Lot 8138

Description

Two-tone leather binding in light brown and teal, featuring the embossed coat of arms of the city of Leipzig on the front cover. Gilt-edged pages. Pasted onto the front flyleaf is a pencil autograph reading “von Hindenburg 15.9.27,” accompanied by a handwritten note stating (tr.) “taken from the guest books of the officers' messes of the 'Schleswig-Holstein' and 'Hannover', the predecessors to the 'Leipzig'”. Following the printed dedication page and a poem, the volume contains countless autographs – some with personal dedications – dating from 1931 to September (!) 1945. Signatures include Konteradmiral a.D. Heinrich Retzmann; Mayor of Leipzig Carl Friedrich Gördeler (with a newspaper clipping pasted at the bottom margin (tr.): “Former Mayor Gördeler wanted – for complicity in the assassination attempt on the Führer”); a pasted, signed gouache painting of the “Leipzig” by marine artist Hans Craemer, dated “Mai '33” with an additional dedication by Craemer; a similar work by Claus Bergen titled “In Memoriam S.M.S. 'Leipzig' Battle of the Falklands – 8.XII.1914”, with a signed dedication by Bergen; Konteradmiral Hans Kolbe; Admiral Erich Raeder; Vizeadmiral Heinz Tillessen; Ernst Röhm (with the added title “Chief of Staff of the SA”); SA Obergruppenführer Friedrich Wilhelm Krüger; SA Gruppenführer Karl Schreyer; Franz von Epp; Karl-Jesko von Puttkamer; Gen.Major Axel von der Lochau; members of the Comedian Harmonists: Harry Frommermann, Robert Biberti, Ari Leschnikoff, Roman Cycowski and Erwin Bootz with dedications and a line of musical notation; SA Gruppenführer Ludwig Ihland; SA Brigadeführer A.v. Humboldt; Adolf Hitler accompanied by Admiral Raeder and Otto Schniewind; Konteradmirale Otto Feige and Rolf Carls; Wilhelm Brückner, Heinrich Hoffmann or Julius Schaub; Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck; Wilhelm Dreher (Police President of Ulm); Walter Hülsemann (later commander of the “Leipzig”); Prof. Leo Frobenius; Alfred Rosenberg and his adjutant Thilo von Trotha; Generalfeldmarschall August von Mackensen (1935); airship captain Hans von Schiller (with a personal dedication and an aerial photo of a Zeppelin, also inscribed); Albert Kesselring (while still a Gen.Major); Hans Lisso (later Gen.Major); Arthur Greiser and Albert Forster; Heinz Guderian; Viktor Lutze; Spanish signatures from the Civil War era; Estonian generals Johan Laidoner and Nikolai Reek, as well as Minister of War Paul Lill; SS Obergruppenführer Werner Best; and many, many more. Included are hundreds of Wehrmacht officers, as well as civilian and foreign guests; some entries feature drawings, such as caricatures of crew members from 1945 and the British escort officer “Lt. Commander Pelly” at the end. Some pages loose, others have been re-attached with paper strips (in some cases incorrectly); some show signs of handling and staining. Overall, however, the book is in good condition. An outstanding guest book featuring an unusually broad cross-section of figures from politics, the Wehrmacht and civilian life.

Condition: II - Questions about the lot?