Lot 719
L. Burger / G. Colonus (i.e. Wilhelm Mayer), Der Wahlkampf. Lahr (1880). – See also: a transcript of the printed edition.
Estimate
€ 300
Starting Price
€ 200
Lot:
719
Category:
Manuscripts and autographs
Die Stiefelputzer oder der Wahlkampf. Contemporary illustrated copy of a political pamphlet from Marburg. 20.2 x 17 cm. With 31 illustrations in black ink. 28 pp., 1 leaf. German Kurrent script in black ink. Chapter numbers in red, list of characters in blue coloured pencil. Paper cover with title label.
(Cover slightly stained and discoloured. Two owner’s marks on the recto of the first page. Discoloured.)
A handwritten copy, presumably from the 1870s, based on the anonymously published political satire attributed to District Administrator Wilhelm Mayer (pseudonym ‘G. Colonus’). The printed work is bibliographically and archivally documented in connection with criminal proceedings against Mayer for defamation in the press; the files of the Secret State Archive of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation contain both the defamatory pamphlet and a ‘Trial concerning Colonus and the defamatory pamphlet ‚Die Stiefelputzer oder der Wahlkampf‘’, published as a separate print in 1877. The present manuscript is more than a mere copy. On page 28, it first contains a key to the pseudonyms used in the text, followed on the last page by a handwritten note stating that the ‘brochure was confiscated’ and that there had been a ‘libel case’, as a result of which the author, District Administrator Mayer, was transferred and fined. Furthermore, the architect of the Marburg University building, Carl Schäfer, is said to have been involved in the affair. Finally, the anonymous scribe contextualises the events politically: ‘This was around the time when party politics in Marburg was in its heyday in 1874. The dispute arose between the Liberals and the Conservatives; District Councillor Mayer belonged to the latter’. The historical core of the note is confirmed by the archival evidence of the criminal proceedings against Wilhelm Mayer concerning the ‘Bootshiner’ pamphlet. Whether the present transcript was produced directly as a result of the seizure of the pamphlet cannot be established with absolute certainty; however, the note at the end makes such a connection plausible.
See also:
Burger, Ludwig (ill.) / G. Colonus (i.e. Wilhelm Mayer): *The Election Campaign*. A humorous story showing how elections are conducted. Third edition. Lahr: J. H. Geiger (1880). 22.7 x 15 cm. Original cover. With 31 illustrations by L. Burger. 31 pp. (Front cover detached from the binding and with damage to the edges. Binding loose. Slightly stained inside.)
(Cover slightly stained and discoloured. Two owner’s marks on the recto of the first page. Discoloured.)
A handwritten copy, presumably from the 1870s, based on the anonymously published political satire attributed to District Administrator Wilhelm Mayer (pseudonym ‘G. Colonus’). The printed work is bibliographically and archivally documented in connection with criminal proceedings against Mayer for defamation in the press; the files of the Secret State Archive of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation contain both the defamatory pamphlet and a ‘Trial concerning Colonus and the defamatory pamphlet ‚Die Stiefelputzer oder der Wahlkampf‘’, published as a separate print in 1877. The present manuscript is more than a mere copy. On page 28, it first contains a key to the pseudonyms used in the text, followed on the last page by a handwritten note stating that the ‘brochure was confiscated’ and that there had been a ‘libel case’, as a result of which the author, District Administrator Mayer, was transferred and fined. Furthermore, the architect of the Marburg University building, Carl Schäfer, is said to have been involved in the affair. Finally, the anonymous scribe contextualises the events politically: ‘This was around the time when party politics in Marburg was in its heyday in 1874. The dispute arose between the Liberals and the Conservatives; District Councillor Mayer belonged to the latter’. The historical core of the note is confirmed by the archival evidence of the criminal proceedings against Wilhelm Mayer concerning the ‘Bootshiner’ pamphlet. Whether the present transcript was produced directly as a result of the seizure of the pamphlet cannot be established with absolute certainty; however, the note at the end makes such a connection plausible.
See also:
Burger, Ludwig (ill.) / G. Colonus (i.e. Wilhelm Mayer): *The Election Campaign*. A humorous story showing how elections are conducted. Third edition. Lahr: J. H. Geiger (1880). 22.7 x 15 cm. Original cover. With 31 illustrations by L. Burger. 31 pp. (Front cover detached from the binding and with damage to the edges. Binding loose. Slightly stained inside.)