Ludwig Tieck als Bücherkäufer Provenienzforschung innerhalb der Bibliotheca Tieckiana

Abstract

Since 2014, the research project Ludwig Tieck’s Library. Anatomy of a Romantic Comparatist Book Collection (FWF P32038; directed by Achim Hölter) has conducted the virtual reconstruction of the library of German romanticist Ludwig Tieck (1773-1853). It contained 17.000 volumes and was auctioned in Berlin in 1849/50. Several major European libraries took part in the auction, as well as numerous individuals. We have located about 5.000 of the volumes as documented in the auction catalogue and within Tieck’s correspondence at 23 European libraries, and we have recorded our findings in a database in accordance with current bibliographic standards. The project was and is – not exclusively, but to a large extent – a huge endeavor of provenance research. Extensive holdings were examined and checked for Tieck’s ownership in libraries that are proven to have purchased books in the auction of 1849/50. In the course of our examinations, we recorded bibliographical information and essential material attributes, as well as all indications of former ownership and use. Along with this description and recording of Tieck’s book possessions in a database so central to the project, our endeavors also resulted in an overview of the previous owners of Tieck’s books, of his buying practices as a client of European antiquarians supplying him with books, and of the auction and other catalogues he consulted. All this information offers a detailed insight into Tieck’s European (antiquarian) book trade network in the first half of the 19th century. In this paper, we present these findings along with an overview of the provenance of books within Tieck’s library, and thus in-depth information on the systematics of his “bibliomania”.

Keywords: Ludwig Tieck; book acquisition; book auction; library history; provenance research