Ernst Christoph Grattenauer

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Ernst Christoph Grattenauer (born August 24, 1744 in Neudamm ; † March 18, 1815 in Nuremberg ) was a German bookseller and publisher in the late Enlightenment .

life and work

He was a son of Christoph Friedrich Grattenauer (1713–1755), pastor of Neudamm, later Schildberg , and Friederike Luise geb. Lichtenau, grandson of the Stendal pastor Christoph Friedrich Grattenauer and uncle of the lawyer Carl Wilhelm Friedrich Grattenauer .

He visited the Francke Foundations in Halle in 1756 and then learned the trade. In 1779 he received citizenship in Nuremberg and took over the Johann Georg Lochnerische open bookstore and publishing house , which he ran under his own name until his death.

The Enlightenment published numerous books and magazines and thus came into contact with many greats of his time. His correspondence with Goethe , Schiller and Lichtenberg is well known. He brokered ancient coins and medals for Goethe.

As a member of the Illuminati Order , he published the writings of Adam Weishaupt , the founder of this secret society of the Enlightenment. He belonged to the Freemason Lodge Joseph for Unity in Nuremberg. Grattenauer founded a literature cabinet in his house in which numerous magazines were displayed for an annual contribution. In this way, the house gained a reputation as the "center of Nuremberg's intellectual life." (Ketelhodt)

Grattenauer was married to Sara Johann Schmidtmer (1748–1791).

After his death, his son had to file for bankruptcy. Via Georg Christoph Franz and Georg Wolfgang Eichhorn, his business came to Christian Heinrich Korn in 1834. It still exists today on the main market under the name Korn und Berg .

Publications

  • M. Georg Wolfgang Panzers Schafferrs at the main parish church of St. Sebald in Nuremberg. Annals of older German literature or display and description of those books which range from book printing to MDXX. have been printed in German ..., Nürnberg by Ernst Christoph Grattenauer., Nürnberg 1788., 464 S., Google Books, online

swell

  • Seiderer, Georg: Forms of Enlightenment in Franconian Cities , Munich 1997
  • Ketelhodt, Friedrich Wilhelm von : The diary of a journey of the Schwarzburg-Rudolstädtischen princes , Weimar 2004


personal data
SURNAME Grattenauer, Ernst Christoph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German bookseller and publisher
DATE OF BIRTH August 24, 1744
PLACE OF BIRTH Neudamm
DATE OF DEATH March 18, 1815
Place of death Nuremberg