Alphabets of Nature – The Collector Christian Wilhelm Büttner

The Göttingen professor Christian Wilhelm Büttner (1716–1801) is perhaps best known today for his incredibly extensive library which Duke Carl August of Saxony-Weimar and Eisenach purchased. In 1783 Büttner moved into the castle in Jena where he collected books upon books for his diverse studies of the natural sciences and linguistics. The sheer breadth of his scholarly endeavours led Goethe to refer to Büttner in 1785 in his correspondence as “the old, living encyclopaedic dictionary”.

In addition to selected volumes from Büttner’s book collection and various items from his Göttingen estate, the exhibition presents numerous manuscripts featuring a vast array of characters, inscriptions on unusual writing surfaces, botanical and comparative linguistic works, and materials on his universal alphabet from his Weimar estate stored at the Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv. Selected letters provide insights into his working method and his network of contacts, from whom he acquired rare manuscripts and prints from around the world.