other persons (40 pp.). Includes 44 autogr. and ts. letters by various writers to Frank Thiess (100 pp.) and 54 autogr. and ts. letters and postcards to Yvonne and Irene Thiess (81 pp.). Berlin, Bad Aussee, Bremen, Darmstadt, Hamburg, London, Vienna, and other places, 1918-1965.
  € 65,000
"There never was a time when Frank Thiess was not controversial", the celebration publication in honour of the writer's 60th birthday states (Frank Thiess. Werk und Dichter, p. 30). Before the National Socialists seized power in 1933, the writer had enjoyed great success with his historical novels, and his literary importance was largely undisputed. His novel "Tsushima" (1937), translated as "The Voyage of Forgotten Men", was printed in several hundred thousand copies; Hemingway even included Thiess in his 1942 anthology "Men at War". After the War, Thiess coined the term "Inner Emigration" to describe the situation of artists who, as he did, remained in Germany during the Nazi years without personally agreeing with German politics of the time. Thiess argued that this attitude was superior to that of emigrants proper such as Thomas Mann, who supposedly had watched the destruction of Germany from "balcony seats". Although most of Thiess's works were seized by the Nazis and some were even burned publicly, his decision to remain in Germany and his bitter feud with Mann proved great obstacles when he tried to regain his old position in German literature after the War. - The present partial Nachlass, from the estate of his second wife, Yvonne Thiess, sheds light on his role during the last years of Nazi Germany and the postwar years until 1965. In these roughly 500 letters and postcards to his wife, 22 years his junior, he reflects extensively upon his life and work. While he has apparently resigned himself during the War years to being unable to provide for his family, he is baffled by the problems he encounters after the War, complaining of unfair treatment, feuds with other writers, and the difficulties in joining the literary scene of postwar Germany. - Detailed list available upon request.
  ¶ Frank Thiess. Werk und Dichter. Ed. by R. Italiaander (Hamburg, 1950). Cf. E. Hemingway, Men at War: The Best War Stories of all Times (New York, 1942). Y. Wolf, Frank Thiess und der Nationalsozialismus. Ein konservativer Revolutionär als Dissident (Tübingen, 2003).
 

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