Details

Subjects:

German literature -- 18th century.
German literature.

Form/Genre:

Commonplace books.
Poems.
Codices.
Manuscripts, German -- 18th century.
Manuscripts, European.

Language:

German, with two entries in or containing French.

Summary:

Collection of quotations from poetry and prose of the literary period of sensibility (Empfindsamkeit) and enlightenment. The selections have a philosophical or lightly satirical bent, with a few pieces of an erotic nature. The authors include Gottfried August Bürger, Gottlieb Konrad Pfeffel, Voltaire (quotation in French), Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart, Karl Friedrich Bahrdt, and Gotthold Friedrich Stäudlin. According to Albert Schmitt, one poem ("Der wahre Genuss") attributed to Wieland is actually an early poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The first entry is a poem attributed to Bürger ("Die schöne Beckerinn. Eine Legende"), which Schmitt dates to 1781; entries toward the end include Stäudlin's "Lied eines Vagabunden" (first published in 1788), and an unattributed poem written on the occasion of the death of Friedrich II and dated 1786 (f. 47v). Some of the writings represented may date from earlier, with one poem including a preface dated 1759 (f. 27r). The signature of Dr. R. v. Viettinghoff (front flyleaf) appears to be written in the same hand as some or all of the entries in the book.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title supplied by cataloger.
Foliation: Paper, i (modern paper) + i (contemporary paper cover) + 119 + i (contemporary paper cover) + i (modern paper); [i, 1-118]; modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto.
Script: Written in a German cursive hand (possibly in more than one hand).
Binding: Modern vellum (Zacour-Hirsch).
Origin: Written in Germany, probably between 1780 and 1790.

Penn Provenance:

Formerly owned by Dr. R. von Viettinghoff (signature, front flyleaf).
Formerly appeared in the catalog of Richard Kaufmann Buchhandlung u. Antiquariat (Stuttgart).
Sold by Nostoff, 1953.

Cited in:

Described in Zacour, Norman P. and Hirsch, Rudolf. Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania to 1800 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1965), p. 84 (Ms. German 32).

Publications about:

Schmitt, Albert R. "German Ms. 32: Eighteenth-Century Ribaldry and Religion." Library Chronicle 37.1 (Winter 1971), 24-36. A copy is in the library's file.

Cited as:

R. von Viettinghoff Commonplace Book (Ms. Codex 1113). Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.

OCLC:

191077938