A German-language correspondence from the early 1860s
Ferdinand Lassalle (1825–1864) was a German writer, socialist politician, and a leading figure in the early German labor movement. Briefe an Hans Bülow von Ferdinand Lassalle is a German-language collection of letters he wrote to Hans von Bülow between 1862 and 1864. It is an epistolary volume: its material is correspondence, not a treatise, speech, or literary work.
The Letters and Their Date Range
The title names the sender, the recipient, and the years covered by the correspondence. The letters date from 1862 to 1864, and the book is identified by that chronological span. Its unit is the individual letter rather than a continuous argument or narrative. That form makes the volume a record of communication between Lassalle and Bülow, distinct from Lassalle’s public speeches and programmatic writings.
Hans von Bülow as Recipient
Hans von Bülow (1830–1894) is named in the title as the addressee. He was a conductor. The title—literally “Letters to Hans Bülow”—makes the recipient a defining part of the work: the letters are directed to one individual, and the volume is framed by that correspondence rather than by a public or anonymous readership.
Correspondence as a Documentary Record
As a collection of letters, the book belongs to the documentary side of Lassalle’s writing. It preserves his written communication with Bülow over the years 1862–1864 and is not arranged as a systematic exposition of doctrine. Its interest lies in the epistolary form itself—the direct address to a named correspondent—rather than in a thesis developed across chapters. The volume therefore stands apart from Lassalle’s published speeches and political pamphlets, offering correspondence rather than a public treatise.
The work was first published in 1885. The cataloged edition is the second edition (“2. Aufl.”), published by H. Minden in Dresden; the Princeton record adds Leipzig to the imprint. It is described as 2 preliminary leaves, 75, [1] pages, and 1 leaf, with a height of 18 cm. The Online Books Page records the 1885 H. Minden publication and points to page images at HathiTrust.
Later Reprint
A paperback reprint was issued by Nabu Press in April 2010. The listing gives 84 pages and ISBN 9781148723211.
Bülow in the 1864 Episode
The source material also records a specific episode involving Bülow in August 1864. Lassalle had fallen in love with Helene von Dönniges and wanted to marry her, but her parents opposed the marriage. To successfully sue her father, the Bavarian diplomat Wilhelm von Dönniges, for sequestration of his daughter, Lassalle attempted on 16 or 17 August 1864 to win King Ludwig II of Bavaria to his side. This was to occur through the mediation of his friend Hans von Bülow, who was in turn to influence Richard Wagner; Wagner found the request too far.
