Letter written by Max Stern when he was doing research for his doctoral dissertation. It was found in his copy of R. Klapheck, Geschichte der Kunstakademie zu Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf: Staatliche Kunstakademie, 1919). Translated from the original German into English, it reads:



29 October 1925


To the Publisher of the Allgemeines Lexikon der
Bildenden Künstler. E. A. Seemann.
Leipzig.

Under the supervision of Privy Councillor Clemen in Bonn, I am working on my dissertation on Johann Peter von Langer 1756-1824. I would like to ask you to kindly let me know whether you already have any information on this artist in your records and whether you would let me have it.
Should you be able make use of my work, I would be pleased to put it at your disposal when it is completed.
Thanking you in advance for your trouble,

Sincerely yours


Max Stern kept his word. When his dissertation was completed, he wrote the article on Langer for the Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Leipzig: Seemann, 1928, vol. 22, p. 336-338.
Known as Thieme-Becker after the founding editors Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker, it is the greatest encyclopaedia of artists and has not been superseded to this day (a new edition is in progress). Stern once owned two complete sets of it (as he states in a letter dated 4 March 1939) but now there is only one incomplete set left among his books (volumes 1-2 and 12-17; the complete set, published 1907-1950, has 37 volumes). (SEE ALSO Max Stern's Library)