Hirsch, Paul, 1881-1951 (collector)

Person

Staff Only

Dates

Existence: 1881 - 1951

Biography

Paul Hirsch (1881-1951) was born in Frankfurt on 24 February 1881. He began to collect music in 1897, initially focusing on Mozart before building up large collections relating to Beethoven and Schubert, and acquiring copies of virtually all the major operas. During the 1930s, Hirsch found it increasingly difficult to maintain his contacts in the book trade. As a result of the political problems in Germany, he moved to Cambridge in 1936, where for a brief period the Paul Hirsch Music Library was housed at Cambridge University Library. In 1946 Hirsch sold his library to the British Museum. By this time, the collection amounted to around eighteen thousand items. Hirsch died in Cambridge on 23 November 1951.

Found in 2 Collections and/or Records:

File

Correspondence with Paul Hirsch, 1940

File

Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9824/C/14

Scope and Contents From the Series: Correspondence, mostly with lenders of items to the exhibition, other papers relating to the exhibition, and an album compiled by Crutchley. The correspondence is almost all to or from Crutchley or his assistant John Dreyfus, Crutchley's letters being typescript carbon copies. Records and descriptions of items lent are among the correspondence. The exhibition intended to mark the five hundredth anniversary of Gutenberg's invention, took place in May 1940. It closed after only 10 days because...

Dates: 1940

Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Found in: Cambridge University Library / Papers of Brooke Crutchley / Papers relating to the 1940 exhibition of printing at the Fitzwilliam Museum

Fonds

Paul Hirsch Music Library: Catalogue

Fonds

Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.8077

Scope and Contents

Volume IV of the catalogue of the Paul Hirsch Music Library, 526 typescript pages. The volume is in German with the exception of one of two title pages, which is in English. There is a table of contents at the beginning.

Dates: 1940

Conditions Governing Access: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Found in: Cambridge University Library

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