A booklover’s dream come true could be the motto for the Ketterer Kunst's rare books sale on May 18th/19th in Hamburg, featuring a recently discovered trove of Hermann Hesse documents that had been tucked away in an old suitcase in an attic for decades. Addressed to Walter (1884-1970) and Nora (1896-1979) Schadow, the letters, postcards, poems and writings tell the story of an elaborate and close friendship between the German Nobel Prize laureate and the widely unknown northern German couple.An exhibition at Kunsthaus Stade presented part of the writings to the public last year and helped shed some light on the identity of the Schadows, though little is known about the origins of this friendship which even took Hesse scholars by surprise. Apparently, Walter Schadow was born in Dusseldorf and became the principal of a secondary school in Hamburg-Harburg in 1926. After Hitler’s rise he was discharged from his position due to his humanist and pacifist notion of teaching which he also propagated in scientific essays. After the war, he became the director of a secondary school once more in the small town of Uetersen. His wife Nora seems to have been devoted to literature, painting and drawing until an eye impediment led to the gradual loss of her sight in the 1930s, an ailment that was also the subject in letters to and from Hesse who tried his best to comfort her. Strangely, the correspondents only met in person years after their friendship had begun (in the late 1920s), when Walter Schadow went to visit Hesse and his third wife Ninon in Montagnola in 1958. Nonetheless the letters, postcard, poems and writings that Hesse often illustrated with cheerful drawings speak of an almost intimate relationship. Among the highlights on sale at Ketterer is an original manuscript of the Hesse fairytale „Pictors Verwandlungen“ („Piktor’s Transformations“) that Hesse decorated with beautiful watercolor drawings and dedicated to „Frau Nora Schadow”. With an estimate of €15.000 it’s one of the more pricier lots at the sale which start at €300. More on the rare books sale, further highlights, preview dates and the catalog here.
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