The estate of Julius Waldemar Grosse (1828–1902) – Grosseana

Julius Waldemar Grosse (1828–1902) first trained as a surveyor to prepare him for the profession of architect. After graduating and after a short period as a civil servant, Grosse began reading law in Halle upon the Saale.

From 1849/1850, he wrote his first dramas, the literary success of which led him to abandon his studies of law. In 1852, Grosse moved to Munich to study art at the academy in accordance with his original inclination, but eventually abandoned art completely in favour of literature. Together with his friend, the poet and future Nobel laureate Paul Heyse (1830–1914, Heyse-Archive), Grosse founded "Die Krokodile" (Crocodiles, cf. Cgm 6539), a circle of poets from Munich who dedicated themselves to classicist-idealistic poetry and existed until 1883.

From 1855, he was editor and art critic for various newspapers, while from 1869 he worked as General Secretary of the German Schiller Foundation in Weimar and Dresden. Literarily he was most successful with verse-epics, short-stories and novels, e.g. "Der Wasunger Not" (The Need of the Wasunger, 1872), "Der getreue Ekkart" (The Faithful Ekkart, 1885). His autobiography "Ursachen und Wirkungen" (Causes and Effects, 1896) is also revealing. Grosse, the distinguished court councillor and professor, died at Lake Garda in 1902.

His estate consists of 52 small and 16 large boxes as well as seven volumes. It is divided into Grosseana and a Grosseana Supplement. The estate contains literary manuscripts, including the historical drama "Kaiser Heinrich VI." (Emperor Henry VI), as well as numerous drafts of poems, novels, notes, correspondence and biographical documents such as the memoirs of Grosse.

Parts of the estate have been digitised for bavarikon and are available here:

>> This estate belongs to the collection of estates from the holdings of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library).