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HEINE, Heinrich (1797-1856). Autograph letter signed ('H. Heine') to Joseph Lehmann, Lüneburg, 26 June 1823, 3 pages, 4to , integral address panel (seal tear, weakness at folds and old tape repairs archivally restored, small modern label in upper left corner of first leaf). Provenance : by descent from Joseph Lehmann; sold at Christie's 2 June 1999, lot 145.
HEINE, Heinrich (1797-1856). Autograph letter signed ('H. Heine') to Joseph Lehmann, Lüneburg, 26 June 1823, 3 pages, 4to , integral address panel (seal tear, weakness at folds and old tape repairs archivally restored, small modern label in upper left corner of first leaf). Provenance : by descent from Joseph Lehmann; sold at Christie's 2 June 1999, lot 145. A WIDE-RANGING LETTER, CASTING LIGHT ON HEINE'S ATTITUDE TO RELIGION, HIS OWN CHARACTER AND HIS POETICAL PROJECTS. Heine begins with mention of a mutual friend, Mlle Sobernheim, who suits admirably his preference for healthy, tidy people, for the contrast they strike with his own character (at which he slips in a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Annunciation, 'Ich habe immer unter Jüdinnen die gesundesten Naturen gefunden, und ich kann es Gott Vater gar nicht verdenken, daß er der bethlemitischen Maria ein Kind gemacht'). He writes concernedly about his rift with a university friend and fellow-writer, Jean-Baptiste Rousseau. With a protestation of affection for Lehmann ('Sie sind fast der erste in Berlin gewesen, der sich mir liebreich genaht'), Heine ruminates on the failings of his own character, making a curious analogy with the growth of poisonous plants, 'Doch müssen Sie nicht vergessen, daß Giftpflanzen meistens dort wachsen, wo ein üppiger Boden die freudigste und kräftigste Vegetazion hervorbringt und daß dürre Haiden, die von solchen Giftpflanzen verschont sind -- auch nür dürre Haiden sind'. He complains of illness interrupting his composition -- 'Ich bin wahrlich noch immer sehr krank und folglich verdrießlich, und folglich schreibe ich keine Zeile' -- aside from a few 'kleine Lieder', and mentions plans for a new five-act tragedy and his reading -- 'Ich lese jetzt die Alten, meistens die Römer, und das Allerneueste -- den "Hamburger Correspondenten"'. Sending regards to friends in Berlin, Gans in particular -- 'Sagen Sie ihm, daß ich ihn liebe -- das ist die Hauptsache, alles andere ist Kohl!', he asks for news of public opinions on his work, and expresses hopes that in spite of his lack of cultivation of the theatrical world, public interest alone might bring about a production of his tragedy William Ratcliff -- 'Ich denke, das Schreiben und Sprechen über das Stück bringt es auf die Bühne'. Joseph Lehmann is best known as editor of the Magazin für die Literatur des Auslandes . He became a close friend of Heine's as a member of the Verein für Kultur und Wissenschaft der Juden during the latter's Berlin years in the early 1820s, and memorialised their friendship in an article 'H. Heine in Berlin in den Jahren 1821-23', written in 1868. Their correspondence was to continue on the friendliest terms until Heine's death.