Strassburg und Zürich in den Jahren 1576 und 1870.

Strassburg und Zürich in den Jahren 1576 und 1870. Historische Reminiscenzen. Der Bogenschützengesellschaft der Stadt Zürich auf das Hauptgebot von 1882 gewidmet. RÖMER (Dr. Melchior) Zurich, Schultheß, 1884. 8vo, 39 pp. (23.4 × 15.6 cm). First edition of this historical study devoted to two major episodes in the relations between Strasbourg and Zurich: the great Strasbourg shooting festival of 1576, illustrated by the famous Hirsebreifahrt (« the millet porridge voyage »), and the events of the siege of Strasbourg in 1870. The first part retraces the great Strasbourg shooting festival and the exploit of the Zurich rowers who brought to Strasbourg a pot of millet porridge still hot, symbolically demonstrating that Zurich could come to the aid of its allied city before the dish had cooled. The second evokes the siege of Strasbourg during the Franco-Prussian War and the intervention of the Swiss delegation charged with obtaining the evacuation of the civilian population. Melchior Römer, then president of the City of Zurich, himself took part in this mission, making this text a first-rate contemporary testimony. Published on the occasion of the festivities of the Zurich Society of Arquebusiers (Bogenschützengesellschaft), the work celebrates the permanence of the historical ties uniting Strasbourg and Zurich since the 16th century. It appeared in the same year as the inauguration of the Fountain of the Zurichers in Strasbourg, erected in memory of this old friendship and of the help brought to the city in 1870. A fine copy in red half-percaline with corners, board sides. Arms of Strasbourg blind- and gilt-stamped on the upper cover. Interior in perfect condition, of great freshness, without foxing. Note two white shelf-mark labels on the edge, marked « S » and « 64 », corresponding to the classification of the volume in a collection. A handwritten inscription, « Souvenir d'Oscar Lobstein à son cher père, 18 décembre 1908 », bears witness to an acquisition a few years after the death of Alfred Ritleng, most likely on the occasion of the dispersal of his library. A copy bearing the collection stamp « A. Ritleng », from the library of Alfred Ritleng (1828-1905), notary and important Strasbourg bibliophile, a major figure of Alsatian cultural life and first president of the Société du Musée Alsacien. A good copy, uncommon, of interest both for its subject and for its provenance.