Alexander Francke

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alexander Francke (born March 19, 1853 in Glückstadt , † November 1, 1925 in Bern ) was a German-Swiss publisher and bookseller .

Life

Alexander Francke was born on March 19, 1853 in Glückstadt, Schleswig-Holstein. The family came from Calbe an der Saale. His father August Wilhelm Francke was a lawyer and senior appellate judge in Kiel and married to Catharina Maria, née Jensen (1815–1874). His younger brother was the future German-American literary and cultural historian Kuno Francke (1855–1930). The early death of his father in 1864 made studying impossible. At Easter 1869 he began a three-year apprenticeship in the Kiel university bookstore Paul Toeche (today under a different name), which was known at the time for the publication of some works by Droysen and Hegel .

In July 1872 he became an assistant in the M. Lengfeld'sche bookstore, which has existed since 1842 to this day, at Eduard Heinrich Mayer's in Cologne , but went to Bern in July 1874 and joined the bookseller and publisher Karl Schmid (1827–1909) ) took over Dalp'sche Buchhandlung . From December 1872 to October 1877 Francke worked in the Faesy & Frick bookstore in Vienna . Back in Bern he married Schmid's daughter Bertha in 1878 and became a naturalized Swiss.

Publishing work

In Bern he was initially a partner in the publishing company Dalp'sche Buchhandlung , originally founded by Johann Felix Jakob Dalp in 1831, from 1885 onwards , which was renamed Schmid, Francke & Cie., By Dalp's successor Karl Schmid under Swiss company law . J. Dalp'sche Buchhandlung traded. Since 1902 the publisher has had his name first, first as A. Francke, previously Schmid & Francke , in 1920 he transferred it to A. Francke AG and is now known as A. Francke Verlag . After his death in 1925, he was replaced in the management by the publisher Carl Emil Lang (1876–1963).

The publishing offer started by Dalp mainly comprised school materials and magnificent works, Karl Schmid expanded this with aesthetic literature and maps, e.g. B. the Swiss cartographer Rudolf Leuzinger (1826-1896), while Francke after 1902, partly through courageous publishing decisions, the publishing house up to the Weimar Republic next to Orell Füssli in Zurich and HR Sauerländer in Aarau one of the leading Swiss publishers, especially in humanities area. Among other things founded Francke along with the lithographic institution Kümmerly & Frey the 1902 Geographic Maps Publisher Bern (now emerged: Kober Kümmerly Frey Media AG ), won the fast high by masterfully executed cards reputation.

Francke was a member of the board of the Swiss Booksellers Association for around 30 years and was its president several times. It was his goal, adult towards the end of the 19th century the problem of fighting vigor and unjustified discounts, even against the currently perceived as such pulp fiction . In 1888 he implemented an amendment to the articles of association that was intended to enable it to join the German Stock Exchange Association .

At the beginning of the 20th century he was elected to the board of the German Stock Exchange Association and was its second editor from 1901 to 1905. Through his submissions, he was significantly involved in the book trade reforms known as the Springer Paragraphs. The main concern was fixed book prices , which still exist today. Since this could not be prescribed by state law in Switzerland, this was initially an agreement under private law with a so-called collective reverse for the members of the Swiss Booksellers Association, over which Francke had influence. From 1913 to 1919 he represented Switzerland on the board of directors of the Deutsche Bücherei in Leipzig .

In 1912 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bern for promoting the Bernese dialect and folklore as well as for the publication of scientific works such as the extensive "Bärndütsch" by Emanuel Friedli .

Fonts

  • Five weeks in the eastern United States and Canada. Travel memories. Francke, Bern 1913. ( Internet Archive )

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ according to personal entry by Kuno Francke in SHBL , Volume 13.
  2. ^ History of the German book trade in the 19th and 20th centuries. Saur, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-598-24808-5 , Volume 2, Part 1, p. 372.
  3. ↑ A. Francke published the following publishing
    directories : A. Francke     books directory, formerly Schmid & Francke, Bern ..., book, art & map dealership .... 1902/03. [Bern]: [Stämpfli & Cie.], 1902, IV, 288 p.
    1st supplement 1906/1910. Bern 1910.
  4. ↑ One hundred years of the Swiss Booksellers Association, 1849-1949. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1949, p. 37 ff.
  5. ↑ a b Christoph Zürcher: Francke, Alexander. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  6. ↑ Gerhard Menz: The first head of the Börsenverein der Deutschen Buchhandels: 1825-1925. Röder, Leipzig 1925, p. 127.
  7. ^ Hans Sarkowski: The Springer publishing house. Stations in its history. Part 1, 1842-1942. Springer, Berlin a. a. 1992, ISBN 3-540-55221-9 , pp. 141, 146 u. a.
personal data
SURNAME Francke, Alexander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Swiss bookseller and publisher
DATE OF BIRTH March 19, 1853
PLACE OF BIRTH Glückstadt
DATE OF DEATH November 1, 1925
Place of death Bern