Gotthilf Weisstein

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Stolperstein Badensche Str. 21 (Wilmd) Margarethe Weisstein

Gotthilf Weisstein (6 February 1852 – 21 May 1907) was a German journalist, writer and bibliophile. WEISSTEIN GOTTHILF(1852-1907) journalist, bibliophile, book collector and antiquarian. Weisstein was the son of a merchant. His uncle was doctor of social medicine Salomon Neumann. He attended the French Royal Grammar School in Berlin and then in 1870 studied classical philology, Sanskrit and philosophy at Berlin's Humbold Univerity. Weisstein's ambition was to pursue an academic career but when he failed to obtain an PhD degree he became a journalist. He worked for the Stuttgart "new daily paper," and from 1880 he was employed as a permanent staff member of the Berliner Tageblatt and then of the Tribune from 1884 to 1887 . He later worked for the National-Zeitung, for which he wrote many reviews, essays and feature articles. In 1899 he was one of the founding members of the society of bibliophiles in Weimar.

He made significant contributions to research the history of German literature and theatre and many of his articles dealt with this subject. A number of his feature articles dealt also with aspects of old Berlin, a city which he dearly loved. He wrote a "History of Berlin Humor," Weisstein was a collector and tracker of lost rare books and acquired a large private collection of over 10,000 volumes. After his death the library was catalogued by his brother architect Hermann Weisstein. The catalogue, with short explanations on each of the books, was published in 1913 in two volumes, with 9124 entries. The catalogue is still a practical guide for the history of German theatre together with rare prints of the literature in the Classical and romantic eras. In 1923 the library was loaned to the State Library in Berlin. Weisstein also had an extensive collection of manuscripts, letters and portraits.

Life[]

Born in Berlin, Weisstein was the son of a merchant. His uncle was the social physician . He attended Grützmacher's pre-school at and then the Französisches Gymnasium Berlin, where he passed the Abitur in 1870. He studied cassical philology, sanskrit and philosophy, later German Studies in Berlin with Moriz Haupt, Moritz Lazarus and Heymann Steinthal. A doctoral project seems to have failed. Weisstein gave up his intention of pursuing an academic career and became a journalist. He obtained his first editorial position at the , then worked for the ; from 1880 he was employed as a permanent contributor to the Berliner Tageblatt and the , from 1884 to 1887 he was, alongside Oscar Blumenthal Feuilletonredakteur and theatre editor of the Berliner Tageblatt. Then he devoted some time to his abandoned German studies. Later he worked for the , for which he wrote many reviews, essays and feuilletons. Along with and others, he was one of the founding members of the  [de] in Weimar in 1899 and of the  [de] (1905).[1][2]

Work[]

He made significant contributions to research in literary history (Goethe, Schiller, Kleist, Maler Müller, Karl Philipp Moritz among others). Berlin history and theatre history were his special fields, many of his extensive feuilletons deal with old Berlin topics. Some planned works did not come to fruition due to his early death, such as a Geschichte des Berliner Humors, an account of the effectiveness of the Berlin theatre director Döbbelin and a bibliography of German private prints. As a bibliographically educated collector, he proceeded, as Fedor von Zobeltitz writes, "literarily", and drew "even the short lived, the ephemeral and the ephemeral, into his domain" ... "if it seemed important to him for the characterisation of a dramatic epoch". "Weisstein was ... a tracker of lost rarities with true explorer instincts, such as I found later only in ". (Zobeltitz)

Weisstein Library[]

His extensive library was catalogued after his death, given as a bequest to the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin by his brother, the building councillor Herman Weisstein, in 1923 and looked after there as a librarian by Hans Lindau, a son of Weisstein's friend Paul Lindau. Through Herman Weisstein, all books were provided with a simple bookplate. After Herman's death in 1924, his widow Margarethe Weisstein (possibly already under the impression of increasing anti-Jewish repression) had the books sold by the antiquarian bookseller in 1933. A small part of the collection was bought back by the State Library with funds from the Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft, and another 700 books on theatre history were purchased by the Clara Ziegler Foundation (today the Deutsches Theatermuseum). Today, copies from Weisstein's library frequently turn up in the antiquarian book trade. The catalogue was published in 1913 in 2 volumes with 9124 entries. It is still an informative reference work for prints on German theatre history and for rare prints of the classical and romantic literary periods. Weisstein's presumably extensive estate of manuscripts and letters is lost. Individual items, such as a postcard Fontanes to Weisstein, are offered in the autograph trade.[3][4]

Weisstein died in Berlin at the age of 55. He was buried in the Weißensee cemetery. On his grave is the distich:

Many were delighted by your spirit and your always cheerful speech.
You will remain unforgotten by all who knew you.

Work[]

  • With Richard Nathanson: Paul Lindau. Eine Charakteristik. Stuhr, Berlin 1875.
  • Beiträge zu Maler Müller's Lebensgeschichte. Mosse, Berlin 1883.
  • Carl Philipp Moritz. Beiträge zu seiner Lebensgeschichte. Harrwitz, Berlin 1899.
  • Freundesgaben für Karl Frenzel zu seinem goldenen Doktorjubiläum am 19 February 1903. Nationalzeitung, Berlin 1903.
  • Des vergnügten Weinhändlers Louis Drucker's humoristischer Nachlaß (Berliner Curiosa. Vol. 3, ZDB-ID 2014625-5). Neu herausgegeben, mit biographisch-kritischen Notizen versehen. Frensdorff, Berlin 1906.
  • Meininger Erinnerungen. E. Meyer, Berlin 1906.
  • Bibliothek Weisstein. Katalog der Bücher des verstorbenen Bibliophilen Gotthilf Weisstein. 2 volumes. Published by Fedor von Zobeltitz. Im Auftrag des Königlichen Baurats Hermann Weisstein für die Gesellschaft der Bibliophilen. Drugulin, Leipzig 1913.
  • Heitere Episoden aus der Geschichte des Theaterzettels (Reprint im Luttertaler Händedruck. Vol. 3). Nach älteren Quellen und eigenen Sammlungen mitgeteilt von Gotthilf Weisstein. Luttertaler Händedruck, Bargfeld 2007, ISBN 978-3-928779-23-4.
  • Berichte aus der Bücherwelt (Edition im Luttertaler Händedruck. Vol. 11). Published by . Luttertaler Händedruck, Bargfeld 2007, ISBN 978-3-928779-24-1.
  • Alt-Berlin in Gotthilf Weissteins Feuilletons (Berlinische Denkwürdigkeiten. Vol. 2). Published by Ulrich Goerdten. Luttertaler Händedruck, Bargfeld 2007, ISBN 978-3-928779-25-8.

Editorship[]

  • Don Carlos, der Infanterist von Spanien. Von Silvius Landsberger. Frensdorff, Berlin 1905. Numerized

References[]

  1. ^ Gotthilf Weisstein on Proveana
  2. ^ Gotthilf Weisstein on Jstor.org
  3. ^ Gotthilf Weisstein on Princeton.edu
  4. ^ Bibliographie Gotthilf Weisstein on Stanford.edu

Further reading[]

External links[]

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