Neue anschauliche Tabellen von der gesammten Residenz - Stadt Berlin (New Descriptive Tables of the Entire Residential City of Berlin) [WITH] Richtige Bezeichnung der Wohnung aller Herren Officiere der Garnison in Berlin (Correct Designation of the Apartments of All Officers of the Garrison in Berlin)

Berlin: C. F. E. Späthen, 1801. Hardcover. Fine. Two parts, octavo. iv, 296; 32pp. 1 folding plan of the Schloss with legend; separate title for the appendix of garrison officer's apartments. Contemporary marbled boards; plain paper label with manuscript title at spine. Street maps with hand-coloring in pale washes of beige (streets), pink (space for property numbers along streets), and blue (waterways). Mild rubbing at cover extremities, text fine and crisp throughout. A very pretty copy.

Very scarce copy of the second earliest street directory for the city of Berlin, prepared by the Prussian military officer (premier-Lieutenant im Artillerie-Corps), Karl Neander von Petersheiden (1762-1842). "The Berlin address books list the names of heads of households registered in Berlin and its suburbs, including address and occupation... [They] appeared between 1799 and 1943 under frequently changing titles - initially irregularly at longer annual intervals, and from 1822 annually" (DLB). Petersheiden was also the editor of the first directory which appeared in 1799 under the title Anschauliche Tabellen von der gesammten Residenz - Stadt Berlin.

Divided into 214 pages, the first part of the work comprises a highly schematic hand-colored running plan of the city, in which the main street noted at the top of the page and all cross-streets and waterways are represented as straight lines crossing at right angles. Thoroughfares are tinted in beige and bordered in pink (the place of property numbers); waterways appear in blue. The indexed street runs down the center of page; the numbered properties on each side are annotated with the name of the head of household and their occupation.

The register which follows contains five indices: streets and alleys (213 numbered entries, with lengths noted); public squares and key points of interest; churches and associated properties; bridges; heads of household (appx. 7000 individuals, with professions and trades noted), along with communal institutions, e.g., Gemeinde-Haus jüdisches. With very few exceptions the heads of household are noted in the main running plan and its corresponding index by family name only. The register is followed by an appendix of the garrison officer's apartments which was prepared at the request of the local military.

One notable dimension of the present address book is its Judaic content. No fewer than six Jewish communal institutions are noted: Juden-Aeltesten-Wohnung (elders' apartments, p. 55); Juden-Herberge (hostel, p. 159); Juden-Lazareth (hospital, p. 145); Juden-Tempel (Synagogue. p. 55); Jüdisches Armenhaus, auch Herberge (poor house and hostel, p. 123); Jüdisches Gemeinde-Haus (community hall, p. 53). It is clear that several locales are notable for their concentration of Jewish residences: Jüden - Strasse (pp. 73-4; 76); Jüden - Gasse (p. 75); Der grosse Juden-Hof and Der kleine Juden-Hof (p.74). Many Jewish heads of household are also found along the Heidereiten Gasse and the Heiligegeist Strasse (pp. 55-7) in the vicinity of the Synagogue.

Given that as many as "one half of the Berlin [Jewish] community is reported to have been baptized" (JE) in the later eighteenth century, it is especially difficult to identify practicing Jewish heads of household by name and occupation, though collating the listings for the areas noted above will certainly yield many possiblities. One helpful detail is the presence of a first name. As mentioned above, given names appear in only a small percentage of cases; householders who would appear to be Jews (or of Jewish origin), however, are quite frequently listed with their first name, as well. Two individuals are even noted as Jews (Jude) in place of a profession: Bendix and Hirsch. The most prominent occupation of easily identified heads of household with Jewish names is banquier (banker). Several large family groups may be noted in the index: No fewer than five bankers by the name of Cohen; six individuals with the family name of Moses include two bankers (Joel and Jacob); the Mayer family includes two bankers (one named Joseph); the Salomon family includes three bankers (Isaack, Nathan, and Veitel); the Ephraim family includes four bankers (Daniel, David, Joseph, and Samuel). These latter would appear to be related to Veitel Ephraim (1703), a jeweller, silk trader, and mint master who, along with Daniel Itzig, aided Frederick the Great during the Seven Years' War in producing debased coinage. (A banker with the family name of Itzig appears in our street guide index.) Other bankers who would appear to be Jews include: Bär (and another of the same family noted as dealer in gold jewellry); Levin Bamberger; Berger; Jüterbeck (on Jüden-Strasse); Levi; Samuel Moses Levin; Mila (in the vicinity of the Synagogue); and Mendel Oppenheim. Among the most notable of the Jews to appear in the listings is Jacob Herz Beer (1769-1825), a banker and sugar manufacturer. His son, Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864) was a composer remembered for his spectacular operas. Beer's wife, Amalie Beer (1767-1854) was among the most influential of the early Jewish salonnières in Berlin. Another Jewish woman who held a salon in Berlin was Sara Levy, née Itzig (1761-1854), a banker's widow and perhaps a relative of the banker Itzig noted above. (Willhelmy-Dollinger).

Others heads of household who would appear to Jews include: the widow of Jacob Aron; Baruch (a manufacturer of cotton fabric); Joel and Moses Beschütz (pawnbrokers); Moses Fliess (an heir, perhaps of the Fliess noted as a doctor); Isr. Moses Henoch; Salom Hirsch (a baker near the Synagogue; David Hirsch (velvet merchant); Flesch Isaac (money changer); Jacobi (bookbinder near the Synagogue); Joseph Lewin (merchant); Meyer (Jewish merchant); David Meyer (rentier); Jacob Abraham Meyer (jeweler); Ruben Meyer (dealer in morocco leather); Neumeister (butcher near the Synagogue); Meyer Ruben (leather trader).

Provenance: Bookplate of the Gräfl[iche]. vom Hagen'schen Majorats - Bibliothek Möckern at the front paste-down. Full titles and imprint: Neue anschauliche Tabellen von der gesammten Residenz-Stadt Berlin oder Nachweisung aller Eigenthümer, mit ihrem Namen und Geschäfte, wo sie wohnen, die Nummer der Häuser, Strassen und Plätze, wie auch die Wohnungen aller Herren Officiere hiesiger Garnison, zum zweitenmale dargestellt... Berlin. Gedruckt bei Christian Friedrich Ernst Späthen. 1801. [Appendix:] Richtige Bezeichnung der Wohnung aller Herren Officiere der Garnison in Berlin, nach ihrem Range und allen Chargen, als Infanterie, Grenadier, Cavallerie, Artillerie, Pontonier und Cadetten-Corps. Den 4 July 1801 neu berichtigt. Auf Verlangen und zur Bequemlichkeit des hiesigen Militaire angefertigt als Anhang zur neuen Tabelle von Berlin nach Angabe des Prem. Lieutenants v. Neander

References: Digitale Landesbibliothek Berlin list of Berlin Address directories 1799-1970; "Berlin" [in:] Jewish Encyclopedia; Wilhelmy-Dollinger, Petra, "Berlin Salons: late Eighteenth to Early Twentieth Century," [in:] Jewish Womens' Archive Encyclopedia (online). (Inventory #: 54006)