Joseph Heller und die Kunst des Sammelns

Englische Version: Born in 1798, Joseph Heller, the child of a Bamberg merchant family, was orphaned at an early age. After an apprenticeship in Nuremberg, to which his guardian had sent him, Heller did not pursue any further the profession his parents had intended him for. Instead, he lived as a privateer in his hometown Bamberg and invested his inherited fortune in his steadily growing passion for books and art, especially graphic prints and hand drawings. Hence, when he died in 1849 at the age of only 50 years, he bequeathed an unique art collection of considerable size. Alongside stained glass, coins, medals, oil paintings and printing plates, about 50,000 sheets highlight that graphic arts were the focus of Heller's collection. Furthermore, his keen intellectual curiosity was reflected in a reference library comprising about 6000 volumes. His plethora of letter concepts and corresponding replies, notes for and on publications as well as translations of foreign language works and transcripts of rare works constitute a wealth of knowledge. Due to a lifelong friendship with Joachim Heinrich Jäck, Director of the Royal Library of Bamberg (now Bamberg State Library), the library inherited his complete book and art collection as well as his written records. As part of the Bamberg State Library, the significant collection is being preserved and remains open to the public until today. In the present publication three essays introduce the collector himself, the structure of his collection and the DFG-project "Joseph Heller's Graphics Collection at the Bamberg State Library - Visualisation and Integration of a Collection Structure" (2017-2020). Then the intention and task of the Heller estate are explained. Finally, by using selected objects from the Heller Collection as examples, current and former students of art history at the University of Bamberg will shed light on the research potential hidden in Bamberg State Library. // Datum: 2020.