Ernst Arthur Seemann

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Ernst Arthur Seemann, 1888

Ernst Arthur Elert Heinrich Seemann (born March 9, 1829 in Herford ; † October 5, 1904 in Großbothen ) was a German publisher , bookseller , publicist and founder of the Leipzig publisher E. A. Seemann .

life and work

Ernst Arthur Seemann was born on March 9, 1829 as the sixth child of a district judge in Herford, Westphalia . In 1844, after the death of his father, Seemann left grammar school prematurely and began training as a bookseller in the Velhagen & Klasing publishing house in Bielefeld in 1845 in order to support his family financially. After completing his apprenticeship, his professional path took him to Leipzig for the first time, where he worked as a bookstore assistant at Friedrich Volckmar and the CF Amelang publishing house between 1850 and 1852 . After his military service in Cologne working sailor in the years 1853-1855 in the Antiquarian Department of the Berlin publishing house A. Asher & Co . During this time he made friends with the publicist and painter Lorenz Clasen . After the unsuccessful attempt to take over an antiquarian bookshop in Basel , Clasen placed him in Leipzig, where in 1856 he worked as a magazine editor for the fiction publications of Albert Henry Payne's publishing house . In that year he also worked on the Conversations Lexicon for Fine Arts (Rengersche Buchhandlung, later Emil Graul, Leipzig 1845–1857). Seemann contributed financially to the bookstore of his friend Emil Graul and married his sister Luise Graul in 1857.

In 1858 Seemann took over the bookselling management of the Pierer publishing house in Altenburg , where he was also responsible for editing the 4th edition of the Universal Lexicon of the Present and the Past until 1859 . Also in 1858, on December 1st, in Essen , where his mother lived, he founded his bookstore and publishing house under the company name EA Seemann . On August 15, 1861, he moved his now pure publishing house to Leipzig, after he sold the company's product range to the Halberstadt bookseller Julius Deiter. In the same year his first son Artur Seemann was born (born November 30, 1861 in Reudnitz , † December 23, 1925 in Meran ), who would later continue to run his father's publishing house. Another eight children followed in the next few years, at the beginning of 1899 Seemann retired and handed the publishing business over to his son Artur. Ernst Arthur Seemann spent the last years of his life in Großbothen near Grimma and died on October 5, 1904 after a stroke .

From 1875 to 1886 Seemann was a city ​​councilor in Leipzig with national liberal views , he was also a board member of the Leipziger Kunstverein (from 1880 to 1901), the Börsenverein der Deutschen Buchhandels ( treasurer from 1884 to 1891, also member of several specialist committees ) and the German Book Trade Association . Under the pseudonym (AW [olfgang] Becker, Adolf Bieber) Seemann published several works as editor and author in his own publishing house, the works published under the name AW [olfgang] Becker were also the first large independent publications of the Leipzig publishing house. In addition, he appeared frequently as a contributor under the abbreviation "ES" in the publisher's own periodicals such as the magazine for visual arts . Gustav Kirstein , later managing director of the publishing house, characterized Ernst Arthur Seemann in an obituary with the words "He spoke little and did a lot":

Works (selection)

  • AW Becker [pseudonym] (Ed.): Character images from art history in chronological order from the oldest times to the Italian art bloom. Based on the representations of the excellent art writers . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1862, SWB online catalog 105811742 .
  • A. Wolfgang Becker [pseudonym]: Art and artists of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Biographies and characteristics . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1863–1865, SWB online catalog 070225877 .
  • [Anonymous]: Pointers for assessing assortment (antiquarian) and publishing businesses . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1863, DNB 579385655 .

literature

  • Alfred Langer: Art Literature and Reproduction. 125 years of Seemann Verlag in the service of research and dissemination of art . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1983, DNB 840589093 , pp. 21-26.
  • Viola Effmert: "... recognized his time with the right insight ...". Ernst Arthur Seemann founded the oldest German art publisher in 1858 . In: Leipziger Blätter 52 (2008), ISSN  0232-7244 , p. 36 f.
  • Alfred Langer: Ernst Arthur Seemann . In: Helmut Bähring , Kurt Rüddiger (Hrsg.): Lexikon Buchstadt Leipzig. From the beginning until 1990 . Tauchaer Verlag, Leipzig 2008, ISBN 978-3-89772-147-0 , p. 221.
  • Ute Willer, Susanne Müller-Wolff: 150 years of EA Seemann. The history of the oldest German art publisher 1858 - 2008 . EA Seemann, Leipzig 2008, DNB 990238709 , pp. 6-17.
  • Lothar Poethe: Seemann, Ernst Arthur . In: Neue Deutsche Biographie 24 (2010), ISBN 978-3-428-11205-0 , pp. 153-154. ( Online in the Deutsche Biographie , accessed on September 23, 2019)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Viola Effmert 2008, p. 36.
  2. ↑ Alfred Langer 1983, p. 21 f.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Lothar Poethe: Seemann, Arthur. In: German biography. Retrieved September 23, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b Alfred Langer 1983, p. 23.
  5. ↑ Ute Willer, Susanne Müller-Wolff 2008, p. 9.
  6. ↑ a b c Alfred Langer 1983, p. 25 f.
  7. ^ Oskar von Hase : The emergence of the German book trade association. In: Archives for the book trade. 46 (1909), issue 10, p. 290.
  8. ↑ Ute Willer, Susanne Müller-Wolff 2008, p. 10.
  9. ^ Clare and Gustav Kirstein. In: Stolpersteine ​​Leipzig. Stolpersteine ​​Leipzig working group, accessed on September 23, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Sailor, Ernst Arthur
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Seemann, Ernst Elert Arthur Heinrich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German publisher
DATE OF BIRTH March 9, 1829
PLACE OF BIRTH Herford
DATE OF DEATH October 5, 1904
Place of death Großbothen