"in matters of the highly afflicted Mendelsohn family"
Autograph letter signed ("AVHumboldt").
Large 8vo. 1 p. on bifolium.
€ 3,800.00
Written during the European Revolutions of 1848 to an unnamed minister about Arnold Mendelssohn (1817-1854), a cousin of the composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: "Darf ich es wagen, theuerste Excellenz, mitten unter den zunehmenden unheimlichen Bewegungen der Hauptstadt Sie an Ihr Wohlwollen für mich, an die Bittschrift zu erinnern, die Sie die Gewogenheit haben wollten, in meinem Namen (in Angelegenheit der hoch betrübten Mendelsohnschen Familie) dem König zu überreichen. Die Sache liegt mir schmerzhaft am Herzen! [...]".
In 1846, Arnold Mendelssohn had become involved in the so-called "Casket Affair", which ruined his life: for the theft of a casket, the content of which was thought to be vital to Ferdinand Lassalle's court case, he was sentenced to five years imprisonment and lost the privilege to practise as physician. His accomplices, Alexander Oppenheim and Lassalle, were acquitted. Alexander von Humboldt interceded on his behalf, and Mendelssohn was pardoned in 1849, but was banished from Germany.
Somewhat wrinkled; the reverse of fol. 2 slightly spotty.
