RILKE, Rainer Maria (1875-1926). Seventeen autograph letters signed and one autograph poem signed, addressed to Baroness Dorothea von Ledebur, Herford, Westphalia (3), Berlin (4), Munich (3), Soglio (2), Locarno (one), Chateau de Muzot (3) and Valmont (one), 24 August 1917 - 23 December 1924, in almost every letter evoking their friendship and her beautiful house with its blue salon, and his visits there; telling her of his restlessness, his search for settled life and with it the renewal of his strength for writing poetry; describing his life in Berlin which is too hectic and crowded for him; in December 1918 writing of the revolutionary happenings in Munich and the exhaustion after the war, declaring that revolutions are not possible after a blood-letting of more than four years, and writing despairingly of the fracturing of the peace into a thousand pieces, 'Vielleicht sind Revolutionen nur möglich in sehr vollblütigen Augenblicken, jedenfalls nicht nach einem mehr als vierjährigen Aderlass. Dadurch dass wir den Frieden nie im Ganzen gesehen haben, sondern nur die tausend Stücke auflesen, in die er, aus allen Händen fallend, zerspringen ist, sind wir, jeder einzelne, um das tiefe Aufathmen gekommen, daus uns versprochen zu sein schien'. He writes that he is unhappy at living in hotels and unable to write because of 'writer's block' ('Die Schwere Feder'), and of his need for a quiet and settled life in order to pursue his particular method of work, describes his first visit to Switzerland, mentions Gerhart Hauptmann, Keyserling and the Stiftung für freie Philosophie in Darmstadt, and also sends copies of his works, and several times recalls the poem he wrote in her Visitors' Book, 64½ pages, 8vo (sizes 180 x 135mm - 205 x 160mm), one autograph envelope (8 letters on light blue paper, a few ink smudges, small splits in centrefold of first letter).Autograph poem signed ('Rainer Maria Rilke') and dated 28 September [1917], sixteen lines of verse on Baroness von Ledebur's country house, begining 'Kleines Haus. Es war in diesem Hause üblich alt zu sein, um allenfalls Nichten grosszuziehen - nun dient es als eins jungen Lebens Lebenspause', and continuing on the theme of its sheltering walls with their beauty and serenity, its significance for young and old, and on his hostess, inscribed and signed at the foot with deepest gratitude for their days as neighbours, written on both sides of a leaf in a Visitors' Book ('Gästebuch Obernfelde 1917'), 142 x 210mm, also including approximately 8 pages of signatures, blank leaves.Rilke first met Baroness Dorothea von Ledebur (1883-1942) in the summer of 1917 when, released from the army and indescribably weary of the war, he stayed for several months at Frau Hertha Koenig's country house in Westphalia. The Ledebur family were neighbours, and the first three letters refer to Rilke's visits to them, in one describing a stormy ride back in the train, and saying that had it been possible to walk through the forest, he would have come more frequently, and read her a page of Goethe. From Berlin he writes of the sights, of politics and his meeting with Kühlmann, also sending three volumes of his verse, apologising for the poor bindings, 'like linoleum'. He describes the first night of a Gerhart Hauptmann play, Winterballade, and the applause of the audience, more in memory of the old Hauptmann than for the new play ('Sie haben nichts versaumt'). In one letter he paraphrases what he has heard of a young soldier, an aristocrat, Fritz von Unruh, with the convictions of a soldier and at the same time an innermost rebellion against the inhumanity of mankind, 'Soldatenbegeisterung und soldatische Überzeugung und zugleich die innerste Auflehung gegen die Unmenschlichkeit der Menschen'. He moves into an apartment in Munich, where his melancholy keeps him from writing to her which would otherwise be the most natural thing, '...Ihnen zu schreiben gehört mir niemals zum Vergessenen, immer zum Erwünschtesten, wenn nur die Hemnis und Schwere meines Gemüths mich nicht von dem Meisten ausschlösse, was mir sonst leicht, lieb und natürlich war'.In 1919, now in Switzerland, Rilke writes that it is not easy to find himself outside Germany again, after five years of restrictions. 'Dar war nicht leicht, kann ich Ihnen versichern, sich in ein "Draussensein" zu finden, nach fünfjähriger erzwungener Immobilität', recalling Obernfelde and the 'Resonanzboden' of its house and garden. News of the birth of a new member of the Ledebur family, Felix, reminds him of the joyful inspiration of the verses he wrote in the visitor's book, 'Nun haben die Verse, die ich Ihnen einmal in der freudigsten Eingebung uns Gästebuch einschreiben durfte - ich erinnere sie nur noch ganz ungefahr - einen noch weiteren und innigeren Sinn erhalten'.He muses poetically on Christmas at Obernfelde, and referring to the Ledeburs' possible move to Austria, thinks of the pain of losing one's own country ('Heimatlosigkeit'). He longs for six months of utter solitude with just a few familiar objects, to heal the interruption in his work from the precise and painful fracture of 1914, so that his inner concentration may be complete and perfect.In the last four letters, Rilke refers again to Obernfelde, and to Felix, sends her the Duineser Elegien and describes the last years of work as the best of his life, '...die letzen Jahre waren Sehr arbeitsam und somit die besten, die ich mir wünschen konnte'.The poem and fourteen of the letters are unpublished (the letters of 19 December 1918, 15 January 1920 and 15 April 1924 are in the Briefe (Leipzig, 1935 and 1937).Provenance: By descent from Baroness Dorothea von Ledebur.We are grateful to Dr. Dorothea McEwan for help in preparing the description of this lot. (18)

RILKE, Rainer Maria (1875-1926). Seventeen autograph letters signed and one autograph poem signed, addressed to Baroness Dorothea von Ledebur, Herford, Westphalia (3), Berlin (4), Munich (3), Soglio (2), Locarno (one), Chateau de Muzot (3) and Valmont (one), 24 August 1917 - 23 December 1924, in almost every letter evoking their friendship and her beautiful house with its blue salon, and his visits there; telling her of his restlessness, his search for settled life and with it the renewal of his strength for writing poetry; describing his life in Berlin which is too hectic and crowded for him; in December 1918 writing of the revolutionary happenings in Munich and the exhaustion after the war, declaring that revolutions are not possible after a blood-letting of more than four years, and writing despairingly of the fracturing of the peace into a thousand pieces, 'Vielleicht sind Revolutionen nur möglich in sehr vollblütigen Augenblicken, jedenfalls nicht nach einem mehr als vierjährigen Aderlass. Dadurch dass wir den Frieden nie im Ganzen gesehen haben, sondern nur die tausend Stücke auflesen, in die er, aus allen Händen fallend, zerspringen ist, sind wir, jeder einzelne, um das tiefe Aufathmen gekommen, daus uns versprochen zu sein schien'. He writes that he is unhappy at living in hotels and unable to write because of 'writer's block' ('Die Schwere Feder'), and of his need for a quiet and settled life in order to pursue his particular method of work, describes his first visit to Switzerland, mentions Gerhart Hauptmann, Keyserling and the Stiftung für freie Philosophie in Darmstadt, and also sends copies of his works, and several times recalls the poem he wrote in her Visitors' Book, 64½ pages, 8vo (sizes 180 x 135mm - 205 x 160mm), one autograph envelope (8 letters on light blue paper, a few ink smudges, small splits in centrefold of first letter). Autograph poem signed ('Rainer Maria Rilke') and dated 28 September [1917], sixteen lines of verse on Baroness von Ledebur's country house, begining 'Kleines Haus. Es war in diesem Hause üblich alt zu sein, um allenfalls Nichten grosszuziehen - nun dient es als eins jungen Lebens Lebenspause', and continuing on the theme of its sheltering walls with their beauty and serenity, its significance for young and old, and on his hostess, inscribed and signed at the foot with deepest gratitude for their days as neighbours, written on both sides of a leaf in a Visitors' Book ('Gästebuch Obernfelde 1917'), 142 x 210mm, also including approximately 8 pages of signatures, blank leaves. Rilke first met Baroness Dorothea von Ledebur (1883-1942) in the summer of 1917 when, released from the army and indescribably weary of the war, he stayed for several months at Frau Hertha Koenig's country house in Westphalia. The Ledebur family were neighbours, and the first three letters refer to Rilke's visits to them, in one describing a stormy ride back in the train, and saying that had it been possible to walk through the forest, he would have come more frequently, and read her a page of Goethe. From Berlin he writes of the sights, of politics and his meeting with Kühlmann, also sending three volumes of his verse, apologising for the poor bindings, 'like linoleum'. He describes the first night of a Gerhart Hauptmann play, Winterballade, and the applause of the audience, more in memory of the old Hauptmann than for the new play ('Sie haben nichts versaumt'). In one letter he paraphrases what he has heard of a young soldier, an aristocrat, Fritz von Unruh, with the convictions of a soldier and at the same time an innermost rebellion against the inhumanity of mankind, 'Soldatenbegeisterung und soldatische Überzeugung und zugleich die innerste Auflehung gegen die Unmenschlichkeit der Menschen'. He moves into an apartment in Munich, where his melancholy keeps him from writing to her which would otherwise be the most natural thing, '...Ihnen zu schreiben gehört mir niemals zum Vergessenen, immer zum Erwünschtesten, wenn nur die Hemnis und Schwere meines Gemüths mich nicht von dem Meisten ausschlösse, was mir sonst leicht, lieb und natürlich war'. In 1919, now in Switzerland, Rilke writes that it is not easy to find himself outside Germany again, after five years of restrictions. 'Dar war nicht leicht, kann ich Ihnen versichern, sich in ein "Draussensein" zu finden, nach fünfjähriger erzwungener Immobilität', recalling Obernfelde and the 'Resonanzboden' of its house and garden. News of the birth of a new member of the Ledebur family, Felix, reminds him of the joyful inspiration of the verses he wrote in the visitor's book, 'Nun haben die Verse, die ich Ihnen einmal in der freudigsten Eingebung uns Gästebuch einschreiben durfte - ich erinnere sie nur noch ganz ungefahr - einen noch weiteren und innigeren Sinn erhalten'. He muses poetically on Christmas at Obernfelde, and referring to the Ledeburs' possible move to Austria, thinks of the pain of losing one's own country ('Heimatlosigkeit'). He longs for six months of utter solitude with just a few familiar objects, to heal the interruption in his work from the precise and painful fracture of 1914, so that his inner concentration may be complete and perfect. In the last four letters, Rilke refers again to Obernfelde, and to Felix, sends her the Duineser Elegien and describes the last years of work as the best of his life, '...die letzen Jahre waren Sehr arbeitsam und somit die besten, die ich mir wünschen konnte'. The poem and fourteen of the letters are unpublished (the letters of 19 December 1918, 15 January 1920 and 15 April 1924 are in the Briefe (Leipzig, 1935 and 1937). Provenance: By descent from Baroness Dorothea von Ledebur. We are grateful to Dr. Dorothea McEwan for help in preparing the description of this lot. (18)

Details

RILKE, Rainer Maria (1875-1926). Seventeen autograph letters signed and one autograph poem signed, addressed to Baroness Dorothea von Ledebur, Herford, Westphalia (3), Berlin (4), Munich (3), Soglio (2), Locarno (one), Chateau de Muzot (3) and Valmont (one), 24 August 1917 - 23 December 1924, in almost every letter evoking their friendship and her beautiful house with its blue salon, and his visits there; telling her of his restlessness, his search for settled life and with it the renewal of his strength for writing poetry; describing his life in Berlin which is too hectic and crowded for him; in December 1918 writing of the revolutionary happenings in Munich and the exhaustion after the war, declaring that revolutions are not possible after a blood-letting of more than four years, and writing despairingly of the fracturing of the peace into a thousand pieces, 'Vielleicht sind Revolutionen nur möglich in sehr vollblütigen Augenblicken, jedenfalls nicht nach einem mehr als vierjährigen Aderlass. Dadurch dass wir den Frieden nie im Ganzen gesehen haben, sondern nur die tausend Stücke auflesen, in die er, aus allen Händen fallend, zerspringen ist, sind wir, jeder einzelne, um das tiefe Aufathmen gekommen, daus uns versprochen zu sein schien'. He writes that he is unhappy at living in hotels and unable to write because of 'writer's block' ('Die Schwere Feder'), and of his need for a quiet and settled life in order to pursue his particular method of work, describes his first visit to Switzerland, mentions Gerhart Hauptmann, Keyserling and the Stiftung für freie Philosophie in Darmstadt, and also sends copies of his works, and several times recalls the poem he wrote in her Visitors' Book, 64½ pages, 8vo (sizes 180 x 135mm - 205 x 160mm), one autograph envelope (8 letters on light blue paper, a few ink smudges, small splits in centrefold of first letter).

Autograph poem signed ('Rainer Maria Rilke') and dated 28 September [1917], sixteen lines of verse on Baroness von Ledebur's country house, begining 'Kleines Haus. Es war in diesem Hause üblich alt zu sein, um allenfalls Nichten grosszuziehen - nun dient es als eins jungen Lebens Lebenspause', and continuing on the theme of its sheltering walls with their beauty and serenity, its significance for young and old, and on his hostess, inscribed and signed at the foot with deepest gratitude for their days as neighbours, written on both sides of a leaf in a Visitors' Book ('Gästebuch Obernfelde 1917'), 142 x 210mm, also including approximately 8 pages of signatures, blank leaves.

Rilke first met Baroness Dorothea von Ledebur (1883-1942) in the summer of 1917 when, released from the army and indescribably weary of the war, he stayed for several months at Frau Hertha Koenig's country house in Westphalia. The Ledebur family were neighbours, and the first three letters refer to Rilke's visits to them, in one describing a stormy ride back in the train, and saying that had it been possible to walk through the forest, he would have come more frequently, and read her a page of Goethe. From Berlin he writes of the sights, of politics and his meeting with Kühlmann, also sending three volumes of his verse, apologising for the poor bindings, 'like linoleum'. He describes the first night of a Gerhart Hauptmann play, Winterballade, and the applause of the audience, more in memory of the old Hauptmann than for the new play ('Sie haben nichts versaumt'). In one letter he paraphrases what he has heard of a young soldier, an aristocrat, Fritz von Unruh, with the convictions of a soldier and at the same time an innermost rebellion against the inhumanity of mankind, 'Soldatenbegeisterung und soldatische Überzeugung und zugleich die innerste Auflehung gegen die Unmenschlichkeit der Menschen'. He moves into an apartment in Munich, where his melancholy keeps him from writing to her which would otherwise be the most natural thing, '...Ihnen zu schreiben gehört mir niemals zum Vergessenen, immer zum Erwünschtesten, wenn nur die Hemnis und Schwere meines Gemüths mich nicht von dem Meisten ausschlösse, was mir sonst leicht, lieb und natürlich war'.

In 1919, now in Switzerland, Rilke writes that it is not easy to find himself outside Germany again, after five years of restrictions. 'Dar war nicht leicht, kann ich Ihnen versichern, sich in ein "Draussensein" zu finden, nach fünfjähriger erzwungener Immobilität', recalling Obernfelde and the 'Resonanzboden' of its house and garden. News of the birth of a new member of the Ledebur family, Felix, reminds him of the joyful inspiration of the verses he wrote in the visitor's book, 'Nun haben die Verse, die ich Ihnen einmal in der freudigsten Eingebung uns Gästebuch einschreiben durfte - ich erinnere sie nur noch ganz ungefahr - einen noch weiteren und innigeren Sinn erhalten'.

He muses poetically on Christmas at Obernfelde, and referring to the Ledeburs' possible move to Austria, thinks of the pain of losing one's own country ('Heimatlosigkeit'). He longs for six months of utter solitude with just a few familiar objects, to heal the interruption in his work from the precise and painful fracture of 1914, so that his inner concentration may be complete and perfect.

In the last four letters, Rilke refers again to Obernfelde, and to Felix, sends her the Duineser Elegien and describes the last years of work as the best of his life, '...die letzen Jahre waren Sehr arbeitsam und somit die besten, die ich mir wünschen konnte'.

The poem and fourteen of the letters are unpublished (the letters of 19 December 1918, 15 January 1920 and 15 April 1924 are in the Briefe (Leipzig, 1935 and 1937).
Provenance: By descent from Baroness Dorothea von Ledebur.

We are grateful to Dr. Dorothea McEwan for help in preparing the description of this lot. (18)

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