SCHILLER FRIEDRICH: (1759-1805) ´ I request that you continue to choose......my Thalia for the little works you ...

SCHILLER FRIEDRICH: (1759-1805) ´ I request that you continue to choose......my Thalia for the little works you intend to address to the public´

SCHILLER FRIEDRICH: (1759-1805) German poet, philosopher and playwright. A rare fragment of an autograph letter, lacking the signature, one page, slim oblong 8vo (approximately 18.5 x 7.5 cm), n.p., n.d. (c.1785-90), in German. The fragment, evidently excised from a longer letter to a fellow writer, comprises eight complete lines of text to the recto, and a further eight to the verso, stating (recto) ´Meinung von mir gegeben, die mich zu der Hofnung, bewertigen, dass zwischen uns eine Verwandtschaft des Geistes sich fine, die der lebendige Umgang zur Freundschaft erhofen wird. Ich will also den Himmel bitten, dass er die Bediegung sobald moglich erfullern moge, unter welches die letztern so gut als entschieden ist. Einstweilen lassen sie mich hoffen, zuweilen einen Laut von Ihnen zu erhalten, der mir zeigt, dass.....´ (Translation: ´I have given my opinion, which leads me to hope that there is a spiritual affinity between us that will grow into friendship through lively interaction. So I will ask heaven to fulfil the condition as soon as possible, under which the latter is as good as decided. In the meantime, let me hope to receive a sound from you from time to time that shows me that...´) and continuing (verso) ´ubersendte ihn......zu bitten, mein verehrtestes Freund, zu den kleinem Ausarbeitungen, die Sie fur das publikum bestimmen, auch fernerhin den canal meiner Thalia zu erwahlen. Ich mochte unser neue Bekanntschaft nicht gerne mit einer Zudringlichkeit eroffnen, aber wie sehr sie mich und jeden leser der Thalia dadurch verpflichten, wird wohl meines Gestandnisses nicht erst bedfurfen´ (Translation: ´Please send it to... My most esteemed friend, I request that you continue to choose the channel of my Thalia for the little works you intend to address to the public. I would not like to intrude in opening our new acquaintance, but how much you and every reader of the Thalia thereby oblige me is something that my confession will presumably not require´). With a contemporary ink annotation ´Schiller 46´ in the margin of the recto. Very slightly irregularly trimmed to the upper and lower edges, otherwise VG

Thalia was a German magazine centred on history, theatre, culture, philosophy, literature and politics, that was founded by Schiller in 1784. His poem An die Freude (´Ode to Joy´) was first published in Thalia in 1786.