German Encyclopedia

The German Encyclopedia is an encyclopedia by Heinrich Martin Gottfried Köster (1734–1802) and Johann Friedrich Roos .

Ludwig Julius Friedrich Höpfner

history

The Gießener Pädagogiarch and Professor of History Heinrich Martin Gottfried Köster published the Deutsche Encyclopädie ( German Encyclopedia or general real dictionary of all arts and sciences ) from 1778 at the publishing house Varrentrapp (Sohn) and Wenner in Frankfurt am Main (or Ludwig Höpfner ); Johann Friedrich Roos replaced him as editor from volume 18.

The work also known as the “Frankfurter Enzyklopädie” was originally to be called the “Giessen Encyclopedia”. It was initiated and supported by professors working at the University of Giessen , who were all members of the Giessen Academy of Sciences (1767–1774). Although the encyclopedia, originally laid out in 12 volumes, dispensed with bio- and geographical articles, it has remained unfinished and comprises 23 volumes (A – Ky), the last of which appeared in 1804. The individual contributions to this encyclopedia initially appeared anonymously ; however, starting with volume 3, each author was identified by a number in brackets at the end of the respective article. The fifteenth volume from 1790 then offers a list with the “names of the authors” which at least partially resolves these ciphers, provided that those concerned were willing to step out of anonymity. The authors include the educator Christian Konrad Wilhelm Dohm , the lawyer Christian von Gmelin and the economists Johann Georg Büsch and Johann August Schlettwein . Another volume of copper plates was published in 1807.

The work was highly valued by contemporaries:

“The authors of the natural history articles knew and used the best and most valuable works in this field [...]. Also from academic and other famous periodicals, and then also from good travelogues, a lot, very much, has been collected very purposefully. ”( Oberdeutsche Allgemeine Litteraturzeitung 1789).

The German Encyclopedia is the first German reference work to have the title “Encyclopedia” in its title.

See also

• History and development of the encyclopedia
• List of encyclopedias and lexicons in German
• List of universal encyclopedias

literature

• Uwe Decker: The German Encyclopedia (1778-1807). In: The eighteenth century 14.2 (1990), ISBN 3-89398-049-0 , pp. 147-151.
• Heinrich Martin Gottfried Köster: Historical Encyclopedia. Collected articles on history and didactics from the "German Encyclopedia". Ed., Introduced and commented by Horst Walter Blanke and Dirk Fleischer. Hartmut Spenner, Waltrop 2003, ISBN 978-3-927718-18-0 (selection).

Web links

• The volumes of the German Encyclopedia can be viewed as digitized copies via the Central Directory of Digitized Prints ; here: vol. 1 from 1778 .
• Microfiche edition: German Encyclopedia or general real dictionary of all arts and sciences. 1992, ISBN 3-89131-052-8 (website of Harald Fischer Verlag, accessed on July 23, 2014).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Uwe Decker: The German Encyclopedia (1778-1807). In: Das Eighteenth Century 14.2 (1990), pp. 147–151, pp. 147f.
2. ↑ German Encyclopedia or General Real Dictionary of all arts and sciences by a society scholars . Volume 15: “Heil – Holz”. Frankfurt am Mayn: Varrentrapp and Wenner 1790, unpag. [Before p. 1] ( digitized by the BSB ).
3. ↑ German Encyclopedia or General Real Dictionary of all arts and sciences by a society scholars . First copper band. Frankfurt am Mayn: Varrentrapp and Wenner 1807 ( digitized by BSB and Google Books ); another volume with copperplate engravings was announced (ibid., preliminary report, unpag.).
4. ↑ CB: Review: Deutsche Encyclopädie. Vol. 13 (1788). In: Oberdeutsche Allgemeine Litteraturzeitung. June 29, 1989 (77th issue), column 1217-1227, column 1218 (digitized version of the BSB ).