Carl Sonntag

Carl Sonntag (born July 21, 1883 in Leipzig; died August 20, 1930 in Berlin), generally known as Carl Sonntag Jr., was a German art bookbinder and cover designer.

Life

Youth and education

Carl Sonntag junior was born in Leipzig on July 21, 1883 as the son of the raw tobacco wholesaler Carl Sonntag senior. He was the second of four siblings. After attending school and graduating from Thomasgymnasium, he completed an apprenticeship as a bookbinder at Roßberg'sche Buchhandlung. He then traveled to France and England to deepen his knowledge, including in the workshop of Sangorski & Sutcliffe, which was only founded in 1901 but was already recognized as one of the best art bookbinderies in the world. In 1905, Sonntag was one of the first members of the Leipzig Bibliophile Evening, founded by Fedor von Zobeltitz, where he met important representatives of the book art scene such as the publishers Eugen Diederichs, Anton Kippenberg, Ernst Rowohlt and Julius Zeitler, the print shop owners Carl Ernst Poeschel and Johannes Baensch-Drugulin, the book artist Walter Tiemann and the author Ricarda Huch.

In 1907, Carl Sonntag Jr. opened his first bookbindery at Sternwartenstraße 19 in Leipzig. With bibliophile bindings for the luxury publications of Janus-Presse, Ernst Ludwig Presse and the Hans von Weber publishing house, he quickly made a name for himself as one of the most respected masters of his trade in the German Reich. From 1909, he produced the covers for the special editions of Hans von Weber's Hundertdrucke. In 1912, together with Paul Kersten, he founded the Jakob-Krauße-Bund.

In the same year, he moved into new, more elegant premises at Albertstraße 28 (now Riemannstraße). From the middle of the year, Frieda Thiersch, the future head of the Bremen Bindery, came to Sonntag to perfect her craft skills.

Also in 1912, Carl Sonntag jun. wrote the auction catalog Kostbare Bucheinbände des XV. bis XIX. Jahrhunderts for the Leipzig antiquarian bookshop C. G. Boerner, a richly illustrated, expertly described work in German and French with a personal foreword, which defined new international standards for catalog design. In 1913, Sonntag was involved in the preparations for the 1914 International World Exhibition of Decorative Arts and Prints by setting up a traditional bookbinding workshop. He dissolved his business at the end of 1913 and in 1914 joined his father Carl Sonntag senior's raw tobacco business at Königstraße 61, which he continued to run until 1929.In 1914, Sonntag h sold part of his extensive collection of historical bookbinding tools to the Insel Verlag. In 1930 he tried a new start and opened a new bookbinding workshop at Hafenplatz 6 in Berlin. However, he died on August 20 as a result of kidney surgery.

In 1917 Sonntag married Laura Kern (born October 22, 1893, in Chicago; died November 1979 in New York), who had worked as a secretary in his bindery since 1910.

Art collection

Laura and Carl Sonntag's Leipzig art collection contained a large number of works, including valuable works by Jakob van Utrecht, Carl Spitzweg, Heinrich Vogeler, Adolph von Menzel, Célestin Nanteuil, Hermann Haller and Renée Sintenis. The inventory of the private collection consisted of paintings, prints and sculptural works that can be classified stylistically as Mannerist, late Romantic or modern art, such as Art Nouveau. (Braun 2001: pp. 208-211)

Nazi era persecution and forced auctions

During the Nazi era, Carl Sonntag's widow was persected due to her Jewish heritage. She was forced to emigrate to the United States with their three children due to her Jewish heritage, leaving behind their property. Sonntag's tools, along with many valuable bindings and other artworks, were auctioned off during the "Aryanization" of Jewish assets. The City History Museum, the Leipzig City Library, the Museum of Fine Arts, as well as military departments, a polyclinic, and private individuals, acquired items from their household. Dr. Johannes Hofmann, the then-director of the City Library, collaborated with the Gestapo to have Sonntag's bindings confiscated before the auction and added to the library's collection. Sonntag's tools were auctioned off in August 1942 to a Leipzig bookbinder, who shortly afterward sold them to the City Library as well. Part of Sonntag's collection was destroyed in a bombing raid on December 4, 1943. Attempts to restituted surviving books to Sonntag's daughters, around 50 years later, were unsuccessful.

Legacy

Carl Sonntag Jr. is widely regarded as the first binding artist of the German book art movement. Following developments in England, where the reform movement led by William Morris and private presses like Kelmscott Press and Doves Press ushered in a new era of book art, German publishers and book artists also began searching for new design methods for modern books. Sonntag, however, had been exposed to a more traditional side of the craft during his training at Sangorski & Sutcliffe, which drew inspiration from the ornate, lavishly decorated bindings in the style of Zaehnsdorf. These bindings were treated as status symbols for the wealthy elite rather than functional objects. Sonntag rejected this elitist view, advocating for book covers that were suited to the book's practical use, with a reduction of unnecessary decoration. His aim was to create bindings with high craftsmanship that met the needs of modern books. While he championed the use of the best materials and the highest quality craftsmanship for art bookbinding, he also emphasized that high-quality leather and parchment bindings should remain reserved for luxury bookbinding due to their cost, while durable and well-crafted cloth and paper bindings should be preferred for everyday use.

Memberships

• Deutscher Buchgewerbeverein
• Gesellschaft der Bibliophilen
• Leipziger Bibliophilen-Abend
• Jakob Krauße-Bund der deutschen Kunstbuchbinder

Literature

• Lina Frubrich: Die Erwerbung aus dem Hausrat Sonntag beim Versteigerungshaus Hans Klemm. In: Dies., Anselm Hartinger (Hrsg.): Vergessene (Rück)ansichten. Provenienzforschung im Stadtgeschichtlichen Museum Leipzig. Leipzig 2022, ISBN 978-3-910034-89-1, S. 46–53.
• Helma Schäfer: Ein deutscher Buchbinder par excellence – Carl Sonntag jun. (1883–1930). In: Kieser/Schlenker (Hrsg.): Mitteldeutsches Jahrbuch für Kultur und Geschichte 2013. Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz, Monumente-Publikationen, Bonn 2013. Band 20, S. 84 ff.
• Helma Schäfer: Das moderne Einbandschaffen als Gegenstand der Einbandforschung: Zwei Leipziger Buchbinder als Fallbeispiele – Carl Sonntag jun. und Otto Ulrich Fischer. In: Einband-Forschung 2009, Nr. 24, Ss. 87–96.
• Carl Sonntag jun.: Vom Bucheinband. In: Das Moderne Buch. Die graphischen Künste der Gegenwart. Band 3, Stuttgart 1910.
• Carl Sonntag jun.: Leder und Bucheinband. In: Zwiebelfisch 3. Jahrgang 1912, Heft 5 und 6. München, Verlag Hans von Weber 1912.

Weblinks

• Wortwelle-Blog: Vom plötzlichen Verschwinden des Buchbinders Carl Sonntag jun.
• Literature by and about Carl Sonntag in the German National Library catalogue

References

[[Category:Men]] [[Category:1930 deaths]] [[Category:1883 births]] [[Category:German people]] [[Category:Bookbinders]]