Jul 30, 2020 - Sale 2543

Sale 2543 - Lot 186

Unsold
Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750
DÜNTZER, HEINRICH. Two Autograph Letters Signed, "H. Düntzer," to "Esteemed Madam," in German. The first, thanking for praise for his article on Jesuits, discussing the process by which newspaper editors select books for review, expecting no review for his book on Goethe, and stating plans to concentrate work on his Schiller biography. The second, sending notes [not present], giving some suggestions for editing the text, asking about events in Schiller's life and whether portraits of his associates can be obtained for illustrations, and sending a card for Dr. Vollmer [not present]. Each 2 pages, 8vo, written on first two pages of a folded sheet; faint scattered offsetting and foxing, minor chipping at edges of first, minor soiling at folds. Köln, 20 January no year; 8 March 1880

Additional Details

20 January: "It gives me pleasure that you think favorably of my article on the Jesuits. It is a pity that it was distorted by several misprints. I neither care what the Fire-eaters of Maria Laach will say, nor shall I mind individual rudeness. . . ."
". . . [Y]ou very rightly saw that the publisher would not sacrifice a copy for a review in the Düsseldorfer Zeitung; only more important papers . . . can claim review copies. The Magazin des Auslandes, according to its latest program, can hardly bring a review of my Goethe. Though the editor is a great admirer of Mr. M. Bernays.
". . . I shall have to devote for some time all my strength to the task of a Life of Schiller . . . ."
8 March: ". . . [T]he sketch must not get too long and, though its principal topic is German literature, it cannot be separated from essays on other domains. . . .
"1) Is it definite that it was the inn 'Zum Adler' . . . where Schiller met Petersen and Reichenbach in the evenings?
". . . 3) Are there any pictures of the Duke Karl Eugen and his wife Franziska obtainable in Stuttgart? . . . It would be awkward if we had to go without these two pictures for Schiller's Life. . . ."
Johann Heinrich Joseph Düntzer (1813-1901) was a German philologist and historian of literature, known for his biographical works on Goethe.