[Ida Herz, friend of the novelist Thomas Mann.] Small archive of papers, including 30 Autograph Letters Signed from Mann's biographer Nigel Hamilton, typed transcripts and translations from Mann and others by Herz, autograph notes by Herz, cuttings.

In 1925 Mann encountered the Nuremberg bookseller Ida Herz: a lifelong friendship followed, which was, according to Mann's biographer Anthony Heilbut, 'motored largely by her phenomenal devotion'. The present collection, comprising items, is in good condition, lightly aged and worn. (Seven leaves from Hamilton's letters have tearing to margins resulting in slight loss to text, and three leaves have damp-staining.) At the time the items were written Herz was living at 95 Gilling Court, Belsize Grove, London. Hamilton's letters total: 16pp., 4to.; 30pp., 8vo; 1p., 12mo. Also included is an Autograph Card from Hamilton to Herz, dated 1982, giving news of his work, together with an undated (1972?) autograph note on a compliments slip. Hamilton's letters relate to the writing of his 1978 book 'The Brothers Mann'. He begins in formal style (addressing his letters to 'Dear Miss Herz' and signing 'Nigel Hamilton') but the letters soon become warmer in tone (signed 'Nigel' and written to 'Dear Miss Ida'), as a friendship develops between the correspondents, with Hamilton soon discussing his own personal affairs. (On 27 August 1972 he wonders about 'the hidden influence of a wife [...] All biography is autobiography'.) The correspondence reflects the difficulty Hamilton has in writing the book, which he refers to at one point as a 'terrible yoke'. Herz's forthright criticisms, as the second letter indicates: Thank you for your words about my manuscript. There is a lot I want to change - but I shall never forget catching sight of the word NONSENSE on your notepad - in block capitals!') On 27 September 1972 he expresses disappointment that she does not show 'more confidence in the wholeness of the venture'. From the first there is a difference of interpretation: on 27 June 1972 Hamilton thanks Herz for her 'scrupulous corrections', adding 'I am very, very grateful, the more so because I think we both feel the same way about Thomas Mann - if not about Heinrich!' In the very first letter, 18 February 1972, Hamilton reveals his anxieties regarding the task he has set himself: 'Dear Miss Herz, | We met such a long time ago you will have doubtless forgotten my name or who I am. Perhaps I wrote it down in your address book, I cannot quite remember; we were leaving the Goethe Institut after a most enjoyable lecture on Thomas Mann and Egypt. I hailed a taxi, our brief acquaintance finished at the kerbside. | My name is NIGEL HAMILTON. I am writing a biography in English of Heinrich and Thomas Mann, to be called THE BROTHERS MANN, and I must own I have not been in contact sooner out of shyness and fear. You asked such knowledgeable questions at the lecture! You knew Thomas Mann personally! However much the biographer yearns for personal information, the moment he touches a sacred link he is consumed by anxiety. Have I a completely incorrect picture? It is precisely his concern with the personal truth - in contrast to the literary historian - which proves the poor biographer's obstacle.' Writing from Berlin on 11 May 1972 he expresses gratitude at meeting 'people, not walking books. | I work each day in the Heinrich Mann archive on the other side of Berlin, beyond the border. But what "the wall" signifies here you cannot imagine unless you have witnessed - and lived - with it. It is so total, so forbidding. Above the trains in the station stand soldiers with rifles, the streets swarm with uniforms (one third of the East Berlin population is reckoned to wear uniforms of one kind or another). Primitive banners strung across the facades of official buildings pronounce unity and solidarity, or slogans such as "Long live the 7th Congress of the SED". Truth is an unmentionable word, not to belong to the "party" is to be denied promotion in your job, but to belong is to take the risk of one day falling from favour and losing all your benefits! | On the lakes the beaches are mined, the waterline walled, the coast watched by towers. It is like a giant concentration camp. It is socialism not so much at its most inhuman but at is sourest, least imaginative.' While in Berlin Hamilton is forced to clear up a misunderstanding over a German translation of his book. On 24 May 1972 he writes: 'As regards Fischer Verlag, however, I fear a terrible mistake or misunderstanding has occurred. I did say that Fischer Verlag had seen my synopsis some time ago: but that they were unwilling to commit themselves until they had seen the complete manuscript - a usually negative response in the publishing world today. I would be very disturbed if the people at Fischer's thought I was boasting an acceptance they had never given, and I have written today to Dr Freund to set the matter aright. With the enormous investment in Peter de Mendelssohn's tome I fully understand their attitude'. On 27 June 1972 his manuscript is returned 'from the corridors of the Heinrich Mann Archive, and several mild compliments were paid. I think everyone is now wondering whether I can go on in the same vein - the archivist in East Berlin quoted the case of 3 people who had tried roughly the same idea: and failed!' He is not downhearted, stating that, by hook or by crook I shall finish the thing. have no illusions about the book, though sometimes I do get to close to it. In the end my only ambition is to do justice to the two brothers - and hopefully to make their story as entertaining (in the best sense) as I can.' On 18 November 1972 tensions come to a head: 'You knew Thomas Mann: you wish to see justice done to him - even to Heinrich in your way. I respect you deeply for that - but truth has many sides, and I have chosen, in covering the story of their brotherhood, to demonstrate both the difference and the development of their characters: which is the very opposite of what you would have me do, namely to paint their characters and development and let the story emerge from there. Neither of us is right, because there is no "right"'. Despite their disagreements he can write on 29 December 1972: 'Believe me, Miss Herz, I have nothing but admiration for the way in which you uphold the truth about T.M. [...] Mrs Mann would not see me: such was the extent of her objection to my project. That you, who are no less concerned about the truth and reputation of Thomas Mann, should nevertheless have agreed to see me, to read my manuscript, to correct it in long and painstaking notes: how could I possibly ask more of you?' In the same letter he discusses his relationship with Montgomery: 'Now both my father and I were "friends" of the Field-Marshal - are friends still, I ought to say, although he now lives a very secluded life in Hampshire. My own relationship with Montgomery was probably unique in his life: it was certainly so in my own. Almost sixty years separated us: yet I feel I was probably closer to him than his own son. For months I would stay in his converted mill; I grew up in his house really - confronted all the struggles of adolescence in his companionship: from revolt against my father to love for a German girl, an "alien". Through all this he helped me; and in return I witnessed something without which, for instance, I could not have embarked on the Mann Brothers book: greatness in a human being.' On 16 April 1973 he states that he was'almost suicidal' on reading the finished typescript, and that he is unwilling to meet with Herz until he has made extensive revisions. On 1 May 1975 he defends his book a 'not unwholesome': 'I think of all the things ever written about the Manns it will embody best their brotherhood - its tension, its confrontation, reconciliation and final maturity. It is a moral tale above all - as was my relationship with Hannelore [his first wife].' In a final undated letter, dating from after the publication of the first volume of his Montgomery biography in 1981, he asks for Herz's assistance in writing an essay on the Manns' 'sibling relationship (rivalry, jealousy, admiration, contempt)' for a book of essays titled 'Blood Brothers' (edited by Norman Kiell). The papers also include: ONE. Rough autograph notes by Herz on Hamilton's book, on thirty-six leaves of paper, ranging in size from 8vo to 12mo. TWO. Typed carbon copies of seven letters from Herz to Hamilton, totalling 10pp., 4to; with an autograph draft of another letter, the latter on the back of the letter to which it replies. THREE. Typed carbon copy of letter from Herz to Georg Wenzel of the Thomas Mann Archive, Berlin, 21 May [1973]. FOUR. Seven 4to pages of typed transcriptions of letters from Thomas Mann, the first page headed 'Sale at Sotheby's - 22nd Oct. 1968'. FOUR. Three carbon copies, each with different layout, of an English translation of a letter from Mann to 'Mr. Ernestus', 17 June 1954. FIVE. Four items relating to sales by Sotheby's of Mann manuscripts, including an Autograph Letter Signed to Herz by Gerald Burdon, 24 October 1975. SIX. Three long articles taken from the Sunday Times, the first (1973) containing extracts from a memoir by Montgomery's brother, and the last two (both 1981) containing extracts from Hamilton's biography. Also present are a typed transcription of an extract from a Mann letter, on Hertz's Belsize Grove letterhead, a publicity flier for Hamilton's 'Guide to Greenwich', and a few other items.