ADALBERT STIFTER (1805-1868), Austrian author, was born at Oberplan in Bohemia on the 23rd of October 1805, the son of a linen weaver. Having studied at the university of Vienna, he became tutor to Richard, eldest son of Prince Metternich, and obtained in 1849 the appointment as school inspector with the title of Schulrat in Linz, where he lived until his death on the 28th of January 1868. As early as 1840 Stifter had made his name known by his Feldblumen, a collection of charming little sketches, but his fame chiefly rests upon his Studien (1844-1851) in which he gathered together his early writings. These sketches of scenery and rural life are among the best and purest examples of German prose. Among other of his works may be cited Bunte Steine (1853), Nachsommer (1857), Witiko (1864-1867), and Briefe, which appeared posthumously in 1869.
Stifter's Selmtliche Werke were published in 17 vols. in 1870. There are also editions of selected works in 4 vols. (1887) and in 6 vols. (1899). A critical edition by A. Sauer is in preparation. Stifter's letters were published by J. Aprent in 3 vols. (1869). See E. Kuh, Zwei Dichter Osterreichs (1872); K. Proll, A. Stifter, der Dichter des Bohmerwaldes (Vortrag, 1891); J. K. Markus, A. Stifter (2nd ed., 1879); A. R. Hein, A. Stifter (1904); T. Klaiber, A. Stifter (1905); W. Kosch, A. Stifter and die Romantik (1905).