Philosopher Karl Heinrich ALTHAUS: Letters 1846/47 (about birth & death) & 11 sonnets

 

–  See more pictures below! –

 

 

They bid on two autographed, signed letters (Berlin 1846/47) as well as autographs, self-written poems (mostly sonnets) by PRival lecturer and later professor of philosophy at the University of Berlin Karl Heinrich Althaus (1806-1886).

 

The letters are addressed to Julie Köpke, b. Hanstein (* around 1807; died. 12. January 1885 in Berlin), a daughter of the Berlin theologian and senior consistorial councilor Gottfried August Ludwig Hanstein (1761-1821); the poems are addressed to her husband Privy Councilor of Justice, Auditor of the 5th Division and musicians Gustav Köpke (born 3. July 1805; gest. 1859) in Frankfurt (Oder), a son of Gustav Köpke (1773-1837), educator, philologist and theologian, director of the Grauen Kloster high school in Berlin and 1830-1832 one of Otto von Bismarck's teachers.

 

1.) 2 ¼ page letter to Julie Köpke, dated Berlin, 13. December 1846. -- A few weeks before, his daughter Adelheid Althaus was born (* 17. October 1846 in Berlin, died. 20. August 1923 in Wittstock / Dosse).

 

Excerpts: "If you, dear dear friends, have already found out about my wife's marriage through the newspaper, rumor or some other chance way, then please allow me to report it to you again. On the 17th In October, my Angelika gifted me with a healthy, round, not bad to look at, blue-eyed, bright-voiced, appetizing girl and I can say that, which is not my usual style, I took a special joy in her existence right after the birth new nature; I believed that after two boys it was time for the female element to come into its own, just as I would have had no objection to it if the first child had been a girl. There are enough fatal and godless fellows in my family anyway."

 

Julie Köpke is now asked to become this daughter's godmother. "Now I would like to provide the means and powers to conjure you up with your Gustav, so that here, at the baptism that Sydow will hold, included to be. [...] In any case, you both would give us the greatest joy and that is why I would like to quickly set the day and hour: Saturday. 19. Dec. At noon, at 2 o'clock, where you are asked to enjoy a simple meal."

 

Note: According to the baptismal register of the New Church in Berlin, the baptism took place on the 19th. December 1846; “Mrs. Assessor Köpke” is also listed among the godmothers. She was baptized by the theologian Adolf Sydow (* 23. November 1800 in Charlottenburg; † 23. October 1882 in Berlin), student of Friedrich Schleiermacher and court preacher of King Friedrich Wilhelm III.

 

Then very dramatic about the difficult birth, which involved an operation that was poorly carried out, causing the mother to almost bleed to death in the following days. "In the meantime it is over, the recovery was slow but progressive, and self-feeding did not need to be stopped, although other milk still had to be used to help; a wet nurse should not be taken. [...] Warm greetings to your Gustav and Max from your Karl Althaus."

 

Note: Max is Julie Köpke's son Max Köpke, née. at the 14th. April 1833 in Glogau, died of nervous fever on his 14th. Birthday (14th April 1847) in Frankfurt on the Oder.

 

The second letter is about the sadness over his death.

 

2.) 2 ½-page folded letter, dated Berlin, 7. August 1847.

Addressed to "Ms. Division Auditor Köpke" in Frankfurt aO; with postmarks and handwritten tax note.

 

Excerpts: "As often as I, my dear, esteemed friends, have thought of you and your Gustav in these months - and I know that it happened every day - it was in the conflict and confusion of diverse feelings and moods that soon wanted to drive me out to approach you directly for a brief moment, then to move back away and push into me. When you were affected by the suffering, which is the deepest of those you have had to experience, my wife could not contain the expression of her sympathy from the depths of her painfully moved soul; She did it, if not with my words, but certainly with my intentions. She knew with what spirit I accompanied all her life and actions and had hesitated to inform me of the mournful news she had first received. I myself was too shocked and in too much pain and could not write to you: I had no consolation. Because what people probably think of it and of this or that. It is often just an occupation of the ear and an external distraction of the mind; in fact, it often appears very poor and ignorant. [...] Now, my dear friends, everything has become more distant to you and your Gustav; They look back milder, more quiet and more melancholy [...]. Some time ago I had to experience it (and I have experienced it a thousand times over) how two excellent sons, trained by the father in the most zealous way, and lovingly endowed with their own by the mother [...], on the way to becoming excellent Positions that died soon after one another, I believe far from all parental love and help. What would there be to talk about, what is essentially there over and over again, now grating, now uplifting, as the feeling of a tremendous force of fate that demands submission from everyone at every hour [...].

 

If it can cheer you up in any way, I would like to draw your attention to the recently published correspondence between Körner and Schiller. You may know how, in the last years of her life, old Körner constantly struggled between keeping or breaking her husband's prohibition against publishing these letters; He had feared that he would appear to the world as too much of a pedant and schoolmaster. Finally she took the option of bequeathing the letters to the library after eliminating several of them; from which they have now appeared without further introduction. As far as I have looked into it, there is a lot of grace and interest in it and it is better to read it than many similar collections from that time because they are more unbiased and therefore more special."

 

Signed "Sincerely, Karl Althaus."

 

The poems were originally bound as a booklet (16.5 x 10.3 cm format); However, the thread binding has come loose and all the sheets are loose.

 

Initially a 5-page poem "To Gustav Köpke", addressed to the husband of Julie Köpke, née. Hanstein.

 

In the unusual rhyme scheme AB AB AB CC.

 

Excerpt (=the complete third-to-last verse):
"So life moves to the holy depths

The careless wanderer quietly away;

The magical spirits that called from afar,

Suddenly leave him in the dark place;

He sought knowledge, found hieroglyphs

The solution sparsely scattered here and there.

And yet it drives me to grasp the thread,

It drove me too - and now I'm almost deserted."

 

Eleven sonnets follow (the back of each sheet is blank), each without title (only numbered I - XI).

Apparently addressed to Julie Köpke, as the first line of the first sonnet reads: "I, my friends, cannot send you the roses."

 

Excerpt (=the 7th So nice):
"Why do you send your eyes to spy?

After your friend, up and down the streets?

Why do you sing so many beautiful songs?

That they are looking for him, going to meet him?

 

And those signs that blow in the wind,

From the white cloth, I saw her again and again,

Like a dove with its snowy plumage:

Didn't you see him yesterday?

 

Oh, can't you hear, the gate has been ringing for a long time?

Before you think it, you're lying in his arms.

Like when you first found him:

 

A scream is rejoicing, kisses are now words,

You look for warmth in the shine of his eyes

– I remain silent; How would I have felt about it?"

 

Condition: Letters are in good condition, only a little stained, the second letter has a trace of rust from a paper clip. The poems are in worse condition: paper heavily browned, some with edge damage, the binding loosened. Please note the pictures too!

Internal note: Althaus Vorphila autograph autograph