‎CAMPERT (Remco) & CROUWEL (Wim)‎
‎de letter...n‎

‎Original handwritten letter for ”Min Kjære Carl” [i.e. My Dear Carl], signed ”din Onkel K” [i.e. Your Uncle K.]. - [ORIGINAL LETTER BY KIERKEGAARD, ONE OF ONLY EIGHT KNOWN ON PRIVATE HANDS]‎

‎Dated ”Berlin.” ”D. 8 Dec. 41”. 8vo. Closely written in a small, neat, Gothic script on both recto and verso, 34 lines to each. Two vertical and three horizontal folds. Neat restoration to a few of the folds. All words are legible, and the letter in overall very good condition.SKS notes that it goes for all letters that have been folded to an envelope and sealed that the opening of it has caused small damage to the manuscript. In this case, the damage is absolutely minimal, with a tiny paper flaw at the second horizontal fold at lines 3-4 from the bottom (see SKS note 3 to Letter 171).‎

‎A lengthy and truly magnificent original handwritten letter from Kierkegaard to his nephew Carl Lund, written during Kierkegaard’s first stay in Berlin right after the termination of his engagement to Regine. Original letters by Kierkegaard are of the utmost scarcity and only eight are known on private hands.In all, 318 of Kierkegaard’s letters are known, either preserved or otherwise rendered. Of these, 21 are now lost, and of the 297 still extant ones, 289 are in public institutions, almost all in Denmark. The remaining eight letters are on private hands, this being one. Needless to say, letters by Kierkegaard hardly ever appear on the market, and we have been able to trace merely two at auction or in the trade over the last 50 years.SKS has divided all of Kierkegaard’s letters into 14 groups, of which one contains the letters to the Lund family, consisting in 37 letters sent to Kierkegaard’s nephews and nieces, being children of his sisters Petrea (married to Ferdinand Lund) and Nicoline (married to Christian Lund). Of the 37 letters, eight are written during his seminal first stay in Berlin. The earliest of these letters is the present one, for Carl Lund, dated December 8, 1841, less than six weeks after Kierkegaard left for Berlin.We know from Henriette Lund (see her Erindringer fra Hjemmet) that it was of great importance for Kierkegaard to correspond with his nephews and nieces while he was abroad. Shortly before he left, he gathered his nephews and nieces and collectively urged them to write to him while he was away. They all agreed, but in tears that he was leaving the country – as was Kierkegaard himself. And they kept their promises, as is evident from the Kierkegaard letters that are still preserved. Sadly, none of the letters from his nieces and nephews have been preserved. Kierkegaard had a very close relationship with his nieces and nephews and undoubtedly wanted to stay in contact with them to follow their development, keep in touch with his family, and to uphold the close connection with them while abroad. But the correspondence was also important to Kierkegaard for another reason. He hoped to hear news about Regine. And the more he could rely on news from Copenhagen, the more he could hope to hear glimpses of news, however small, about his one big love, the one he left Copenhagen because of. Having broken off his engagement (see more about Regine and the engagement below, after Section II in vol. II), Kierkegaard almost immediately flees Copenhagen and the scandal surrounding the broken engagement. He leaves for Berlin, the first of his four stays there, clearly tortured by his decision, but also intent on not being able to go through with the engagement. This, his first stay in Berlin, is one of legend. It is a determining factor for his life as an author, with Regine as the inevitable and constant backdrop. It is here that it all really begins. It is here he begins writing Either-Or, parts of which can be read as an almost autobiographical rendering of his failed engagement. Kierkegaard left for Berlin on October 25th, 1841 and returned on March 6th, 1842, with large parts of the manuscript for Either-Or in his suitcase. We have the young existentialist genius in the making, broken and awoken by a self-torturing decision to leave his only beloved, spending four and a half months in a foreign city having fled a horrifying scandal in his hometown and finding himself as an author. This is possibly one of the most interesting and moving periods in Kierkegaard’s personal life, and holding in one’s hand a letter from him from this period cannot but move the heart of any Kierkegaard enthusiast.The present letter, written merely six weeks after having left Copenhagen, is both interesting and in many ways touching. It is written for Kierkegaard’s then 11-year old nephew Carl, who was the youngest living child of Nicoline and Christian Lund and is affectionately signed “Your uncle K”. The letter is warm and personal and shows us a side of Kierkegaard that we never see in his presentation inscriptions and that is not evident in his printed works.We see him as a caring uncle, one who makes sure to mention things from Berlin that are amusing for a child to hear about – vivid descriptions of things you would not see in Copenhagen. Of Thirgarten and of various animals here. Of how in Berlin they use dogs to pull carriages with milk from the countryside, like small horses, and how once, Kierkegaard saw a young boy acting as coachman for one of these carriages, speeding through the city. We also see him as an engaged uncle, who knows his nephew well and also cares about his intellectual progress. He is obviously concerned with Carl’s writing and spelling abilities, but he also tells him not to worry too much about writing well enough or spelling correctly – “you writevery well and with the exception of one letter, everything is so grammatically and calligraphically well that a Master of Arts could have put his name to it”.It is clear that he is not writing to a very young nephew, but to one who is old enough to understand slightly philosophical considerations, such as musings over time passing – “Time changes everything, and so it has also… changed you… In the light of this, you can now also understand how much it pleases me that you, in spite of this complete transformation, this metamorphosis… will remain unchanged in your relation to me”.The provenance of this extraordinary letter, perhaps the only Kierkegaard-letter one will ever have the opportunity to buy, is the Høyernielsen-family, descendants of Kierkegaard’s sister Nicoline.The letter is no. 171 in SKS. SKS 28: 281-82. ‎

‎Art International - X/8 - October 1966 - Articles : Richard Hamilton, Christopher Finch - Valerio Adami, Alain Jouffroy - Rejectionist Art, Lucy Lippard - Jacques Brown, Denys Chevalier - Chronicles : Los Angeles Letter, Kurt von Meier - Letter from Germ‎

‎Au bureau de la revue. 1966. In-4. Broché. Etat d'usage, Couv. légèrement passée, Coiffe en pied abîmée, Intérieur frais. 67 pages - nombreuses photos et reproductions en noir et blanc dans et hors texte. Texte en anglais.. . . . Classification Dewey : 70.49-Presse illustrée, magazines, revues‎

‎Sommaire : Articles : Richard Hamilton, Christopher Finch - Valerio Adami, Alain Jouffroy - Rejectionist Art, Lucy Lippard - Jacques Brown, Denys Chevalier - Chronicles : Los Angeles Letter, Kurt von Meier - Letter from Germany, Ed Sommer - London Letter, Norbert Lynton- New York Letter, Michael Benedikt - New York Letter, Lucy Lippard - Paris Letter, R.C. Kenedy.. Classification Dewey : 70.49-Presse illustrée, magazines, revues‎

‎Autograph letter, undated (1792), adressed to J.Drugman, Pensionnaire de la Ville de Bruxelles.‎

‎" Holograph letter, 2 pp in-4° , written in French, signed Elgin. Thomas Bruce Elgin had a diplomatic function in Brussels in 1792. His correspondent was a member of the Breda Committee, which under the presidency of Van der Noot organised the first overthrow of the Austrian Habsburg regime in the Southern Low Countries. In this undated letter Elgin tells of the different rumours in Flanders concerning the advance of the French troops. He speaks of the lifting of the siege of Ypres by the French. This lifting took place immediately after the capture of Courtrai by the French marshal Luckner (18th June 1792) so one can assume that the letter was written at the end of June 1792. Added is letter by the same in which he tries to organise a meeting with his correspondant. (the ink of this letter is very faded). Interesting letter from the man chiefly remembered for the Elgin Marbles which he brought over from Athens to the British Museum, written to a lawyer who took an active part in the Brabant Revolution and who is reported by Frenchs agents as protesting against the French occupation of Belgium after their victory at Jemappes (6th November 1792). (See E.Cruyplants; Dumouriez... pp.199; on Drugman see e.g. Polasky; Revolution in Brussels pp.229)."‎

‎A manuscript letter warning of desertion from Napoleonic ships ‎

‎Netherlands 1810 Lettre manuscrite, qui semble être une copie de secrétariat et non la lettre envoyée, portant la signature du duc de Reggio. La lettre explique comment un marin inconnu avait prévu d'escorter des déserteurs français des villages hollandais de Noordwyk et Katwyk (juste au nord de La Haye) jusqu'aux escadres anglaises. L'un des soldats les plus importants a été capturé et sera jugé, mais les recherches se poursuivent pour retrouver le marin qui aide les déserteurs. Entre-temps, les villages ont été placés sous embargo et aucun navire n'est autorisé à en sortir ! La lettre, d'une écriture soignée, est adressée à "Monseigneur" (Giraud ?). Elle est datée du 20/7, c'est-à-dire vraisemblablement du 20 juillet, sans que l'année ne soit indiquée. L'année est probablement 1810, car en avril de cette année, Oudinot a été élevé au rang de duc de Reggio, et chargé de gouverner la Hollande en remplacement de Louis Napoléon (le frère de l'empereur). Oudinot est le soldat le plus blessé des guerres napoléoniennes, ayant reçu 32 blessures, dont deux par balle et neuf par sabre. Malgré cela, il vécut jusqu'en 1847, année où il mourut à l'âge de 80 ans. Nous pensons qu'il s'agit de la signature du duc, en partie parce qu'un ancien propriétaire a écrit cette provenance au crayon sur la lettre - mais aussi par comparaison avec des copies en ligne de son autographe. Celles-ci varient considérablement, mais un exemple est montré dans les photos de cette pièce. 215 x 190 mm (8œ x 7œ pouces).‎

‎A manuscript letter, from the look of it a secretarial copy, rather than the letter sent, with the signature of the Duc de Reggio. The letter outlines how an unknown sailor had made plans to escort French deserters from the Dutch villages of Noordwyk and Katwyk (just north of the Hague) to the English squadrons. One of the most important soldiers had been captured, and would stand trial, but the search continued for the sailor assisting the deserters. In the meantime, the villages had been placed under embargo, and no ships allowed to leave! The letter, in a neat hand, is written to "Monseigneur" (Giraud ?). It is dated 20 / 7th which is presumably 20th July without the year recorded. The year is probably 1810, as in April of this year, Oudinot was elevated to the rank of Duc de Reggio, and made responsible for the governance of Holland in replacement of Louis Napoleon (the Emperor's brother). Oudinot was the most injured soldier of the Napoleonic wars, having received 32 wounds, including two bullet wounds and nine sabre wounds. Despite these, he lived until 1847 when he died at the age of 80. We believe this to be the signature of the Duc, partly as a previous owner has written this provenance in pencil to the letter - but also in comparison with online copies of his autograph. These varied widely, but an example is shown in the pictures of this piece. 215 x 190mm (8œ x 7œ inches). .‎

‎Art International - X/4 - April 1966 - Robert Motherwell : 1948-1965 - Vienna School - Notes on Fangor - Chronicles - Berlin : Farbobjekte und signale - Bericht aus deutschland - London letter - Los Angeles letter - Cronaca Milanese - New York Letter ...‎

‎Au bureau de la revue. 1966. In-4. Broché. Etat d'usage, Tâchée, Dos satisfaisant, Papier jauni. 100 pages - nombreuses photos et reproductions en noir et blancdans et hors texte. Texte en anglais, français, italien et allemand.. . . . Classification Dewey : 70.49-Presse illustrée, magazines, revues‎

‎Sommaire : Robert Motherwell : 1948-1965 - Vienna School - Notes on Fangor - Chronicles - Berlin : Farbobjekte und signale - Bericht aus deutschland - London letter - Los Angeles letter - Cronaca Milanese - New York Letter ... Classification Dewey : 70.49-Presse illustrée, magazines, revues‎