J.W. v. Goethe | Manuscript draft letter to Friedrich von Conta, with autograph corrections by Goethe, December 1830

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Manuscript draft letter to Friedrich von Conta, WITH AUTOGRAPH CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS BY GOETHE

the draft letter in a secretarial hand, expressing the wish that the mining director Herr Kleinschrod procure for him one of the fossil Hippurites that was discussed and displayed at the gathering of scientists at Munich, and noting that it would give him particular pleasure to incorporate the said fossil into the excellent collection in his care, Goethe's corrections comprising some deletions and the addition of thirteen words

...Zum Beweis daß mit dem Leben auch Lust und Neigung [Goethe: 'zu Natur zu Kunst und Wissen sogleich'] zurückkehren, möchte ich die bittende Frage hinzufügen: ob nicht H. Bergrath Kleinschrott mir einen solchen Hippuriten wie sie bey jener Versammlung der Naturforscher in München zur Sprache gekommen und vorgezeigt worden, verschaffen könnte?...

the draft on 2 pages, with Goethe's corrections on the first page, 19 x 20cm, apparently cut down from a larger leaf, manuscript attestation of authenticity in the hand of Hinrich Lichtenstein in the left-hand margin of the first page ("Beim Besuch des Goetheschen Hauses in Weimar 28 Sept. 36 ist mir dieses Blatt als ein Andenken an Goethes Weise zu correspondiren geschenkt worden. Die Correcturen sind von seiner Hand. Lichtenstein"), both pages later cancelled in pencil, no place or date [c. December 1830]

together with an autograph letter signed by the poet and close friend of Goethe Karl Ludwig von Knebel, possibly to Hinrich Lichtenstein, concerning his sister, some drawings and Princess Caroline in Weimar, 1 page, 8vo, with a manuscript note in the hand of Ernst Rudorff concerning the letter, [Jena,] 26 April 1808

At Weimar between 1780 and 1832 Goethe was a passionate collector of rocks, minerals and fossils, his collection of the latter alone comprising some 718 specimens. The subject of discussion in the present draft letter are the fossils Hippurites, discovered in Bavaria in 1827 and erroneously first identified as coral remains.

LITERATURE:

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Sämtliche Werke...Münchner Ausgabe, vol. 20, issue 3 (1998), p. 859