Utopia - Ziegenhagen, Franz Heinrich. Doctrine of the right relation to the works of creation, and the general happiness of mankind to be brought about by the public introduction of the same alone. With folded engraved frontispiece and 7 (1 folded several times) copper plates by Daniel Chodowiecki as well as 1 folded music supplement by W. A. Mozart (on 4 folding plates, 8 pp.). Brunswick, Vieweg, 1799. 4 pp., 633 p. (recte 639; pp. 95/96 and 233-236 counted twice), 2 pp. 19.5 x 11.5 cm. Half cloth (circa 1880) with gilt-stamped spine title (slightly rubbed). Rare title edition of the work first published by the author himself in Hamburg in 1792. - Lanckoronska/Oehler II, 119-120 and 214 - Rümann 1299 - Schröder 4549, 1 - Bauer 1551-54, 1556-59 and Engelmann 664-667, 672-675 (Chodowiecki) - RISM M 4161. - With Ziegenhagen's autograph: In the preface, the author recommends a stay on the agricultural estate that he still intends to build in "Strasburg" in the 1792 print; in the very poorly selling 1799 edition of the title, as here, Ziegenhagen tried it on his estate in Billwerder, which ultimately did not work out either. The place name is blackened here and a handwritten slip is bound in opposite: "*Hamburg, auf meinem Landgute, von welchem das große Kupfer ein Abbild ist". - Attached to this is another handwritten sheet with French text, which confirms the above phenomenon and also refers to "Dr. Rauschenplatt" (Johann Ernst Arminius von Rauschenplat, 1807-1868, German revolutionary?): "Le fameus Dr. Rauschenplatt a contenu que Hourir n'etait qu'un plagiaire de Ziegenhagen." - An early major work of utopian socialism. - The most important work by the Hamburg merchant Franz Heinrich Ziegenhagen, in which he describes his attempt to establish a separatist colony as an agricultural educational institution independent of existing society. This institution was later to be transformed into a community with collective ownership. Based on the ideas of Rousseau, Ziegenhagen called for the right relationship between things to be restored in order to live well and happily. Chodowiecki's wonderful large folding copper - "a particularly interesting and amusing large-format folded panel" (Lanck./Oehler) - shows the ideal of such a system. In 1788, Ziegenhagen bought an agricultural estate in Billwerder near Hamburg in order to found such an institution, which would exemplify his ideas of common property, the idea of the collective and social security. He appealed in vain to wealthy citizens, the nobility and even the French Convention to support the establishment of similar colonies and ultimately failed with his project. After twelve years, he sold the Billwerder estate, returned to his Alsatian homeland in 1802 and committed suicide there four years later. - In addition to its philosophical significance, this work is important not least because of the outstanding Chodowiecki illustrations. "The colony with its bird's-eye view of the buildings and squares, with its children playing and grazing herds of cattle, illustrates Ziegenhagen's teachings without detracting from the artistic effect. The other panels, an anatomical school, a smithy, the turner's and mechanic's workshop, the rooms of the nature teacher and schoolmaster are also particularly finely executed ..." (ibid.). - Nevertheless, Ziegenhagen succeeded in persuading W. A. Mozart to set an exemplary song to music. The cantata, written in 1791 - and thus at the same time as his composition of the Magic Flute - is attached to this work as an 8-page music appendix (KV 619. - RISM M 4161), the text of which has a clear connection to Masonic ideas and which was also published separately as a broadsheet in the same year (Wolfstieg 41259). - The engravings partly on bluish paper. - 1 music plate and the folding plate with marginal tear, title and preliminaries with brown stain (due to the engraving in the preface), last text leaf somewhat stained, otherwise a fresh copy. VAT: *