Georg Hieronimus Bestelmeier

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bestelmeier portrait

Georg Hieronimus Bestelmeier (born September 29, 1764 in Nuremberg ; † February 2, 1829 there ) was a German mail order and wholesaler. He was one of the first Nuremberg wholesalers who made a lasting name for himself, especially through the publication of mail order catalogs . With the complete catalog published in 1803, Bestelmeier started a new era in toy history. The catalog is therefore also the forerunner of today's mail order catalogs.

Life

Georg Hieronimus Bestelmeier was the son of the red beer brewer Johann Michael Bestelmeier (1734–1797) and Anna Barbara Margaretha Gefröher (1742–1809), daughter of a wheat beer brewer.

He grew up in economically secure circumstances and completed a commercial apprenticeship.

As a young businessman, Bestelmeier recognized that good money could be made by selling accessories and toys .

In 1793 he married Catharina Christina Lotzbeck (1772-1836), daughter of a market adjunct. From this marriage there were five children, two sons and three daughters. In the same year he bought a corner house on the Nuremberg fruit market, which he used as a residential and commercial building. Here he set up his first shop, the well-known Bestelmeierischer Laden .

In order to offer his range of goods to as large a group of buyers as possible, he published his first mail-order catalog in 1793 under the title Pedagogical Magazine for educational and pleasant entertainment for young people .

Due to its ever increasing range, Bestelmeier had published a total of nine such catalogs by 1805.

On April 19, 1803, Bestelmeier received permission from the council of the then imperial city of Nuremberg to set up a furniture store. This led to a long-term dispute with the local carpenters, who fiercely resisted the fact that Bestelmeier was selling furniture made abroad here in the city. In addition, Bestelmeier was granted the concession to manufacture wallpaper in 1823.

Three years before his death, in 1826, Georg Hieronimus Bestelmeier handed the company over to his son Johann.

Even if Bestelmeier is one of the first wholesalers in Germany, the Berlin toy dealer Peter Friedrich Catel (1747–1791) published an illustrated mail order catalog in 1790 before him .

Around 1800 Bestelmeier was the only toy retailer in the world who operated its mail order business with illustrated catalogs.

About a quarter of the entire offer consisted of magic articles .

Among the total of 1350 different offers you will find the first and thus oldest source for a series-produced magic box under number 739 .

The catalogs

  • The first catalog was published in 1793. In addition to a range of toy devices, he described architectural models and, above all, a wealth of physical gadgets. The items were detailed from # 1 to # 97.
  • In 1794 the first extended edition appeared with a total of 300 titles, No. 98-300.
  • In 1795 the third edition came out with the numbers 301–459.
  • In 1796 the fourth catalog was published with the numbers 460–554.
  • In 1797 Bestelmeier published the fifth expanded edition with the numbers 555–668.
  • In 1799 the sixth edition with the numbers 669–800 was published.
  • In 1801 Bestelmeier published the seventh edition with the numbers 801–1006.
  • In 1803, Bestelmeier combined all previous catalogs into a single first complete catalog with the eighth edition and listed numbers 1007–1111 therein.
  • Another catalog booklet appeared in 1805 with the numbers 1112–1214.
  • In 1807 he brought out the second complete edition with all nine booklets published up to then.
  • In 1812 Bestelmeier published the third complete edition.
  • In 1823 the fourth complete edition came out with 1350 objects.

literature

  • Bestelmeier catalog , reprint 1979 based on the original from 1803, Verlag Edition Olms AG, Zurich, ISBN 3-283-00012-3

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Soldat, Hans-Georg: Toys - A series , manuscript for the eponymous program, broadcast on RIAS radio, 1983
  2. ↑ Stauss, Thomas: Early Game Worlds, 2015, page 68, ISBN 978-3-9524038-9-1
  3. ↑ Stauss, Thomas: Early Game Worlds, 2015, page 70
  4. ^ Soldat, Hans-Georg: Toys - A series , manuscript for the eponymous program, broadcast on RIAS, 1983
  5. ↑ Stauss, Thomas: Früh Spielwelten, 2015, page 33 ff., Page 83
  6. ↑ Stauss, Thomas: Early Game Worlds, 2015, page 87
  7. ↑ Stauss, Thomas: Early Game Worlds, 2015, page 93
personal data
SURNAME Bestelmeier, Georg Hieronimus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German mail order company and wholesaler
DATE OF BIRTH September 29, 1764
PLACE OF BIRTH Nuremberg
DATE OF DEATH February 2, 1829
Place of death Nuremberg