Paper Cutting.- Becker (W.G.) Tashcenbuch zum geselligen Vergnügen...auf das Jahr 1820, edited by Friedrich Kind, first edition, engraved frontispiece, vignette title, plates & music, 13 lithographed leaves with Adele Schopenhauer’s charming paper cuts of the Rätsel Alphabet, original decorative printed boards, g.e., rubbed, split to upper joint, crude tape repairs to spine, Leipzig & Vienna, [1819] § Schopenhauer (Adele) Gedichte und Scheerenschnitte, edited by H.H.Houben & Hans Wahl, 2 vol., limited edition, 23 plates of cut paper figures in black or white, some on coloured ground, one silver, original marbled boards, paper labels, spines rubbed, together in slip-case (rubbed & faded), Leipzig, [1920] § Fröhlich (Karl) Frolicks with Scissars and Pen, translated by Mme. de Chatelain, first edition in English, illustrations of cut-paper work, some soiling, original cloth, gilt, rubbed, spine and edges faded, 1860; and 9 others, German, on or illustrated with paper cuts including some postcards and a loose design, v.s. (13)

⁂ The first item is the first publication which displayed Adele Schopenhauer’s cut paper silhouette work. The craft of ‘Scherenschnitte’ or silhouette cutting, was introduced to the Schopenhauer household in Weimar by Goethe, who was a longtime family friend of the Schopenhauers. Joanna Schopenhauer, Adele’s mother, was a well-known writer and novelist whose regular literary salon was attended by many of the city’s writers, artists and scholars. Adele became a gifted cut-paper artist whose work was praised by Goethe. The Rätsel alphabet is a puzzle alphabet in which each letter has a particular meaning.