Guide to the Ernst Weil Papers

Title:  
Ernst Weil Papers

OCLC No.:
900885918

Dates:
1902-1966

Bulk Dates:
1930-1965

Extent:
4 linear feet; four boxes

Abstract:
This collection is comprised of the personals papers, scholarly research, and business records of Dr. Ernst Weil, bibliographer and bookseller. These materials consist of notebooks, diaries, memorandum, correspondence, notes, financial records, publications, photographs, and ephemera.

Access Restrictions:
Collection is open for research use. Copyright restrictions may apply; please contact repository for requests for copying and for authorization to publish, quote, or reproduce the materials.

Preferred Citation:
[Description and date of item], [Box/folder/item number], Ernst Weil Papers, The Grolier Club of New York.

About the Finding Aid:
This finding aid was prepared by Sophia Dahab in Microsoft Word at the Grolier Club, November 2014.

Provenance:
Materials in this collection were created by Ernst Weil or his immediate family and executors. The collection was purchased by the Grolier Club in November of 2014 from the Weil family.

Access Points:

LC Names:
Weil, Ernst 1891-1965
Goldschmidt, E. Ph. (Ernst Philip)
Taeuber, Hans

LC Company/Conference:
E.P. Goldschmidt & Co.
Taeuber & Weil
E. Weil (Firm) 

LCSH Subjects:
Booksellers and bookselling
Bibliography
Science -- History
Medicine – History 

Genre Form:
Diaries (aat)
Notebooks (aat)
Memorandums (aat)
Correspondence (aat)
Notes (aat)

Biographical/Historical Note:
Ernst Weil was born in Ulm, Germany in 1891.  After initially training to be a banker, a career Weil found unsatisfactory, he pursued a degree in history of art in Munich.  In 1923, his thesis, Der Ulmer Holzschnitt im 15ten Jahrhundert, was published and the following year he joined the firm of Munich bookseller Hans Taeuber.  Together, Taeuber and Weil issued a series of catalogues specializing in the history of science and medicine. 

As the political and social climate in Germany began to shift with the coming of the Nazis, Weil left Germany and moved to London, where he partnered with bookseller E. P. Goldschmidt in 1933.  In 1943 the partnership was dissolved on good terms, and Weil went into business for himself, continuing to focus on science and medicine, issuing a total of 33 catalogues from his home in Hampstead.  Weil also took an interest in early scientific instruments, and acquired many which were added to the collections at Harvard and the British Museum, among other institutions.

Weil is the author of numerous publications, including a bibliography of the scientific papers of Albert Einstein, published in 1930.  He died at his home in 1965.[1]

Scope and Content Note:
This collection is comprised largely of correspondence, notes, business records, and notebooks/diaries. Additional materials include photographs, bound volumes and publications, original artwork, ephemera, and copies of catalogues 32 and 33, the final two issued by Weil.  Also included in this collection is a bound volume “In Memoriam: E.P. Goldschmidt” (Item 4, Series VI) which contains obituaries and letters complied by Weil relating to the death of E.P. Goldschmidt in 1954. 

Related Materials Note: 
Related materials may be found in the following collections in this repository:
Bookseller Catalogues of Ernst Weil, nos. 1-33 (complete)
Bookseller Catalogues of E.P. Goldschmidt & Co, nos. 1-172 (complete), plus lists
Archive of E. P. Goldschmidt & Co.: Financial Records, 1919-1981

Arrangement Note:
Items in this collection are divided into six series: Notebooks and Diaries; Business Records; Financial Records; Scholarly Materials and Research Papers; Personal Papers; and Publications and Bound Volumes. Within these series, items and folders are arranged chronologically by material type. Individual items may be identified by their number; item numbers are structured in the following way:
 Series number/subseries number (if applicable)/item number
For example, item 5 in series I, subseries 2 would read: 1/2/5.
All files were kept in their original order, with some changes made as deemed appropriate or necessary by the archivist.  Folder titles in brackets indicate titles devised by the archivist.

General Note: Please see copy of original inventory to view original arrangement as well as more detailed descriptions of individual items.

Container List:

Box 1:

Series I: Notebooks and Diaries
Subseries 1: German Diaries
Item 1: Appointment Diary (used as general notebook), 1902
Item 2: Diary, 1906
Item 3: Diary, 1907
Item 4: Letters, photographs and ephemera removed from Item 3, 1907
(4 envelopes, one polyester sleeve, 3 sleeves of photographs)
Item 5: Diary, 1908-1910
Item 6: Letters, photographs and ephemera removed from Item 4, 1908-1910
(one envelope, 4 sleeves photographs) 
Item 7: Appointment diary. 1911
Item 8: Diary, 1911-1912
Item 9: Diary, 1912
Item 10: Daily Notebook, 1912
Item 11: Sketchbook, 1912
Item 12: Sketchbook, undated (1912?)
Item 13: Diary with sketches, 1912-1913
Item 14: Photo removed from Item 8
Item 15: Diary, 1913
Item 16: Diary, 1914
Item 17: Diary, 1913-1917
Item 18: Diary with sketches, 1915-1916 
Item 19: Diary with sketches, 1916
Item 20: Sketchbook, 1916-1919 
Item 21: Diary with sketches, 1917
Item 22: Loose sketches removed from Item 13
Item 23: Diary, 1918
Item 24: Diary (Red marbled cover), 1918-1919
Item 25: Diary, 1918-1921 
Item 26: Diary, 1919 
Item 27: Plants removed from item 26 
Item 28: Notebook, 1920

Subseries 2: English Diaries   
Item 1: Diary, 1943
Item 2: BOA Diary, 1944
Item 3: BOA Diary, 1945
Item 4: Appointment diary, 1946
Item 5: Appointment diary, 1947
Item 6: BOA diary, 1948
Item 7: Appointment diary, 1948
Item 8: Appointment diary, 1952
Item 9: Desk diary, 1956
Item 10: Pocket diary and notebook, September 1956- August 1958
Item 11: Pocket diary and notebook, 1961-1964
Item 12: Notebook, bookselling transactions, 1956-1964
Item 13: Ledger, personal and business expenses, 1944-1955 
Item 14:  Red Travel log, 1945-1956 
Item 15: Notebook, 1958
Item 16: Diary, 1959-1960
Item 17: BOA Diary, 1965 (largely unused)
Item 18: Address book, undated

            Subseries 3: Pocket Memorandum Books
Item 1: “I”, 1945
Item 2: “II”, 1946
Item 3: “III”, 1947 
Item 4: “IV”, April 1948-May 1948
Item 5: “V”, Summer 1948
Item 6: “VI”, August 1948- October 1948
Item 7: “VII”, October 1948
Item 8: “VIII”, December 48- March 1949
Item 9: “IX”, April – August, 1949
Item 10: “X”, September 1949- December 1949
Item 11: “XI”, December 1949- April 1950
Item 12: “XII”, April 1950- July 1950
Item 13: “XIII” July- September 1950
Item 14: “XIV”, December 1950-August 1951
Item 15: “XV”, September 1951- June 1952 
Item 16: “XVI”, September 1952- August 1953
Item 17: “XVII”, September 1953- November 1954
Item 18: “XVIII”, March 1955- July 1956

          Subseries 4: Unidentified Notebooks, inventories, and commonplace books
Item 1: Commonplace book (mostly French Poetry) in slip-case, undated (prewar?)
Item 2: Undated notebook
Item 3: Alphabetical thumb-notebook with bibliographical entries, undated (1930s?)
Item 4: Alphabetical thumb-notebook with bibliographical entries, undated
Item 5: Alphabetical thumb-notebook, undated
Item 6: Notebook titled “A few (perhaps) use full [sic] notes on classics of science…”, undated
Item 7: Notebook with alphabetical lists of names, undated
Item 8: Blue paper notebook, undated (1930s?) 
Item 9: Notebook with account information, 1934-1937
Item 10: Blue paper notebook, undated (post 1938)
Item 11: “Index”, undated (1939?)
Item 12: Alphabetical thumb-notebook with inventory, (1946?) 
Item 13: Alphabetical thumb-notebook with list/inventory, undated
Item 14: Notebook with bibliographic entries, undated
Item 15: Notebook (landscape format) with bibliographic entries, undated
Item 16: Alphabetical thumb-notebook with names, undated (early 1900/1910) 
Item 17: Green notebook (journals and publishers?), undated 
Item 18: Alphabetical thumb-notebook, undated

Subseries 5: Miscellaneous items
Item 1: Miscellaneous notes and ephemera found loose in box with above materials.

 

Box 2:

Series II: Business Records
Folder 1: T&W Papers and Correspondence, 1927-1933
Folder 2: [Correspondence with E. P. Goldschmidt], 1933-1954
Folder 3: [Correspondence with H.W. Taeuber], 1936
Folder 4: [Business correspondence], 1945-1947 
Folder 5: [Business correspondence], 1949-1953
Folder 6: [Berillon Collection], 1949-1950
Folder 7: [Berillon Collection Photos], 1949-1950
Folder 8: [Sundial Collection], 1951-1952
Folder 9: [Customer desiderata lists], 1951-1956
Folder 10: Paneth Codex, 1954-1955
Folder 11: [Catalog descriptions], 1954-1961
Folder 12: [Catalog descriptions], (1955?)
Folder 13: [Miscellaneous typed bibliographic descriptions], undated
Folder 14: [Notes and correspondence], 1954-1961
Folder 15: Paneth Collection correspondence, 1959-1963
Folder 16: Paneth Collection clippings and reprints, 1959-1963
Folder 17: [Catalog descriptions, notes and correspondence], 1962-1965
Folder 18: Medals correspondence, 1965
Folder 19: Medals, Polaroid photographs, 1965
Folder 20: Correspondence re Catalog 33 orders, 1965
Folder 21: General correspondence received after 7.3.65, 1965
Folder 22: Correspondence re Death of E.W., 1965-1966
Folder 23: Correspondence re Death of E.W., 1965-1966
Item 1: Index Card Collection, undated (housed in its own clamshell box)

Series III: Financial Records
Folder 1: Annual Accounts, 1941-1954
Folder 2: Annual Accounts, 1954-1959
Folder 3: Annual Accounts, 1959-1964
Item 1: Stock Book, 1947-1964 (not housed in folder)
Folder 4: [Loose papers removed from Stock Book (Item 1)], 1947-1964
Folder 5: Probate Valuation of Book Stock, Sotheby’s, 1965

Box 3:

Series IV: Scholarly and Research Papers
Subseries 1: William Fitzer and William Harvey Research
Folder 1: Original Table of contents from folder, undated
Folder 2: Abstract unknown and known dates, undated
Folder 3: Draft Harvey Copies, undated 
Folder 4: Notes made by EW at Stationary & Co, 1941?
Folder 5: [Correspondence], 1939-1943
Folder 6: [Draft questionnaire for libraries re Fitzer editions and Replies], 1940
Folder 7: [Correspondence with Graham Pollard], 1940-1942
Folder 8: [Correspondence with Dr. J. F. Fulton], 1940
Folder 9: [Correspondence with Worcestershire Archaeological Society], 1942
Folder 10: [Miscellaneous], 1940s 
Subseries 2: 6^th Congress for the History of Science
Folder 1: “The Bibliography of Alchemy” written and read by EW, 1950
Folder 2: [Materials re 6^th Congress for History of Science], 1950
Subseries 3: Albert Einstein Research
Folder 1: [Einstein – Notes], 1960-1963 
Folder 2: [Einstein – Notes], undated (1960s)
Folder 3: [Correspondence re Einstein], 1960-1962
Folder 4: [Clippings], 1951-1965
Subseries 4: Miscellany
Folder 1: [Book Call Slips], 1939-1943
Item 1: Doctoral Certificate (one stamped copied, 3 additional), 1921.

Series V: Personal Papers
Folder 1: [Important Personal Documents], 1891-1947
Folder 2: [Gertrude Weil Correspondence], 1908-1928
Item 1: German War Certificate, 1917
Folder 3: [Gertrude Weil Correspondence], 1956-1961
Folder 4: [Photographs], undated (1960s?)
Folder 5: [Obituaries, published and drafts], 1965

Series VI: Publications and Bound Volumes
Item 1: Der Ulmer Holzschnitt im 15. Jahrhundert, 1923
Folder 1: [Items removed from Item 1, Der Ulmer Holzschnitt im 15. Jahrhundert], 1921-1964
Item 2: “Offprints / Papers / E. Weil / up to 1933”
Folder 2: [Items removed from Item 2, “Offprints / Papers / E. Weil / up to 1933”], 1922-1933
Item 3: “Der Ulmer Buchdruck im XV Jahrhundert”, 1931
Folder 3: [Publication Reprints], 1950
Item 4: “In Memoriam: E.P. Goldschmidt”, (obituaries and letters complied by Weil relating to the death of E.P. Goldschmidt), 1954
Folder 4: [Items removed from Item 4, “In Memoriam: E.P. Goldschmidt”], 1954
Item 5: E. Weil, Catalog 32, undated (1964-5?)
Items 6-8: E.Weil, Catalog 33, undated, 1965.