Erinnerungen aus meinem vielbewegten Leben : 2. Band 1901

Here is the second volume of Eduard von Lade’s memoirs, printed in 1900, containing a photographic portrait and his signature. The portrait is ghostly and faint; the book design is crisp and formal. I wonder what it felt like to assemble these memories. Was he alone, sifting through the moments of his long life? How did he decide which ones to keep and which to leave out? I imagine it was hard work—like trying to capture smoke in your hands or paint a picture from a dream. When I see an old photo like this, I think about what it means to try to hold onto the past. Do we want to keep it alive or maybe freeze it and make sense of it? And I wonder, what will people make of our digital memories a hundred years from now?