Early German-American Imprints
Prof. Heinz Wilsdorf
About a man who fulfilled his dream in the hearvest of his life,
about the book he wrote and the collection of valuable imprints he left to his old university in Goettingen
An impressive collection of antique books:
A life- long collector of special editions, Heinz Wilsdorf built a collection of German- American books after coming to the United States in 1956. These books are very old but that is not the main point about their worth for a collector. If they had been written in English and printed in the USA or printed in German and in Germany they would still be of great value and interest, but the fact that they have been printed in German language in the USA to satisfy the needs of German speaking immigrants makes them rare and special. So the Wilsdorf collection of 247 volumes that the collector picked up here and there in shops and on sales during the last fifty years is nowadays of considerable worth (roughly estimated about 200 000 $) though some of them have been quite a bargain when he found them. Besides these there are also nine old and interesting English books to be found in the collection.
What are these books about?
Most of the books are of religious character, a lot of them prayer- or songbooks owing to the fact that uneducated people in the eighteenth and nineteenth century used to own only very few books besides the bible and didn't read just for entertainment and information like we do nowadays but mostly for religious purpouses. Two other main subjects are history (14) and medicine (4) the latter again quite understandable for in rural regions there often was no doctor and people depended upon themselves to cure the ailments of men and animals. But also quite practical things like schoolbooks for young children (6), dictonaries and calculating handbooks for engineers and businessmen are to be found besides calenders, books about geography and even some merely entertaining themes like "Abentheuerliche Ereignisse aus dem Leben der ersten Ansiedler an den Grenzen der Mittleren und Westlichen Staaten" (Adventuros incidents in the life of the first settlers on the borders of the middle and western states)
Books of special value and interest
You can have a look at the online catalogue as described below, but some books of special value and interest, some of them richly illustrated, should be mentionened here such as "Geschichte des Buergerkriegs in den Vereinigten Staaten...Illustriert mit mehr als einhundert fuenfundzwanzig schoenen Portraits und Schlachtscenen" (1866 - see photo below), "Americanischer Stadt- und und-Calender" (1853 - see photo above) "Das neue ABC- und Buchstabir-Buch : zum Gebrauch fuer Deutsche Volksschulen in Pennsylvanien und andern Staaten" (1874), "ABC-, Buchstabir- und Lesebuch : zum Gebrauch fuer deutsche Schulen in den Vereinigten Staaten " (1848), "Der Geschwinde Rechner : oder des Geschaeftsmannes Gehuelfe beym Kauf und Verkauf in Thalern und Cents" (1831), "Der Geographische Bildersaal : oder Allgemeiner Ueberblick des Merkwuerdigsten aller Laender ... Bereichert mit mehr als tausend feinen Abbildungen der merkwuerdigsten Gegenstaende der Natur und Kunst von allen Theilen der Erde" (1844)
How to find titels in the collection
The collection kept in Goettingen consists of 247 books, so obviously it is not possible to give details about all of them at this website. So if you are looking for a special book of the collection you can find it directly through the online catalogue (OPAC) of the of the State- and University Library of Lower Saxony Goettingen
There you will find a scrolldown- menue at the top in which instead of "All words (all)" you should choose "Shelf mark (SLB)" and write "Wilsdorf?" into the empty space below (don't forget the "?" it's important!!). Then you will find 247 references to the books.
If you choose one of them by clicking the link you find details such as title, author, edition, year of publication , number of pages, remarks and where you find it in the library. By clicking on the "download" link below you can even mail the whole list or any chosen part of it to your webadress.