Johann Christian Jacobi (sexton)

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Johann Christian Jacobi , also John Christian Jacobi (* 1670 ; † December 14, 1750 in London ) was a German-English sexton, bookseller, translator and cantor in London.

Life

Beginning of Now Come, the Gentile Savior in the first edition of Psalmodia Germanica

Jacobi is said to have studied at the University of Halle and had close contact with the Halle Pietists around August Hermann Francke . At the beginning of the 18th century he came to London, where in 1708 he was appointed keeper (sexton, administrator) of the Chapel Royal , the German Lutheran court chapel in St James's Palace , and in 1709 he opened a bookshop on the beach with predominantly Pietistic literature. In 1710 he was naturalized in England, and in 1719, in addition to the office of sexton, which he held until his death, he was also cantor at the Chapel Royal. Since his bookstore only existed until 1817 or 1718, he mainly worked as a translator in the following period. He mainly translated pietistic literature from German, but also French works such as the martyr report of the Huguenot Élie Neau .

His translations of German hymns into English were of particular importance. They first appeared in 1720 and were dedicated to King George II's daughters , the princesses Anne , Amalia and Carolina. The collection contained 15 songs. A second enlarged edition appeared in 1722. It contained 62 songs, including two original English hymns by Isaac Watts . A third edition appeared in 1732, and a fourth, again expanded edition, was published after Jacobi's death in 1765.

In the summer of 1735 Jacobi, who sympathized with the Moravian Brethren , traveled to Germany to visit Herrnhut . After his return he worked again as a translator and editor, including for John Byrom .

He was buried in St. Paul's Covent Garden churchyard.

Works

  • A Collection of Divine Hymns, Translated from the High Dutch. London 1720
2nd edition: Psalmodia Germanica; or, a specimen of Divine Hymns, translated from the High Dutch Together with their proper tunes and thorough bass. London: J. Young 1722 ( digitized )
3rd unchanged edition 1732
4th edition: Psalmodia Germanica; or the German Psalmody Translated from the High German. Together with their proper tunes, etc. with Supplement , Edited by J Haberkorn; Third edition, London: J. Haberkorn 1765
  • Memoirs of the life and death of the late Reverend Mr. Anthony William Boehm. By Johann Jakob Rambach , now made English by John Christian Jacobi. London: Richard Ford 1735

literature

  • Donald Burrows: German Chorales and English Hymns: The work of three Germans in London (Jacobi, Lampe and Handel). In: Handel-Jahrbuch 51 (2005), pp. 235-251.
  • Graham Jefcoate: Jacobi, Johann Christian (1670? –1750). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004, accessed August 16, 2017.
  • Andreas Mielke and Sandra Yelton:  Jacobi, Johann Christian. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 30, Bautz, Nordhausen 2009, ISBN 978-3-88309-478-6 , Sp. 667-675.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Graham Jefcoate: "The German Bookseller in the Strand". Johann Christian Jacobi and Pietist Printing in London, approx. 1705–1725. In: Ders .: German printers and booksellers in London 1680–1811. Structures and significance of the German share in the English book trade (= Archive for the History of the Book Industry; Studies, 12). de Gruyter, Berlin a. a. 2015.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A Short Account of the Life and Sufferings of Elias Neau, upon the gallies, and in the dungeons of Marseilles; for the constant profession of the Protestant religion. Newly translated from the French, by John Christian Jacobi. John Lewis, London 1749; see. also Ruth Whelan: Mysticism in Captivity: Élie Neau, French Protestant Galley Slave. In: Louise Nelstrop, Bradley B. Onishi (eds.): Mysticism in the French Tradition: Eruptions from France. Routledge, 2016.
  2. ↑ See The private journal and literary remains of John Byrom. Volume 2/1, Printed for the Chetham society, 1856, pp. 285, 287, 297 (with letters from Jacobi to Byrom)
personal data
SURNAME Jacobi, Johann Christian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jacobi, John Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-English sexton, bookseller, translator and cantor
DATE OF BIRTH 1670
DATE OF DEATH December 14, 1750
Place of death London