Christian Tønsberg

Christian Tønsberg

Nils Christian Tønsberg (born December 7, 1813 in Bergen , † February 6, 1897 in Kristiania ) was a Norwegian publisher and the owner of the largest publishing house in Norway in the 19th century.

Youth and education

His parents were the reserve lieutenant, ship manager and later Ekstraskriver Johan Christian Tønsberg (1788-1832) and his wife Anne Marie Olsen Dahl (1788-1837). He married on May 1, 1835 in Bergen Maren Dorthea Bødtker (January 23, 1813-17 May 1893), daughter of the realtor Henning Arnt Schøning Bødtker (1785-1865) and Dorthea Reutzer, widowed Kobro (1785-1847).

Tønsberg grew up in Bergen in tight economic circumstances. At the age of 14 he got a job as a clerk in the judicial office of the collegiate court and in the city clerk's office. For several years he had an unpaid teaching position at the Sunday School, and from 1834 to 1839 he was assistant to the mayor in Bergen. Tønsberg was ambitious and studied after work, so that he passed the Preliminærexamen in Christiania in 1834. Then he returned to his work and evening classes in Bergen.

Professional beginnings

In 1839 he moved to Christiania with his wife and three children, among other things to do further education. He became a copyist in the Treasury Department and worked for several lawyers at the Supreme Court, but also began dealing with estate management, auction matters and other business. He also studied law and economics and passed a very good state examination in 1845 . As the head of an auction house, he received postponed book collections and publishers remittants , often together with the publishing rights, and began selling them over the counter. When the publishing house "Guldberg und Dzwonkowski" ceased operations in 1844, he took over a large part of the publisher's legal literature. In autumn 1844 he published the first part of Den norske Obligationsret (Norwegian law of obligations). In the course of a few years, two more parts were added, plus family law and an introduction to Norwegian law, which was written anonymously by the 23-year-old lawyer Torkel Halvorsen Aschehoug . The publisher's legal department continued to expand, and the publisher gained a good reputation in the field.

The success

Over time, most of the historians known at the time also had their works published by Tønsberg, such as Rudolf Keyser and Ludvig Daae . In 1851 he was a co-founder of the Norwegian Booksellers Association. The greatest success was the publication of Peter Andreas Munch's central and important work Det norske Folks Historie 1851 to 1863 in eight volumes. Munch was not an easy customer. He was dissatisfied with the fee, was constantly in need of money and had exaggerated ideas about the tasks of a publisher. The fee was 7,000 speciestalers. Tønsberg lost 2,500 specialty thalers when it was released. In 1861 Munch tried to move his work to the Gyldendal publishing house in Copenhagen, but the latter refused because he saw Munch as tied to Tønsberg, and Tønsberg felt obliged to take care of the work to the end.

Tønsberg met Henrik Wergeland in Bergen and became his best friend and supporter. He bought the remittances of his works from a small publisher. When Wergeland had to sell his house "Grotten" in financial difficulties, Tønsberg was the auctioneer. He bought the house himself without Wergeland's knowledge and let Wergeland live there until he found a more suitable apartment. In the end he sold "Grottos" at a loss. After Wergeland's death, Tønsberg published his writings, but interest in Wergeland declined and this publication also ended in loss. There was little interest in fiction in Norway. Nevertheless, Tønsberg brought some volumes of poetry onto the market. He edited Henrik Ibsen's Das Fest auf Solhaug , but to no avail. Then he moved Magnus Brostrup Landstads Norske Folkeviser .

One of the plates published by Tønsberg, drawn by Adolph Tidemand , lithograph by Caspar Scheuren

Tønsberg was part of the Norwegian national romanticism and worked with many artists. This resulted in various picture books, some with picture panels in folio format. He wanted to introduce Norway to its nature and culture at home and abroad. The largest work was Norske folkelivsbilleder, Malerier og tegninger av A. Tidemand in three volumes. The picture explanations were written in three languages: Norwegian, German and English and were intended for the European market. The color lithographs were made by Caspar Scheuren based on a template by Adolph Tidemand . He won Welhaven and Ivar Aasen as authors . Most of these books were made in Berlin. The colored picture books sparked enthusiasm in Norway at that time. But it was a losing proposition. The volumes with the picture plates cost 21,000 speciestalers. The proceeds only brought 13,000 speciestalers. In 1857 he received a favorable loan from Storting in the amount of 5,000 speciestalers at 4% interest and against his life insurance as security. He was supposed to repay 250 speciestalers for ten years. Although the risk of default was assessed as high, the finance committee and the Storting considered supporting the publisher to be a national task. Five years later, when half had been paid off, he asked for the repayment installment to be reduced. But even this reduction to 75 speciestalers twice a year and a later further reduction to 50 speciestalers a year without interest could not avert bankruptcy.

The decline

He edited many important works himself, but he was more concerned with commendable expenses than with his financial situation and a proper calculation. He later made several attempts to sell his publishing house. Finally, he held a lottery in which he used his books as a prize. The main prize was worth 100 speciestalers. Each ticket cost 1 speciestaler. The profit wasn't enough to cover his debts. Another lottery had to be canceled due to a lack of interested parties. In May 1864 he had to file for bankruptcy and his book store was foreclosed. Tønsberg began to be ailing and worked as a customs collector in Tvedestrand until 1874 . Then he retired. A year later, the Storting increased his pension because of his services to Norwegian culture. He continued his publishing activities on a modest scale until 1891. His last years were fraught with worry and he was almost blind. When he died his debt was 7,438.47 speciestalers. The pledged life insurance yielded only 1,400 special thalers.

Honors

Tønsberg had become a cultural institution. He had good contact with the royal family. In 1854 he became consul general of the Kingdom of Bavaria (until 1870). From 1857 to 1860 he was Consul General of Mecklenburg . From 1878 to 1892 he was Consul of the United States of Colombia . From 1879 to 1888 he was consul general for Liberia and from 1881 to 1886 of Romania .

He was in command of the Order of African Liberation (Liberia), Knight of the Dannebrog Order , Knight 1st Class of the Order of Saint Michael (Bavaria), Knight of the Order of Charles III. (Spain), Knight of the Frederick Order (Württemberg), Knight 1st Class of the Order of Franz I (Naples and both Sicilies), Knight of the Guelph Order (Hanover), Knight of the Order of the Crown of Romania and Knight of the Order of Zähringer Löwen (Baden).

Major expenses

• Hasselnødder from Wergeland and his Samlede scrifter .
• Norske Folkeviser from Landstad
• Det norske Folks History by PA Munch.
• Norge Fremdstillet in Tegninger, text from PC Asbjørnsen . 1848
• Christiania and Omegn, with parallel text on norsk, tysk and engelsk . 1850
• Norske Nationaldragter; Tegnede af forskjellige norske Kunstnere and ledsagede with oplysende text, with parallel text på norsk, tysk and engelsk . 1852
• Famous North Mænd. A cycle of mind blades om fortjente landsmænd i ældre and nyere tider . 1853-1856
• Norske folkelivsbilleder, painter and tegninger av A. Tidemand . 3 volumes. 1854
• Norge. Illustreret Reisehaandbog . 1874 (Supplementary volume 1876; new edition: Illustreret Norge. Haandbog for travelers . With 144 views and 18 maps. 1879)
• Illustreret Christiania og omegn . 1879

Remarks

1. ↑ "Ekstraskriver" used to be the name given to the staff employed at a collegiate court who supported the court with subordinate paperwork.
2. ↑ "Stift" was called the diocese. In the court organization, the areas of responsibility of the higher courts were identical to the diocese boundaries, which is why they were called collegiate higher courts.
3. ↑ Stadt-Schreiber was an official who performed certain judicial tasks, but was not a judge.
4. ↑ The city bailiff was the single judge in cities that did not have a collegiate court.
5. ↑ The “Preliminærexamen” was an easier entrance exam for those willing to study who had no knowledge of Latin or Greek in the period from 1815 to 1849 compared to the regular Examen artium. For them there was also a simplified examination in law and medicine, but these were not state exams.
6. ↑ ^{a b c d} Boge
7. ↑ Source: no: Christian Tønsberg

literature

• Cecilie Boge: Nasjonsbyggar eller sosial klatrar? Chr. Tønsberg og Norske Folkelivsbilleder . University of Bergen 2001.
• Egil Tveterås: Article “Christian Tønsberg” in Norsk biografisk leksikon , accessed on February 5, 2010.