Gerard Meerman

Gerard Meerman, portrait of Jean-Baptiste Perroneau (1715–1783)

Gerard Meerman (also Gerard Meermann , born December 6, 1722 in Leiden , † December 15, 1771 in Aachen ) was a Dutch scholar, author and book collector.

Life

Gerard Meerman came from an old family who changed their name from De Vlieger to Meerman in the 16th century . He was a son of Johan Meerman (1687-1746), director ( Bewindhebber ) of the Dutch East India Company , and Catharina Adriana de la Court (1690-1752). He showed outstanding talents early on and studied law at the University of Leiden until 1741 . Since then he has been engaged in literary work in spite of numerous businesses that have drawn him. From 1744 to 1747 he undertook major trips through Europe, met scholars and lawyers and visited libraries. On his return in 1748 he was appointed councilor of Rotterdam . He held this position with a colleague until 1753 and alone until 1766, in which year he took his leave for health reasons. In 1757 he was sent to England as envoy to settle some differences that had arisen between this power and Holland. The Emperor Joseph II then granted him the title of Baron of the Holy German Empire . From 1766 Meerman was councilor to the great chamber of commerce. He was a great book lover and owned one of the most important libraries of his time. Among other things, he made investigations into the origin of letterpress printing . In 1766 he was registered under the registration number. 678 with the academic nickname Aemilius Papinianus I. a member of the Leopoldina selected. At the end of 1771 he died in Aachen at the age of 49. His son Johan Meerman (1753-1815) was a learned writer and statesman.

Works

• Diatriba antiquario-juridica inauguralis, exhibens nonnullas de rebus mancipi, et nec mancipi, earumque nuncupatione conjecturas , Leiden 1741
• Specimen calculi fluxionalis , Leiden 1742
• Specimen animadversionum criticarum in Gaii institutiones , 1743
• Novus thesaurus juris civiliis et canonici , 7 vols., The Hague 1751–53
• Conspectus originum typographicarum, proxime in lucem edendarum , Amsterdam 1761
• Origines typographicae , The Hague 1765
• Gerardi Meerman et doctorum virorum ad eum epistolae atque observationes de chartae vulgaris seu lineae origine , The Hague 1767

literature

• Meermann, Gerhard , in Heinrich August Pierer (Ed.): Universal-Lexikon der Gegenwart und Past , 4th edition 1857-65, Vol. 11, p. 76.
• Ferdinand Neigebaur : History of the imperial Leopoldino-Carolinische German academy of natural scientists during the second century of its existence. Friedrich Frommann, Jena 1860, p. 226 ( digitized version )
• Meerman (Baron Gérard) , in: Nouvelle biographie générale , vol. 34 (1861), col. 711 f.
• Meerman, Gerard , in: Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek (NNBW), Vol. 1 (1911), Col. 1320 f.