Kurt von Faber du Faur Papers, 1923-1966

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Summary

Creators:
Faber du Faur, Kurt von, 1890-1966.
Extent:
1 linear ft.
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

Although this collection includes only a small portion of Curt von Faber du Faur's papers, it nonetheless contains some interesting personal items, such as a draft of an unpublished novel, Schloss Rattenberg, and a few poems. Some German correspondence relates to the production of his dramatic poems in the 1930s. Other curiosities are Faber du Faur's U.S. immigrant card from 1939, his doctoral diploma from 1927, and his wife's divorce papers (from her first husband).

The rest of the collection consists mostly of Faber du Faur's published articles on German literature. There are also several photographs of him and copies of his obituary.

Biographical / historical:

Curt von Faber du Faur (1890-1966) was Professor of German and Curator of German literature at Yale University. A rare book expert, he was also known for his work on Goethe and German Baroque literature.

Faber du Faur was born July 5, 1890 in Stuttgart, Germany. His father was a German army general, and his mother, Baroness Berthe Cotta von Cottendorf, came from a publishing family. After serving in the German army as a captain from 1909 to 1919, Faber du Faur studied in Munich and Giessen and published his dissertation in 1921. He then opened a rare book store in Munich, Karl und Faber, where he began his impressive collection of German literature from the Renaissance to 1871.

In 1928 he married the German-American Emma von Ploetz and moved in 1931 to Florence. Faber du Faur emigrated to the U.S. in 1939 and served as visiting lecturer at Harvard University before going to Yale in 1944 as a research associate professor and associate curator of the German collection. At this time he donated to his valuable collection of 7,000 rare volumes to Yale; other frequent donations followed. In 1951 he was promoted to full professor and curator. Although he retired in 1959, he kept his post as curator until his death in January 1966.

In 1965 the Federal Republic of Germany awarded him the Great Cross of Merit for making many friends for German literature in the United States.

Publications:

Curt von Faber du Faur and Kurt Wolff. Tausend Jahre deutscher Dichtung. 1927.

Curt von Faber du Faur, Konstantin Reichardt, and Heinz Bluhm, eds. Wächter und Hüter; Festschrift für Hermann J. Weigand zum 17. November 1957. New Haven: 1957.

Curt von Faber du Faur. Der Hausbuchmeister. Inaug.-Diss.-Giessen. Berlin: 1921.

--------. Deutsche Barocklyrik; eine Auswahl aus der Zeit von 1620-1720. Salzburg: 1936.

--------. German Baroque Literature. New Haven: 1958-69.

Access and use

Location of this collection:
Department of Special Collections, Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6004, US
Contact:
(650) 725-1022
specialcollections@stanford.edu
Website