Reinhold Köhler

* 24.06.1830 in Weimar; ✝ 15.08.1892 in Weimar

Librarian, Literary Scholar

Biography

Köhler lived most of his life in Weimar, the only exception being his student years between 1848 and 1853 in Jena, Leipzig and Bonn, during which he chiefly devoted himself to the ancient world and the literatures of Europe. The death of his father in 1851 had left the family in straitened financial circumstances, and in consequence Köhler accepted, after gaining his doctoral degree in 1853, the position of a humble librarian at the Grand Ducal library in Weimar.  In 1881 he was made Director of the library, a title not officially awarded to him until five years later. From 1864 onwards Köhler acted as Administrator of the German Shakespeare Society’s Shakespeare Library, joining the society’s governing board in 1867.

While working in the Weimar library Köhler distinguished himself through his attentive, helpful and knowledgeable manner. The active exchange of letters with other scholars of his age kept him in close touch with them, while his access to well-stocked book-shelves gave him a deep acquaintance with the history of literary treatments and motifs. Besides his German-English edition of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew (1864) he wrote numerous short essays and commentaries on Shakespeare, other authors, ethnographic matters, and the fairy-tale genre.  Between 1898 and 1900 these works were posthumously published as Kleinere Schriften.

Treatises

• ‘Einige Bemerkungen und Nachträge zu Albert Cohn’s `Shakespeare in Germany´’, Shakespeare-Jahrbuch, 1 (1865). Pp. 406-417.
• ‘Zu Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew’, Shakespeare-Jahrbuch, 3 (1868). Pp. 397-401.
• Kleinere Schriften von Reinhold Köhler. Ed. Johannes Bolte. 3 vols. Vol. I: Zur Märchenforschung. Vol. II: Zur erzählenden Dichtung des Mittelalters. Vol. III: Zur neueren Litteraturgeschichte, Volkskunde und Wortforschung. Weimar und Berlin, 1898-1900.

Editions

• Kunst über alle Künste: Ein bös Weib gut zu machen. Eine deutsche Bearbeitung von Shakespeares The Taming of the Shrew aus dem Jahr 1672. Neu herausgegeben mit Beifügung des englischen Originals und Anmerkungen. Berlin, 1864.

Literature

Primary Literature

• Vier Dialoge von Hans Sachs. Ed. Reinhard Köhler. Weimar, 1858.
• Aufsätze über Märchen und Volklieder von Reinhold Köhler. Ed. Johannes Bolte und Erich Schmidt. Berlin, 1894.

Secondary Literature

• Kluge, F.: ‘Reinhold Köhler, Nekrolog’, Shakespeare-Jahrbuch, 28 (1893). Pp. 342-344.
• Pflaume, Heinz: ‘Die Bibliothek der Deutschen Shakespeare-Gesellschaft’, Shakespeare-Jahrbuch, 92 (1956). Pp. 532-539.
• Schmidt, Erich: ‘Reinhold Köhler, Nekrolog und Schriftenverzeichnis’, Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde, 2 (1892). Pp. 418-437.
• Schmidt, Erich: ‘Reinhold Köhler, Nekrolog’, Goethe-Jahrbuch, 14 (1893). Pp. 297-304.

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