Collection Cimelia-Autographs

Valuable individual items from the holdings of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek are called cimelia. They originate from authors of non-Bavarian provenance and are collected in the cimelia autograph collection.

At this point, the collection of single autographs comprises around 35,000 objects. The collection was founded in 1858 with the aim of establishing an, if possible complete, collection of "manuscript samples" of the most important people from the fields of history, art and science. Therefore, its range of acquisitions is rather broad as regards chronological, geographical and specialist aspects. Among the autographs are those of famous authors and literary figures; often letters written to diverse, even unknown addressees. The oldest of the autographs displayed here are those of the philosopher, humanist and theologian Philipp Melanchthon (1497–1560). The most recent are by the dramatist, poet, librettist and co-founder of the Salzburg Festival Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874–1929).

On bavarikon may be found a selection of cimelia-autographs dated to the following centuries:

Eighteenth Century

This collection comprises letters dated to the eighteenth century by Beaumarchais, Claudius, Fichte, Franklin, Gottsched, Hamann, Herder, Klopstock, Körner, Lessing, Voltaire, Wieland and Winckelmann.
Benjamin Franklin's letter to Peter Collinson, dated 1 June 1750, is a valuable document attesting to the history of the author's research in the field of electricity.

Nineteenth Century

The nineteenth century is represented by letters written by Balzac, Goethe, Eichendorff, Hauser, Hoffmann, Hölderlin, Kleist, Mörike, Storm, Tolstoj and Zola.
The letters written by the Russian novelist Lev N. Tolstoj to Robert Piloty in Munich inform about the severe famine and the Cholera epidemic in Russia during the years of 1891 to 1892.

Twentieth Century

For the twentieth century, two collections are particularly worth mentioning, i.e. the letters by Hugo von Hofmannsthal to Elsa and Hugo Bruckmann as well as those to Clemens von und zu Franckenstein. In addition, there is a farewell letter by the Bavarian writer Lena Christ.

• The objects of the collection "Cimelia-Autographs" available in bavarikon

Further collections of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek on the subject in bavarikon

• Literature in Bavaria - works from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
• Personal papers and estates held by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek

>> This collection is part of the holdings of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library).

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