MEDIEVAL GERMANY

GÖRRES, J(OSEPH) (ed.).

Altdeutsche Volks= und Meisterlieder aus den Handschriften der Heidelberger Bibliothek. Mit einem Kupfer.

Frankfurt a. M., 1817. 8vo. Cont. (orig.?) light blue paper binding w. gilt red title-label to spine. Spine worn w. lack of paper, but cardboard not worn through. Internally only occasional brownspotting. Overall nice and clean. Front free end-paper w. a beautiful 1/3 page original watercolour painting depicting "Burgtor in Rotenburg", dated "Hannover 26.4 1915." and signed "AZ fct." Frontispiece-engraving, (4), LXVI, 336, (1, -errata) pp.

First edition of the important work which helped lay the foundation for German medieval scholarship and the acknowledgement of the importance, both historical and philological, of the contents that were to be found in the medieval folk songs and tales.

Together with Eichendorff, Joseph Görres was the leading figure of Heidelberg romanticism and together with the compilations of Arnim, Brentano and the brothers Grimm, those of Görres brought the folk poetry back into life and turned it into a part of the public mind.

The Burgtor so beautifully painted on the front free end-paper was built after the Castle at Rothenburg was destroyed in 1356 during an earthquake. The castle was built around 1142, and the first part of it was rebuilt as early as 1400. Throughout the 15th and the first half of the 16th century the rest of the Rothenburg Burgthor was finished; the history of this site thus coincides chronologically with the contents of the present volume.

Order-nr.: 38316