Emanuel Presser letter to Markus Braun, September 28, 1851.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Author/Creator:

Presser, Emanuel Markus, 1810-approximately 1890.

Contributor:

Braun, Markus, 1817-1870, correspondent.

Karp, Abraham J., former owner.

Abraham J. and Deborah Karp Collection of Judaica (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

German

Subjects (All):

Beer.

History.

Jewish merchants.

Jews.

Poland--Racibórz.

Czech Republic--Lipník nad Bečvou.

Jews--Czech Republic--Lipník nad Bečvou--History--Sources.

Jewish merchants--Czech Republic--Lipník nad Bečvou--History--Sources.

Beer--Czech Republic--Lipník nad Bečvou--History--Sources.

Beer--Poland--Racibórz--History--Sources.

Genre:

Sources.

Commercial correspondence.

Seals (marks)

Penn Provenance:

Formerly in the collection of Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Karp.

Physical Description:

1 item (1 leaf) : paper ; 286 x 237 (193 x 207) mm

Place of Publication:

September 28, 1851.

Language Note:

In German.

Biography/History:

Jewish merchant in Lipník nad Bečvou (then Leipnik, Moravia); married to Katharina Gutman, later von Gutmann, brother in law of Wilhelm Isaak von Gutmann, founder of a family empire of Moravian and Austrian manufacture and mining with Anselm von Rothschild (both Presser and von Gutmann failed at the beer business before their business empire); last appears in the Moravian census, 1890.

Summary:

This is a letter from Emanuel Presser to Herr Braun of Ratibor (then Silesia, today Racibórz in southern Poland; Markus Braun at that time was partial owner of M. Braun Brauerei, a large family-owned beer brewery founded in 1622), writing (immediately following Rosh ha-Shanah) on the evening of September 28 (3 Tishre), 1851, from his home in Leipnik (then in Moravia, today Lipník nad Bečvou, Czech Republic). Presser addresses Braun as "wohlgeboren", likely as an extreme form of flattery (hochwohlgeboren would suggest he is of noble birth), and goes on to beg forgiveness for the lateness of a shipment of barley and grain due to the locked border, over which the shipment was halted for at least a four week period ("im falle die grönze in einer zeit gehofft wird"; Racibórz was besieged multiple times between Prussia and Poland until 1871). Presser expresses concern that he has not heard from Braun in a month, and requests the upcoming shipment be paid to him on credit based on their good relations (both Presser and his brother-in-law von Gutmann originally dealt in beer products before expanding their business empire; their beer business was in imminent decline at the time, and his letter written the following day (UPenn Karp BIV.16a) makes clear that Presser was desperate). Written in 19 long lines; written in a German cursive script with a metal-tipped pen. Broken wax seal at bottom and top of letter; paper blue-tinted onionskin, originally folded into twelve parts.

Notes:

Address inscribed on verso: "Wohlgeboren hrrn. Braun a[us] Ratibor".

Item housed with a transcription by Karp.

Cited as:

UPenn Karp BIV.16b.

OCLC:

1260255807