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

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You bid two handwritten, signed letters (Berlin 1846/47) as well as autograph, self-written poems (mostly sonnets) of Pprivate lecturer and later professor of philosophy at the University of Berlin Karl Heinrich Althaus (1806-1886).

The letters are addressed to Julie Koepke, b. Hanstein (* around 1807; died. 12. January 1885 in Berlin), a daughter of the Berlin theologian and chief consistorial councilor Gottfried August Ludwig Hanstein (1761-1821); the poems are addressed to her husband, the Privy Councilor of Justice, auditor of the 5. Division and musicians Gustav Koepke (b. 3. July 1805; died 1859) in Frankfurt (Oder), a son of Gustav Köpke (1773-1837), educator, philologist and theologian, director of the Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster 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: "Did you, dear friends, already find out about my wife's confinement through the newspaper, rumor or some other random way, then you can also put up with me telling you about it again. on the 17th In October my Angelika presented me with a healthy, round, not bad-looking, blue-eyed, bright-voiced, tasty girl, and I can say that, which is not usually my style, right after the birth I took a special pleasure in the existence of this one new had nature; I believed that after two boys it was time for the female element to have its rightful place, as I myself would have had no objection if the first child had been a girl. There are enough fatal and godless fellows in my family anyway."

Julie Köpke is now being asked to become the godmother of this daughter. "Now, of course, I would like to procure means and powers to conjure up you and your Gustav here, at the christening that Sydow will hold, included to be. [...] In any case, you two would give us the greatest pleasure and that's why I want to quickly set the day and hour: Saturday d. 19 Dec At noon, at 2 a.m., when you are asked to put up with a simple meal."

Note: According to the baptismal register of the New Church in Berlin, the baptism took place on April 19. December 1846; "Frau Assessor Köpke" is 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 chaplain to King Friedrich Wilhelm III.

Then very dramatically about the difficult birth, which involved an operation that was poorly executed, causing the mother to almost bleed to death in the days that followed. "Meanwhile it is over, the recovery was slow but progressive, and self-feeding has not had to be stopped, although other milk must be used to help; nurse should not be taken. [...] Warm regards 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. birthday (14. April 1847) in Frankfurt an der Oder.

The second letter deals with the grief over his death.

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

Addressed to "Frau Divisions-Auditor Köpke" in Frankfurt aO; with postmark and handwritten tax note.

Excerpts: "As often as I, my dear, esteemed friend, 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 to approach you directly for a brief moment, soon to withdraw from it and into me. When you were struck by the suffering, which is the deepest of those you had to experience, my wife could not restrain the expression of her sympathy from the depths of her painfully moved soul; she did it, if not in my words, certainly in my spirit. She knew the spirit with which I followed all your life and actions, and had hesitated to inform me of the news of grief that I had first received. I myself was too shaken and in too bad a mood to write to you: I had no consolation. Because what people probably think is and of this od. take it from the other side in order to bring it to the other, it is often just an activity for the ear and an external distraction of the mind, yes, it often seems very poor and incomprehensible. [...] Now, my dear friend, you and your Gustav are further away from everything; They look back more mildly, quietly and melancholy [...]. Some time ago I had to experience it (and it can be experienced a thousand times over) like two excellent sons, most eagerly educated by the father, most lovingly endowed with hers by the mother [...], on the way to being distinguished positions, died out soon after one another, I believe far removed from all parental love and help. What is there to talk about, what is essentially there again and again, sometimes crushing, sometimes uplifting, as the feeling of a tremendous power of destiny, which demands submission from everyone at any hour [...].

If it amuses you in any way, I would like to draw your attention to the recent exchange of letters between Körner and Schiller. You may know how old Körner, in the last years of her life, constantly hesitated between keeping or breaking her husband's ban on publishing these letters; he had feared appearing too great a pedant and schoolmaster to the world. Finally she took the option of bequeathing the letters to the library after several had been eliminated; from which they have now appeared without further preamble. As far as I have looked, there is a great deal that is pleasant and interesting in it, and one reads it better than many similar collections from that time, because it is more impartial and therefore more special."

Signed "Sincerely Karl Althaus."

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

At the beginning a 5-page poem "To Gustav Köpke", so addressed to the husband of Julie Köpke, b. Hanstein.

In the unusual rhyme scheme AB AB AB CC.

Excerpt (= the complete third to last stanza):
"So life draws to the holy depths

Quietly away the careless wanderer;

The magic spirits calling from afar

Suddenly leave him in the dark place;

He sought knowledge, finds hieroglyphs

The solution sparsely scattered here and there.

And yet it drives you 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 with numbering I - XI).

Apparently addressed to Julie Kopke, since the first line of the first sonnet reads: "I can't send you the roses, friend."

Excerpt (= the 7th So nice):
"Why are you sending 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 the dove with its snow feathers:

Didn't you see him yesterday?

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

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

Like when you first found him:

A cry is jubilation, kisses are now words,

You look for warmth in his shining eyes

– I am silent; how would I have felt?"

Condition: Letters in good condition, only slightly stained, the second letter with traces of rust from a paper clip. The poems are in poorer condition: paper heavily browned, some with damage to the edges, the binding is loose. Please note also the pictures!

Internal note: Althaus Vorphila Autograph Autograph