From the English Collection

Most books date from the end of the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century and are bound in fine red leather. The bulk is devoted to the best which European literature has to offer, from Sophocles to Stendhal, Goethe to Nietzsche, Shakespeare to Calderón.

Essays, librettos, and project drafts by Richard Wagner

Quite a few of these books are rarities prized by collectors. In the German library there is, for example, an entire set of beautifully bound volumes with essays, librettos, and opera projects by the composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883), while the French library contains an exquisite collection of Chinese poems translated by Judith Gautier, the woman Wagner bombarded with love letters while composing his last opera.

Le Livre de Jade: Poems translated from the Chinese by Judith Gautier
(with handwritten Chinese name of the author, „Yü-di-de“, bottom left).

To the delight of history and art history buffs, the library also contains volumes upon volumes of richly illustrated journals, weeklies, and monthlies from the early 20th century (the Art Nouveau period) as well as a variety of yearbooks and scientific journals.

Illustrated Journal from the beginning of the 20th century

An entire section is devoted to political and cultural world history. Apart from scientific studies, it also includes historical novels, biographies, and memoirs. Some important works (such as Jacob Burkhardt’s famous study on the Renaissance) are present in several languages. And there are some exotic gems: for example Lafcadio Hearn’s fascinating Japanese ghost stories from the end of the 19th century ...

Japan-Essays, Ghost Stories („Kwaidan“) and Novels by Lafcadio Hearn

The collection is rounded off by reference works for the curious: dictionaries, geographical maps, lexica, and encyclopaedias: historical gems from the treasure of the Schatzalp library.

Reading Room, some furniture are originals from 1900

Compiled by Prof. Monica Esposito and Prof. Urs App, Kyoto, Japan, during their visit at Schatzalp in August 2003.