Exciting new acquisitions at the Gotha Research Library

In the section of European manuscripts, a prayer book from the 18th century (donated by Prof. Dr. Christoph Bultmann, University of Erfurt) and a letter from Duke Friedrich III of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg were added to the collection. The letter provides information about the duke's positive attitude towards the education of young scholars as well as his willingness to pay the salary of an additional teacher at the Gotha Gymnasium from the ducal pension chamber.

Furthermore, an important document on the history of astronomy was acquired. It is a decree by Duke August of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1772-1822) appointing the astronomer Friedrich Bernhard Gottfried Nicolai (1793-1846), a student of Carl Friedrich Gauss, as professor. Finally, for the section of oriental manuscripts, the research library acquired two Arabic manuscripts, a Hanafite legal treatise, copied in the 16th century, and a work with Christian sermons, probably copied in the 17th century.

At the autumn auctions, war losses in the subject groups numismatics and theology were replaced. Thus, the monumental catalogue of the gold and silver coins of the Imperial Numismatic Collection in Vienna by Valentin Jamery Duval, printed from 1756 to 1759 in only 200 copies, was procured again in its original form. Matthias Hoe von Hoenegg's "Des Evangelischen Aug-Apffels/ Oder Der wahren/ reinen/ unveränderten Augspurgischen Confession Vertheidigung" from 1673 was owned by the ducal library in two copies. In the 19th century, the copy with the supralibros of Frederick III was excreted. However, the retained copy did not return from Russia in 1956. It is therefore a special stroke of luck that the copy once withdrawn from the library of Frederick III could now be purchased at auction as a replacement. Of the war-related losses, around 1,500 copies have already been recorded in the course of retrocataloguing and are searchable in the OPAC.