bavarikon4UThe estate of Karl August von Heigel (1835–1905) – Heigeliana II
Named Heigeliana, the inventory consists of the respective estates of the brothers Karl August (1835–1905) and Karl Theodor Heigel (1842–1915). While the collection of Karl August Heigel (Heigeliana II) comprises three large and 13 small boxes and three metres of shelving, the estate of his brother Karl Theodor (Heigeliana I) fills 20 boxes.
Karl August von Heigel, the elder brother of the historian Karl Theodor von Heigel, studied philosophy at the University of Munich from 1854 to 1858 and subsequently took up a position as librarian with Heinrich zu Carolath-Beuthen (1783–1864). After his employer’s death, Heigel moved to Berlin, where he became editor of the belletrist department of the women’s magazine Bazar in 1865. From 1876, he wrote and edited pieces for the Munich stage, especially for the private separately-held performances for King Ludwig II (1845–1886), with the character of which the king could identify.
As did many other contemporaries, he was a member of the "Crocodiles", a circle of poets from Munich, which existed between 1856 and 1883 and which dedicated itself to classicist-idealistic poetry (cf. Cgm 6539). In 1881, he was ennobled with the title knight of Heigel. In 1886, after Ludwig’s death, Heigel moved to the Palazzo Martini in Riva on Lake Garda, where he died in 1905.
In addition to literary manuscripts of poems, dramas, novels and smaller prose works ("Beatrice","Alte Nationalgesänge" / Old National Epics), the collection of Karl August also contains biographical documents such as diaries. Heigel’s legacy also includes Heigel’s correspondence including letters from and to him as well as prints of Heigel’s smaller works and a documentation about him.
>> This estate belongs to the collection of estates from the holdings of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library).