Occasional poem by Anna Louisa Karsch, “the German Sappho.” 1 copy worldwide.

[The German Sappho] / [Anna Louisa Karsch] / A. L. Karschin. Gesang an Ihro Königliche Hoheit die Herzogin von Würtemberg-Stutgard. Berlin: gedruckt bey George Jacob Decker, Königl. Hofbuchdrucker, 1776. 4to [25.4 x 19.5 cm], [2] ff. with woodcut title vignette, head-piece, factotum initial, and tail-piece. Well preserved.

Very rare (1 copy worldwide: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin) first edition of this occasional poem composed by the German poet Anna Louisa Karsch (1722-1791) to celebrate the 1776 wedding of the “Herzogin von Würtemberg-Stutgard,” i.e., Duchess Sophie Dorothee of Württemberg (1759-1828). The Dutchess married Paul I of Russia, becoming known as Mariya Feodorovna, and was crowned Empress of Russia at Paul’s coronation in 1796.

Anna Louisa Karsch (née Dürbach), later known as “Die Karschin,” was born on a dairy farm as the daughter of a brewer and an innkeeper. In her youth she worked as a maid, cradle-rocker and cow herder. She is said to have been given books by a shepherd. Her marriages to a weaver and then to a tailor were unhappy ones. While living in Silesia she began to write occasional poetry (Gelegenheitsdichtungen), first gaining local renown, and then wider fame, before being championed by (among others) the poet Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim (1719-1803), who dubbed her “the German Sappho.”

OCLC and KVK locate 1 copy worldwide of this item: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.

*Anna Louisa Karsch, Briefe und Gedichte, C. Brandt and U. Pott, eds.; A. Anger, ed., Anna Louisa Karschin: Gedichte und Lebenszeugnisse.