Friedrich Matthisson - Gedichte - 1787-1787

Matthisson, Friedrich [von]: Poems. With title vignette by E. Verhelst. Mannheim, Neue Hof- und akademische Buchhandlung 1787. 180 pp., 2 plates. Small quarto. Brown half-leather binding of the period with marbled cover, 2 gold-tooled spine labels, discreet gilt decoration and red edges. [7362] Goedeke V, p. 428f, 1. - First edition. - In Mannheim there appeared three printings of the poems, each in Fraktur and in Antiqua on vellum (each 180 pp.) and a cheaper Fraktura edition in which all the proofs were removed (71 pp.; cf. HAB Wolfenbüttel, Lo 5254-5256). The present edition is the beautiful Fraktur edition on vellum. - The poems included in the 1791 Zürich edition published by Füssli contained only 8 of the 80 poems from the Mannheim edition, “with which he was completely dissatisfied: ‘What would I not do to be able to take back my Mannheim collection’” (see: Bürger, Th.: Aufklärung in Zürich: The publishing house Orell, Gessner, Füssli & Comp., p. 80). - “His poems appeared under the favorable criticism of Schiller (...), who praised their gentle melancholy and contemplative ardor, as well as the art for landscape painting and the pleasing sound of the verses” (see Goedeke). Many of Matthisson’s poems and songs were set to music by Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert. - The very handsome contemporary half-leather binding is now only minimally rubbed. The inner sheets show slight browning from adhesive, only the first and last leaves slightly foxed; one leaf (pp. 145/146) with a small tear. - In overall impression a very beautiful copy of Friedrich von Matthisson’s Poems, in this condition very rarely encountered.