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The acquisition of German printed works
It’s all magic!
Jacoby-Harms: Eine Geistersoiree. Illustrirtes Prachtwerk, Leipzig 1886. SBB-PK / Fotostelle. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Magic is a form of performing art that creates illusions and entertains its audience by using various techniques such as tricks, optical illusions or apparatuses. By the 19th century, the book on magical tricks had become well established as a genre in the book market.
A particularly charming genre among historical printed materials are books on magical tricks. These can be practical instructions how to perform magic and card tricks. Often the addressee was the prospective magician, because the audience would be thus deprived of any illusion. In 2009, the Staatsbibliothek succeeded in acquiring a number of rare copies from the genre of sorcery and magic from the publication period from 1871 to 1912, which were auctioned off in the course of the dissolution of a magician’s collection.
Among the rare works of the genre is Eine Geistersoiree by Hans Joachim Jacob Harms (1845–1917), published under his pen name Jacoby-Harms, which entertains with spiritistic magic. Ghost poems are illustrated by images showing the author summoning spirits and ghosts.
The illustrations in the volume were produced using collotype printing. This is an expensive printing process for illustrating books in small editions, which was widespread around the turn of the century. The collotype prints were produced in the Kunstanstalt für Lichtdruck Dorn & Merfeld, founded in 1885. Despite the illusion created by the illustrations, Jacoby-Harms distances himself from the spiritualism that was popular in those days and makes clear that the ghostly manifestations are due to illusion.
The publisher’s binding of the Geistersoirée
The binding is a document of the industrialized bookbinding in the second third of the 19th century, which almost completely replaced the traditional hand-bookbinding business. The design of the front cover echoes the content of the book. Two signets on the front cover refer to persons involved in the design. The German painter and illustrator Christian Wilhelm Allers (“C.W.Allers”) provided the design for the illustration printed on the front cover. The illustration was realised by the Graphische Anstalt F. A. Barthel, which belonged to the bookbindery and binding factory of the same name in Leipzig and carried out industrial bookbinding work for large editions as well as separate bindings that were bound in other bookbinderies.
Other works in the genre provided instructions for conjuring. In this volume, for example, there are instructions, illustrated with photographs, on how the magician can make a ball or similar object disappear between his fingers. Friedrich Wilhelm Conrad Horster: Das Universum der Magie, Berlin 1912. digital copy
Mail-order companies for magic articles published their own catalogues, one of the best known was the company of Carl Willmann (1848–1934) in Hamburg, who was himself a magician and manufactured magic equipment. Carl Willmann Mechanische Werkstatt: Preis-Verzeichnis von Carl Willmann (Inhaber: Carl und John Willmann) Hamburg, Hamburg 1911. SBB-PK / Fotostelle. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
The literature on magic tricks is still being acquired, for example by the magazine Der Zauberkünstler (The Magician), which appeared in 1897 in only one issue. Its original purpose was to inform magicians about new tricks and to familiarise them with the construction and use of new magical devices. H.F.C. Suhr (Hrsg.): Der Zauberkünstler. Monatsschrift für Salon-Magie und alle verwandten Fächer, Altona 1897. digital copy
This volume also belongs to the instructional literature and contains a series of descriptions of magic and card tricks that invite the reader to try them out. Der Zaubersalon oder Bellachini II., Danzig 1896. digital copy
„For this trick use a German card
lay all the hands upright, shuffle the cards
and then have one card drawn. While this card is looked at,
the pack is quickly turned over and then
the card is put back into the deck. Since this card now has an
position against the other cards, it is easy to find out again after shuffling.“
The acquisition program of
German printed works
In the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sammlung Deutscher Drucke (Consortium for the Collection of German Printed Works) six German libraries collaborate with the aim of building a comprehensive collection of all printed works published in German-speaking countries. The participating libraries are responsible for specific periods and the result will be a distributed national library.
The Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin covers the publication years from 1871 to 1912 (sheet music: 1801 to 1945, newspapers and maps: 1801 to 1912), which was a period of intensive book production. The library collects all material published in German language, regardless of where it was published, and also all material printed in the former German Reich.
Books published between 1871 and 1912 and being currently acquired by the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin are typically first editions of scientific and technical works as well as numerous small works such as publications from (industrial) companies, which only had a small circulation. In addition to belles-lettres, mass produced contemporary literature, such as so-called non-serious fiction, is also purchased. Furthermore, it focuses on fine press books, which show the development of book illustration and typography during this epoch, such as books with special bindings.
Images of birds from faraway regions by the explorer Anton Reichenow, 1883. SBB-PK / Fotostelle. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Deutscher Volkskalender für Südafrika, ed. by G.W. Wagener, 1887-1889. SBB-PK / Fotostelle. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Adolph Kohut: Das Weib wie es ist, 1903. SBB-PK / Fotostelle. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Karlsbader Sprudelbecher from Luise Feller, around 1905. SBB-PK / Fotostelle. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
