Silbermann, Johann Andreas 1712 Strasbourg - 1783 ibid. «Das Silbermann-Archiv (the Silbermann archive)». Handwritten manuscript, in German language. With numerous supplements, especially letters from organ builders and organists. Five volumes and loose sheets of paper. First volume «Elsassische Orgeln (Alsatian organs)». 452 p. Half leather binding with gold embossing and leather corners. Johann Andreas Silbermann describes 126 organs from Alsace which were not built by the Silbermann family. At the end there is a story about the organ of the church of Old Saint Peter's in Strasbourg, written by his friend Jacques-Antoine Denoyé (? - 1759). Age-related condition. The spine of the book is brittle. Slightly browned and scattered fox marks. Size 8°. Second volume «Auswaertige Orgeln (foreign organs)». 452 p. Half leather binding with gold embossing and leather corners. Included are drawings and sketches by Johann Andreas Silbermann, Johann Daniel Kamm (1722 - after 1790) and Jacques-Antoine Denoyé (? - 1759) as well as attached engravings. Johann Andreas Silbermann describes 123 organs outside the Alsace which were not built by the Silbermann family. Some passages were written during his journey to Saxony in 1741. A number of notes are quotes from Charles Burney's (1726 - 1814) diary of a musical journey. Age-related condition. Front cover detached, spine very brittle. Slightly browned and scattered fox marks. Size 8°. Third volume «Von Orgelmachern (about organ builders)». 319 p. Half leather binding with gold embossing and leather corners. The volume contains drawings by Johann Peter Toussaint and Johann Caspar Formann. The latter contains a commentary by the fifteen-year-old Johann Andreas. With notes on over 182 organ builders. Some notes are quotations from Charles Burney's (1726 - 1814) diary of a musical journey. Good age-related condition. Binding later, partially detached. Slightly browned and scattered fox marks. Size 8°. Fourth volume «Orgeln von A. Silbermann (organs by A. Silbermann)». 208 p. Half leather binding with gold embossing and leather corners. The organs by Andreas Silbermann are completely described. Johann Andreas refers to his father's records. His own notes are occasionally completed by those of his son Johann Josias, in conscientious reference to the way his father formulated them. Josias added an index of the organs to the volume. Good age-related condition. Binding later. Slightly browned and scattered fox marks. Size 8°. Fifth volume «Einrichtung der Orgeln (installation of the organs)». 346 p. Half leather binding with gold embossing and leather corners. The inside of the volume without main title, the outside title is taken from the first subtitle. The workbook, which reports on the installation, intonation and tuning of 31 of the author's organs, is often briefly written down with numerous abbreviations. Age-related condition. Spine restored. Slightly browned and scattered fox marks. Size 8°. «Fliegende Blätter (loose sheets of paper)». Five folded and four stapled sheets. The sheets of paper contain cost estimates, letter concepts and floor plans for the organs of the Franciscan church in Sélestat and the church of Old Saint Peter's in Strasbourg. Good age-related condition. Slightly browned and scattered fox marks. Size 4° and size 8°. Johann Andreas Silbermann from the famous Silbermann dynasty of organ builders lived in Strasbourg. He was a son of the organ builder Andreas Silbermann (1678 - 1734) who immigrated from Saxony. In the five volumes of the archive he collected inexhaustible material on the construction of his father's 35 organs during the period from 1699 to his death, on 31 of his own instruments (1746 - 1780) and on almost 250 organs of the 17th and 18th centuries within and outside the Alsace, which did were not build by the famous Silbermann family. The manuscript, which is throughout privately owned and very neatly written, is divided into the volumes «Elsassische Orgeln (Alsatian organs)», «Auswaertige Orgeln (foreign organs)», «Von Orgelmachern (about organ builders)», «Orgeln von A. Silbermann (organs by A. Silbermann)» and «Einrichtung der Orgeln (installation of the organs)». Silbermann enriches his descriptions of the organs and organ building with sketches, plans and detailed lists of the registers of the organs and encloses numerous letters from organ builders and organists as well as biographical notes on 182 organ builders of the time, which are originally bound into the volumes. While the rest of Silbermann's estate, which the heirs had left to the city of Strasbourg in 1784, was destroyed by the fire in the city library in 1870, the volumes and sheets of paper of the «Silbermann-Archiv» have remained in private hands. Their provenance is completely documented to this day. Since they were in Paris respectively Versailles at the beginning of the 20th century, the compendium is today called the «Pariser Silbermann-Archiv». The fact that such a work has been in private ownership for more than 200 years respectively six generations is rare in the cultural history of the 19th and 20th century. Most artists' estates were rather neglected, at best they entered into the possession of archives, were often destroyed or scattered in the course of two world wars. The current consignor is the first owner who does not come from the family. Although it was continuously privately owned, the «Silbermann-Archiv» was always accessible to the scientific community. Thus, the famous Parisian organist and composer Charles-Marie Widor (1845 - 1937) had access to the archive. It was also consulted in view of the planned restoration of the organ of the Strasbourg Cathedral in the 20th century. In 1994 a complete transcription of all five volumes, including the loose sheets of paper, was published and edited by Marc Schaefer. Through the writings of the «Silbermann-Archiv» one gets to know in detail the organs of Silbermann and the many instruments he has visited himself, as well as the working methods of other organ builders. They also give a kind of en passant insight into the everyday life of the time and especially of organ building. With care and sometimes in a humorous way, he describes, among other things, everyday experiences and encounters. For example, he complains about the owners' unwillingness to have their precious organs tuned regularly: «Solange die Witterungen bald kalt und bald warm oder trucken und feuchte seyn», schreibt er im Mai 1780 über die Kirche Jung-St. Peter in Straßburg, «solange es Mucken [Fliegen] giebet welche in denen Orgeln vieles zum Verstimmen helffen, und solange sich in denen Kirchen der Staub in die Orgeln setzen kan, solange wird man sich gefallen laßen müßen wan man anders gestimbte Orgeln haben will, Unkosten damit zu haben.». The records can even be read as a reflection of the customs and circumstances of life in the 18th century. In his writing, which can be read in many passages like a diary, he also describes details and anecdotes of the direct vicinity of organ building. For example concerning the organ at Marmoutier (organ at Maures Münster [sic]), which his father Andreas had completed in 1710 and which is still preserved today and classified as a «Monument historique»: «Es war zur Herbstzeit als die Orgel bald fertig wurde, da kamen die Bauren welche Güld ins Closter brachten. Nach dem Abladen wurde ihnen ein Trunck Wein gegeben. Gemelder Gesell arbeitete nicht in der Kirch, sondern in einem Hauß welches im Hoff stund. Er sollte eben etwas machen worauf mein Vatter in der Kirch wartete. Anstatt aber zu arbeiten, so machte er sich unter die Bauren, und discurirte und truncke mit ihnen». Provenance Full description on <a href="https://lot-tissimo.com">lot-tissimo.com</a>