Description:

Schweitzer Albert 1875 - 1965 Albert Schweitzer ALS in French along with note from private secretary Emmy Martin




Two page letter on unlined Dom Elco white stationery inscribed front, back, and front. Short note attached at bottom written in black felt tip marker inscribed by and signed "Albert Schweitzer"; longer portion of letter written in black ball point pen and signed "Emmy Martin". Letter dated October 30, 1957, written in the doctor's Alsatian hometown of Gunsbach, France, and addressed to Dr. Charles Tory of Newtown, MA. Rusty paper clip mark to the upper left corners of both pages, otherwise in very fine condition. Each page measures 8.25" x 5.75".

Schweitzer's postscript appears at the end of Emmy Martin's longer letter. The doctor writes: "Dear friend. I profit from this occasion to tell you that I don't forget you ... the photographs that you took ... have a particular charm. Your devoted Albert Schweitzer."

Emmy Martin, Schweitzer's long time secretary and business associate, handled all his correspondence, proofread his publications, and assisted him with staffing and provisioning African hospitals. Martin begins the letter to her American correspondent by explaining that Dr. B. Steinitz of Aylesbury, England was going to publish the second edition of a book on the subject of "AS" and would need photographs "of the doctor" [Schweitzer] that only Tory could supply. She explains that Schweitzer was only scheduled to remain in Gunsbach for a few weeks before he returned to his hospital work at Lambarͩnͩ in present day Gabon.

Martin explains in the middle of the letter that Schweitzer fell about a month earlier on September 15th and broke the little finger of his right hand, making it almost impossible for him to write. On relating the doctor's slip and fall, Martin writes: "You know well dear friend, how he lost a lot of time, he can scarcely write, and he still can't play the organ until the finger heals, but he must manage it."

Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) was a modern Renaissance man. He was an accomplished organist, musical theorist, preservationist, theologian, church deacon, doctor, and philanthropist. Albert Schweitzer, a trained physician, and his anesthetist wife Helene Bresslau Schweitzer traveled to the Paris Missionary Society's mission at Lambarͩnͩ in present day Gabon (formerly French Equatorial Africa) to establish a hospital in 1913. Albert Schweitzer Hospital opened in the same year and operated on revenue generated by Schweitzer's organ concerts and other fundraising efforts. Schweitzer would divide his time between the hospital and Europe for the next fifty years. According to one American visitor to the hospital, Schweitzer was still hammering away at his tropical weather resistant pedal piano at the age of 88 in 1962. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953 in recognition of his lifetime commitment to charitable work.

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