Joseph von Lassberg
Since the early 1980s, the Fürstlich-Fürstenbergische Hofbibliothek in Donaueschingen (Donaueschingen Court Library) is in the process of being dissolved gradually by its owner, the present Prince of Fürstenberg. The entry of this most important private library in the Baden-Württemberg volume of the Handbuch der historischen Buchbestände in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland was not allowed by ist owner. Responsible governemental authorities failed to prevent the sales. In 1982, 20 outstanding illuminated medieval manuscripts were sold at auction. In 1994, 326 highly valuable incunabula were sold at auction. The state of Baden-Württemberg acquired only some 90 incunabula and the remaining collection of 1050 manuscripts in 1993-1994. In fall 1999, the important collection of printed and manuscript music (3612 and 3920 items resp.) could be bought for the Badische Landesbibliothek Karlsruhe. The library’s other holdings of some 130,000 printed books are now going to be dispersed in a number of auctions. Until now, public libraries unfortunately could only acquire a fraction of the books for sale.
The Donaueschingen Court Library in its entirety is now destroyed. The library and its building represented a unique ensemble of great historical value. Its holdings, accumulated since the late 15th century, comprised medieval manuscripts, incunabula, manuscript music and printed books up to the 19th century. In the opinion of independent specialists, this library has to be counted as a significant part of our cultural heritage. In any case, it should have been preserved in its entirety as a resource for research in the time to come.
Although the loss of valuable historical information already is irretrievable, by means of information technologies important information in book-history could still be rescued. The project Donaueschingen Digital not only aims to reconstruct the former holdings of the Donaueschingen Court Library in a virtual reality, but also tries to collect all book-historical information which is still accessible. This refers particularly to provenance research. A large number of volumes bears inscriptions by members of the house of Fürstenberg, the Counts of Helfenstein and other nobles, which were important for politics and culture in the south-west of Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The catalogue records should contain the title, but also scans of individual title pages and other relevant autograph information. Donaueschingen Digital will be finally obtainable as an OPAC for research, but also represent a memorial for a lost part of our cultural heritage. The reconstruction of the Carthusian library of Buxheim, realized by the American Germanist William Whobrey, could also serve as a model for Donaueschingen Digital. Donaueschingen Digital is open to everybody who is interested to contribute: Libraries, book dealers, collectors, scientists and interested citizens.
Priority should be given to the reconstruction of the library of Joseph von Lassberg (1770-1855), which was acquired by Carl Egon von Fürstenberg and therefore became part of the Donaueschingen Court Library. The famous free-lance scholar of German Romanticism collected in its lifetime some 11,000 books, but also medieval paintings and other works of fine art. Each of his books bear inscriptions, annotations or shelf-marks from his hand. Joseph von Lassberg’s life, works and ideas were indeed a transfiguration of the German Middle Ages. He had a bias towards research on the Swabian Minnesänger and the edition of their works, and even Lassberg‘s spelling followed medieval models. The library of the excentric bibliophile was mirroring his interests in many ways and so did the innumerable manuscript entries in his books. However, organization and holdings of this library are almost unknown. The virtual reconstruction of the Lassberg library aims to enhance our knowledge about this outstanding scholarly library. Thanks to the engagement of the Thurgauische Landesbibliothek in Frauenfeld (Switzerland), some 200 books from the Lassberg library could be acquired and will thus remain accessible for research.
We are very much indebted to the auction houses for their support and cooperation. Thanks are also due to Josef Nolte, who left his notes from the 1970s with Klaus Graf. Nolte’s records contain a large number of title pages in xerox, inscriptions, mostly taken from books on law and theology, formerly belonging to the Counts von Helfenstein and passed to the Donaueschingen Court Library in the 17th century. These records include a card file (by K. S. Bader) of books on law indicating previous owners, too.
The steps towards Donaueschingen Digital are
1. Proofs of location
New locations of books should be ascertained (including the incunabula
and manuscripts sold by Sotheby’s in 1982 and 1994 resp.) Private owners
are asked for their support in registering (anonymously) former Donaueschingen
books.
2. Provenance research
Individual characteristics of the books (inscriptions, book-plates,
manuscript additions and entries, armorials and external binding features)
should be documented, possibly by scans. Preliminary reference works are
until now:
Sotheby Parke Bernet & Co., Catalogue of twenty Western illuminated
manuscripts from the fifth to the fifteenth century: from the Library at
Donaueschingen [...] which will be sold by auction by Sotheby Parke Bernet
& Co. [...] Day of sale: monday, 21. June 1982. London: Sotheby, 1982.
Sotheby's, Incunabula from the Court Library at Donaueschingen:
sold by order of his Serene Highness Joachim Prince zu Fürstenberg;
auction, friday 1st July 1994 [...]. London: Sotheby's, 1994 (326 lots).
Reiss&Sohn, Auction no. 68: From a Southern German Princely
Library, Part 1. Wednesday, October 20th 1999 (Separate Catalogue). Königstein:
Reiss&Sohn, 1999 ( 1101 lots, contains indexes of authors and provenances).
Auktionshaus Peter Kiefer, Auction no. 40: Bücher &
Graphik. Fürstenbibliothek aus Süddeutschland. 3. bis 5. Februar
2000. Pforzheim: Kiefer, 2000 (6002 lots, contains indexes of authors and
provenances).
Reiss&Sohn, Auction no. 70: From a Southern German Princely
Library, Part 2. May 3-4 2000. Königsstein: Reiss&Sohn, 2000 (1731
lots, contains an index of authors).
Auktionshaus Peter Kiefer, Auction no. 41: Bücher &
Graphik. Fürstenbibliothek aus Süddeutschland. 18. bis 20. Mai
2000. Pforzheim: Kiefer, 2000 (6753 lots, contains indexes of authors and
provenances).
3. Research on Joseph von Lassberg and his library
4. Research on the history of the Donaueschingen Court Library and
its holdings
Records of the Fürstlich-Fürstenbergisches Archiv in Donaueschingen
should supplement this part project.
5. Digitization of the card file catalogue of the Donaueschingen
Court Library
A catalogue available on-line (OPAC) would be desirable. In this way,
bibliographic research on the holdings could be enhanced.
6. Digitization of selected books formerly owned by the Donaueschingen Court Library
7. Data collection of other central European noble libraries in private
hands
This bibliographic addendum aims to define the place of the Donaueschingen
Court Library within the context of comparable noble libraries.
Freiburg im Breisgau, March 2000.
Klaus Graf (project coordinator)
Bibliography
K. S. Bader, [...] Johann Caspar Maysinger aus Hechingen und
seine juristische Bücherei (1966), reprinted in: idem, Ausgewählte
Schriften 3, 1983, pp. 585-604.
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