[With original drawing by Willy Sluiter] Friend album by François Menno Knoote,

with various handwritten dedications (mostly German or Dutch), dated 7 December 1912 to 28 September 1924, 10 pasted photos, 1 pasted card and 3 original drawings and ca. 30 empty pages, original floral cloth, 23.5 x 16 cm.

François Menno Knoote (1879 - 1947) was an international football player (he even won the championship with AC Milan in 1905-1906!) and opera singer. He had gone to Milan to take opera singing lessons there. Some interesting online articles have been written about him: "Vergeten Haagse Held" (in Den Haag Centraal, 5 July 2013, Pdf available online). Wikipedia: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Menno_Knoote. One of the contributions (dated 18 March 1920) comes from Alexandrine Kiefer, whom he would marry on 30 August 1922. Knoote married four times and divorced just as many times. This fact makes one contribution in the album (by H.W. Brenning) interesting: "To marry, or not to marry; even that is a question! Whether to disappoint a few girls for a time, or one for life!" Apparently Knoote combined both perspectives. It appears from various contributions that they have been written in memory of a stay in "Het Krot" (Wassenaar?), which means it is a guestbook of sorts. For most, the most important contribution will be the pen drawing by Willy Sluiter, signed and dated 20 March 1921, with the text "Zijn jullie thuis?". The first contribution in the album is a pasted portrait photograph of the Dresdner Trio (Franz Wagner, Fritz Schneider and Hans Bottermund, dated in pen 1919), followed by a pasted promotional card of the trio with their signatures in pen below. The following page has three portrait photographs of Elisabeth Rethberg, with signed dedication in pen. Other contributions from Willy Zaalberg, George Denninghoff, Robert Hahn, Manuela von Hundelshausen (signed photo) and several signatures that are hard to read.