AUERBACH Berthold (1812-1882) Lot n° 16

AUERBACH Berthold (1812-1882) German writer. MANUSCRIT autograph signed, Lederherz; and 26 L.A.S., 1862-1881, to Ignaz ELLISSEN; 13 pages in-4 (plus a dedication leaf; qqs slight flaws), and 49 pages in-8, several in his cipher or name, qqs envelopes; in German. Very fine set by the author of the Schwarzwälder Dorfgeschichten (Black Forest Village Stories). The manuscript, on bluish paper, with no corrections other than a marginal addition, is dated at the end of Berlin, February 6, 1862. It is dedicated on an introductory page to his friend Ignaz Ellissen. Lederherz (Leather Heart) is subtitled "Aus den Erinnerungen des Pfarrers vom Berge" (memories of the mountain pastor), and was published anonymously by Auerbach in his Deutsche Blätter. Beilage zur Gartenlaube (No. 261, pp. 81-85), edited by Auerbach from 1862 to 1864, as Eberhard Koestler kindly pointed out. Lederherz (Heart of Leather) is the story of a poor Jewish peddler in Alsace, who sells leather; his nickname comes from the leather pieces that cover the elbows of his frock coat; he is a friend of the cobbler Lipp, well versed in the study of the Bible, who will help him to die religiously. This text is marked by ideas of political and religious tolerance, and love of humanity. We quote the beginning: "Wahre Menschenfreundlichkeit zeigt sich darin, dass wir jedem Mitlebenden, der uns ungekannt und flüchtig begegnet, die gemeinsam gegebenen Augenblicke mit Gutem zu erfüllen trachten. Die wahre Menschenliebe bethätigt sich darin, dass wir den Gedanken der Zusammengehörigkeit festhalten, auch da, wo wir den Widerspruch und Gegensatz vor Augen haben. Nur wenn wir uns liebevoll gegen Menschen anderen Glaubens, anderer Überzeugung bewähren, nur dann haben wir das Recht, uns Bekenner der Religion der Liebe zu nennen"... The extensive literary and friendly correspondence, beginning on January 9, 1862 and ending on March 8, 1881, is addressed to Ignaz ELLISSEN in Frankfurt am Main. Most of the letters are written from Berlin; during the vacations of 1863, Auerbach stayed in Cannstatt near Stuttgart (August), in Heiden in the canton of Appenzell (September)... Auerbach enclosed with two of his 1862 letters letters received from Professors B. Frankfurter and Russ. This correspondence is supplemented by old copies of 5 letters missing from the set, as explained in an attached letter from Ellissen's executor, forwarding the set in 1884.