Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von

Goethe discusses his travels and excavations with Grüner in Bohemia in search of mineralogical deposits, making arrangements for the transport of rocks and samples, his travel and lodging with his secretary and friends in Eger (now Cheb), referring to his famous and most extensive work Zur Farbenlehre (1810), sending him in 1821 a copy of the recently published Wilhelm Meisters Wunderjahre ("...behalten das Buch für sich..."), the two volumes of the Italienische Reise, an engraving of his portrait by George Dawe (1819), books of poetry by Lenz and Anton Firnstein and various articles on mineralogy, lists of rocks and minerals (one apparently unpublished), the letters written out mainly by a single secretary, two by Goethe himself, and a few by other hands, signed "J.W. v Goethe", "Goethe" etc., (some letters & additional postscripts signed "G"), and some with longer autograph salutations; one of the two letters by Goethe's son reports poignantly on a near fatal illness of his father's ('...mein armer Vater wurde am 17. d. M. plötzlich von einer Entzündung des Herzbeutels...ergriffen, welche ihn im Verlauf der Woche an den Rand des Grabes stellte...')

42 letters, two autograph, 38 signed by Goethe, 84 pages, mainly 4to, letters nos. 14 & 15 on paper bearing the watermarked portrait of "Carl August Grosherzog von Sachsen-Weimar u Eisenach",  25 original envelopes (one autograph), a few additional inserted notes etc (c. 70 items in all), integral address panels, annotated, signed and numbered by the recipient (1-42), letter no.12 appended to a copy of an enquiry from the chemist Friedem Goebel, letter no.25 in a later copy (c.1840), together with a letter by Goethe's secretary J.C.W. Stadelmann, enclosing a box of rock samples, postmarks and red seals, discreetly numbered in pencil, small library stamps (cancelled) to each letter and envelope, the letters sent from Jena, Weimar, Karlsbad and Marienbad, 9 July 1820 to 15 March 1832, some splitting at folds, mainly at the margins, signature clipped from letter no.2, seal-tear repaired on letter no. 34

The letters were acquired by the Austrian National Library in 1944, and have recently been restituted to the Heirs of Rudolf von Gutmann.  Each letter and envelope bears a small library stamp with a dated note of cancellation from the Library.

J.S. Grüner, Briefwechsel und mündlicher Verkehr zwischen Goethe und dem Rathe Grüner (Leipzig: Mayer, 1853); J.W. von Goethe, Briefe an die Gräfin Auguste zu Stolberg (Brockhaus, 1839);  J.W. von Goethe, Sämtliche Werke, (Propyläen-Ausgabe, Berlin), volume 36, p.45 & passim; G.A. Wells, Goethe and the Development of Science 1750-1900, (1978). 

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THIS IS APPARENTLY THE LARGEST COLLECTION OF LETTERS BY GOETHE TO HAVE BEEN OFFERED AT AUCTION.  It comprises an almost complete series from the poet's final years, dealing with mineralogy, fossils, literature and other matters.

J.W. von Goethe was a great classical polymath, and his enquiring mind is seen especially in his scientific research, which continually lead him from one field into another.  Besides his important scientific work on the morphology of plants (1790) and on optics (1810), Goethe also published original research into geology and mineralogy.  From 1777 to 1784, he travelled extensively in the Harz mountains, and wrote his study Mineralogie von Thüringen und angrenzender Länder. He continued to research and collect rock samples all through his life; by the time of these letters, he had amassed the largest private collection of minerals in Europe. His endless curiosity lead him from mineralogy to geological discoveries, an interest in fossils and anatomy in general.  He made significant advances in his Anatomisches Handbuch (1788), most famously establishing that the "intermaxillary" jaw-bone, was present in all mammals.  Goethe met Joseph Sebastian Grüner (1780-1864), a magistrate in the Bohemian city of Eger (now Cheb in the Czech Republic), in 1820, when he travelled from Jena to visit the spa there.  Grüner shared his interest in mineralogy and the two men remained friends, corresponding until Goethe's death in 1832, during which period Goethe made a number of subsequent visits to Eger. 

In an eloquent and moving passage from the very last letter to Grüner, Goethe provides posterity with what might be regarded as his personal scientific Credo, the summary of a lifetime's reflections on the physical world 

...denn die Natur wird allein verständlich, wenn man die verschiedensten isolirt scheinenden Phänomene in methodischer Folge darzustellen bemüht ist; da man denn wohl begreifen lernt, daß es kein Erstes und Letztes giebt, sondern daß Alles, in einem lebendigen Kreise eingeschlossen, anstatt sich zu widersprechen, sich aufklärt, und die zartesten Bezüge dem forschenden Geiste darlegt [for Nature will only be understood when one takes pains to present the most diverse and seemingly separate phenomena methodically in sequence; for then, indeed, one begins to realize that there are no first or last things, but rather that everything, as part of a living cycle, instead of contradicting itself becomes intelligible, and reveals to the enquiring mind the most subtle relationships]... [15 March 1832] 

With his interest in fossils and anatomy, Goethe was particularly interested in a mammoth's tooth recently found at Dolnice, just outside Eger, and discussed its provenance and its similarity to examples discovered in France                 

...Von Redwitz erhielt eine sehr interessante Sendung, deren Ordung und Einrangirung mich noch immer beschäftigt.  Der gefundene Zahn bliebt allerdings sehr bedeutend. Das neueste Werk von Cuvier: Recherches sur les Ossemens fossiles, nouvelle Edition 1821, ist deshalb nachzusehen, und zwar die Seiten 266, 267 und 268, wo zweier Europäischer Mastodonten, welche kleiner schienen als die ausländischen, gedacht wird. Auf den vier zu diesem Texte gehörigen Tafeln stehen mehrere Zähne abgebildet, dem Böhmischen höchst ähnlich.  Auch ist zu bermerken, daß der in Frankreich gefundene in einem Süßwasser-Kalckbruch lag, wo versteinerte Schaalthiere nicht fehlten...[12 October 1822]

Goethe also discusses the visit of his patron the Grand Duke Carl August of Saxe-Weimar and his wife to Eger, two medals for Karl Huß which he has received from Zelter in Berlin, and requests information concerning various acquaintances, and conveying greetings and invitations.  Although not described here, Goethe evidently met the composer Tomaschek at Eger, who sang him some settings of his poems, including "Erlkönig" and discussed music with him.   He also wanted to meet Anton Firnstein, whose poem "Der Hopfenbau" he included in the fourth volume of Kunst und Alterthum in 1823, and he was hoping that someone might set them to music  

...Möchte dem schwer vom Schicksal belästigten Fürnsten diese vorläufige Anerkennung einiges Vergnügen machen, und seine Gönner zur Herausgabe auserlesener Gedichte veranlassen.  Will er noch eins auf meinen Rath unternehmen so würde mir ein Weberlied ausbitten, zu welchem der Takt und Rhytmus ihm wohl nicht fehlen können,,,[13 May 1823]

The letters were published by Grüner twenty-one years after Goethe's death.  Letters nos. 38 and 41 do not appear here and no. 25 is represented by a later copy.  This collection contains an additional letter of 10 October 1825, not included in Grüner's edition, where Goethe relays an invitation to him from the Grand Duke Carl August to present his manuscript study on Sorbian folk-customs to the famous ducal library ("...mit der Bemerkung gnädigst zu danken, daß diese Anschreibung nach erfolgten höchsten durchsicht auf die Großherzog[liche] Bibliothek zu fernerer Benutzung abgebenen worden..."). Grüner conflates two separate letters for 30 November 1824, which are both signed by Goethe.  Some of the inserted notes and postscripts are also omitted in Grüner's edition.  The final letter to Grüner, signed, inscribed and dated by Goethe, was written only a week before his death on 22 March 1832. 

For another important letter by Goethe, please see Lot 147