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Double page with inscriptions from August 1553 in the friendship book owned by Johann Valentin Deyger

The album amicorum ('album of friends', friendship book) was an early form of the poetry book, the autograph book and the modern friendship book. It emerged during the Reformation period, during which it was popular to collect autographs from noted reformers. In the 1700s, the trend of the friendship book was still mainly limited to the Protestant people, as opposed to the Catholics. These books were particularly popular with university students into the early decades of the 19th century. Noteworthy are the pre-printed pages of a friendship book (Stammbuchblatt) from 1770 onwards, published as a loose-leaf collection by the bookbinder and pressman Johannes Carl Wiederhold (1743-1826) from Göttingen.[1][2]

Application

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Illustrations from the friendship book of Rupstein (1773)

In a friendship book, two or more people vowed each other their friendship through filling out a page in the other person's album. This usually took place during special occasions, like festivities or on the departure from one's place of study. The entry could then be renewed during reunions or on the occasion of another festivity. Therefore, the friendship book created the opportunity to have a lifelong memory of the book-owners childhood friends. Apart from that, the friendship books constituted a collection of autographs from professors (Cf. student scene in "Faust") and from other respected people like priests, aristocrats and prominent figures, since the books often served as letters of recommendation for students switching universities. Through asking a person of a higher rank to sign one's friendship book, the opportunity to reel in potential patrons and protectors for the holder also opened up.

Content and meaning

In its full form an entry would have a personal note, such as a handwritten greeting, a poem (of one's own composition) or other small literary texts. Poems that were titled To * (*replaces the name of the owner) were usually meant to be for a friendship book.

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Colored friendship book sheet Rhenania II, Heidelberg, 1822

Ideally, the person writing the entry mentions the date and place next to their personal note or poem. The designed page usually contained a life motto written as a symbolum (line or quote). Signing the page created is essential. Moreover, this signature did not only contain the authors name, but also the faculty where they studied and where they came from is written down. Additionally, right before the name of the person who wrote the entry, a Dedikationsformel (a set phrase to state that this page is a dedication to the owner of the book) was included. This Dedikationsformel was used to ask the owner to memorize the author (memoriae causa scripsi ... engl. "while reading those lines think of ... "). This style is still up to date in autograph books of (primarily) young girls.

More artistic authors sketched colourful pen and ink drawings. With not everyone being artistically skilled, a new market was created in the 18th century. Pre-designed friendship book sheets were sold, which could be filled in with individual information. Sheets displaying pictures of Universities or images related to the students everyday life were highly popular designs for friendship books.

The entry topics emerged from the student's shared experience of university life. The various forms of students' unions that were common in the respective centuries were reflected in those book sheets. The friendship book sheets are an important historical source for the history of the university as the students' unions were oftentimes banned until 1848. There is only very little written records, especially about the student orders from the second half of the 18th century. In such cases, the mostly personal entries on the album sheets often represent the only source. For reasons of confidentiality, the students invented a variety of cryptographic elements through which they confirmed their belonging to the order without anyone being able to prove it. The union's identity symbols emerged from those cryptographic elements that are still partially used by the students' unions today. The circle or the federal symbol for example, occur in every student coat of arms.

See also

Literature

References

  1. ^ Göttinger Universitätsgeschichte – Stammbuchblätter, kulturerbe.niedersachsen.de (n.d.), retrieved 18 October 2017.
  2. ^ Henrike Rost (2020), Musik-Stammbücher. Erinnerung, Unterhaltung und Kommunikation im Europa des 19. Jahrhunderts, Wien / Köln / Weimar: Böhlau, ISBN 978-3-412-51872-1
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