Franz Josef Gassmann

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Franz Josef Gassmann (born November 20, 1755 in Solothurn ; † March 7, 1802 ibid), also known as Hudibras , was a Swiss printer, bookseller, newspaper founder and editor.

Life

Hudibras bench in the Verena Gorge .

Franz Josef Gassmann was born in Solothurn as the son of Joannes Viktor Gassmann, a book printer and bookseller. He attended the Jesuit college in Solothurn. The influence of his teacher Josef Ignaz Zimmermann , author of numerous "patriotic dramas", who inspired Gassmann for German literature and language, was formative for Gassmann's further development . After graduating, Zimmermann got him a job as a private tutor with the Lucerne sack master Joseph Anton Felix von Balthasar . In 1780 Gassmann, who had started as an apprentice in a Lucerne book printing company, was able to take over the “high-ranking book printing company” in Solothurn. He founded the first permanent bookshop in Solothurn and from then on worked as a printer, publisher, bookseller, writer and journalist. Gassmann published educational ideas and advocated a better education for girls.

In 1788 Gassmann founded the Solothurnerisches Wochenblatt, one of the first newspapers in the canton of Solothurn, which Hans Sigrist describes in Solothurn history as a plan that was bold for Gassmann's circumstances and possibilities. The weekly newspaper was published until the end of December 1794, after a two-and-a-half-year interruption, the Helvetische Hudibras followed from 1797 to 1798 , named after the comical epic Hudibras by Samuel Butler .

In the run-up to the Helvetic Revolution and the French invasion of 1798/1799, Gassmann was one of the so-called "patriots", opponents of the previous forms of rule in the Old Confederation . As a “friend of the French”, Gassmann was arrested on February 6, 1798, along with other alleged “traitors” and imprisoned on the pretext of protecting them from the anger of the people. On March 2, Gassmann and the other patriots were freed by the French; From then on, Gassmann praised the new freedom in the Helvetic Hudibras .

Gassmann's Helvetischer Hudibras showed a picture on the front page of Gassmann sitting by a small waterfall in the Verena Gorge, reading a book on his knees and looking into the distance. The caption reads "Hudibras thinks supersensible things"; Since then, Gassmann has been known as "Hudibras" and used this nickname himself. In Gassmann's honor, the stone bench by the waterfall bears the inscription Hudibras and is known as the "Hudibras bench".

Gassmann's grandson Franz Joseph Amatus Gassmann (1812–1884), like Gassmann's son of the same name, Franz Joseph Gassmann, a printer and publisher, helped found the newspaper Der Bund in 1850 and was also the first publisher of the Seeländer Bote in 1850 .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Sigrist: The late period and the end of the patrician regime . In: History of Solothurn . 3rd volume. Government Council of the Canton of Solothurn, Solothurn 1981, p. 243 .
  2. ↑ a b Hans Sigrist: The late period and the end of the patrician regime . In: History of Solothurn . 3rd volume. Government Council of the Canton of Solothurn, Solothurn 1981, p. 276 .
  3. ↑ Hans Sigrist: The late period and the end of the patrician regime . In: History of Solothurn . 3rd volume. Government Council of the Canton of Solothurn, Solothurn 1981, p. 278 .
  4. ↑ Rudolf Baumann: A contribution to the history of the Solothurn book printing and the Solothurn newspapers up to the year 1848 . Baumann, Balsthal 1909, p. 28 .
  5. ^ Adolf Lechner: Supplement [to the article "Ludwig Rudolf von Erlach" by KL Stettler] . In: New Bernese paperback . tape 27 , 1921, pp. 207-208 , doi : 10.5169 / seals-129415 .
  6. ↑ Paul L. Feser: Guide through the hermitage of St. Verena and the church at Kreuzen near Solothurn . 2., ext. Edition. Bürgergemeinde der Stadt Solothurn, Solothurn 2000, ISBN   3-905245  ( defective ) , p. 3 .
  7. ↑ Paul L. Feser: Guide through the hermitage of St. Verena and the church at Kreuzen near Solothurn . 2., ext. Edition. Bürgergemeinde der Stadt Solothurn, Solothurn 2000, ISBN   3-905245  ( defective ) , p. 45 .
  8. ^ Christoph Zürcher: Gassmann, Franz Joseph Amatus. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
personal data
SURNAME Gassmann, Franz Josef
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hudibras (nickname); Gassmann, Franz Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss printer, bookseller, newspaper founder and editor
DATE OF BIRTH November 20, 1755
PLACE OF BIRTH Solothurn
DATE OF DEATH March 7, 1802
Place of death Solothurn