Johann Ferdinand von Schönfeld

Johann Nepomuk Ferdinand Ritter von Schoenfeld (* 20 July 1750 in Prague , † 15. October 1821 in Vienna ) was the most important Czech printers, publishers, booksellers and paper manufacturer, which in time since the mid-1790s in Vienna as an art collector and patron seemed .

family

According to the information of the genealogist Procházka , Johann Ferdinand von Schönfeld's father was the Prague imperial book printer Anton Johann Ritter von Schönfeld. Czech sources expressly contradict this, because there was neither a court printer of this name nor can any printed works from him be verified; in fact, it is the Prague stable master Johann Anton Schönfeld (born June 30, 1695 in Prague as the son of the bell founder Anton Schönfeld). Procházka's assertion that Schönfeld's mother was Anna Maria, daughter of Johann Georg Freiherr von Schumann on Unter Körnsalz and Rappotitz in South Bohemia, is also incorrect, because she died in Bamberg in 1708 . The mother's name was Anna Maria, the maiden name has not been passed down, and she died in Prague on February 22, 1755. On April 17, 1744, Johann Anton Schönfeld bought a house in Prague's New Town (Spálená Street) where his sons Franz Expedit (7 March 1745) and Johann Nepomuk (July 20, 1750) were born, and died on January 10, 1773 in his former parents' house at Jesuitergasse 492, which was now owned by the Lehner (also Löhner) bell foundry family, who originally came from Stuttgart . On January 28, 1776, Johann Ferdinand von Schönfeld married Johanna Nepomucena Lehner (born May 21, 1756 in Prague) in Prague, daughter of the late bell founder Jakob Konrad Lehner. From this marriage there were four adult children:

• Ignaz (1779–1839), civil servant, entrepreneur and genealogist.
• Franz (1780–1847), kk lieutenant colonel.
• August, * 1785 in Prague, † before 1818, ⚭ Johanna Johanot von Ottenbach, † January 26, 1862 in Vienna.
• Jakob, * 1795 in Vienna, † 1841 in Prague, Prague court printer, father of Anton von Schönfeld , field marshal lieutenant.
• Nanette, ⚭ N. Mathes.

Life

Schönfeld learned the book printer and bookseller trade from Thomas von Trattner and Josef Ritter von Kurzböck in Vienna and after the death of his father (1773) opened his first printing house in Prague's Jesuitergasse 495.In 1776 he moved to the house of his mother-in-law Barbara Lehner (number 492 ). After her death in 1786, he also acquired the neighboring houses 493 and 494 and combined them into one building. In 1795 he relocated the printing works to the nearby Annenkloster, which he also largely acquired in 1816. He placed the emphasis on the printing of popular works of religious, instructive and entertaining literature, which mostly consisted of reprints of religious Catholic and Protestant texts and thus addressed broad sections of the population as inexpensive mass reading, as well as on newspapers. He published the Something Weekly in early 1774, followed by the first Prague Jewish newspaper in 1775. Schönfeld had previously acquired the three most important ones from other publishers. This is the Prager Post-Zeitung published by Rosenmüller or, more recently, Rosenmüller's heirs , which he has published with the new title kk Prager Oberpostamts-Zeitung under the direction of August Zitte on January 2, 1781, as well as the Czech one that has also been published by Rosenmüller so far Newspaper (German title: Tuesdays and Saturdays-Prager-Botenzeitung ) with the new title Schönfeldské Cýs. Král. Pražské Nowiny under the direction of Wenzel Kramerius on January 7, 1786. The third was last published under the title Prager Staats- und schehre Nachrichten by the Pruscha publishing house, received the new title kk privilegirtes Prager Intelligenceblatt in 1796 and was merged as a Wednesday supplement with the Prager Oberpostamts-Zeitung in 1800, which was finally renamed the kk privilegirtes Prager Zeitung in 1814 was.

Schönfeld was known for his unscrupulous business practices. In order to obtain preferential orders from the authorities or the wealthy Bohemian nobility, he, who was born as a bourgeois Johann Nepomuk Schönfeld, changed his name to Johann Ferdinand Edler von Schönfeld when he opened his printing house in 1773 and even his wife sometimes stepped out as a born von Lehner in appearance. On January 20, 1787, after a thorough examination of the documents submitted by Schönfeld, the Prague authorities prohibited the illegal appropriation of the nobility under threat of punishment. This happened so late because Schönfeld's alleged nobility had only been made public by its competitors in several diatribes in 1786 , but by then he had obtained the exclusive rights to produce official printed matter such as the gubernium , the courts or the university in Prague Having become a court printer, he operated eight printing presses in 1782 and a total of 17 printing presses in 1787 and had further branches in Vienna, Leipzig and Karlsbad . In order to save his nobility after all, Schönfeld turned to the Vienna court chancellery. In his petition he referred only marginally to the alleged noble descent, rather he now referred to the services he had already rendered to the empire. In fact, on March 15, 1787, allegedly after the payment of 1500 guilders, he received the recognition of the old nobility with the addition of noble . This was followed on August 13, 1814, the inclusion in the knighthood , on October 1, 1814 in the series of the Lower Austrian knighthood families and on April 10 (diploma of July 14th) 1816 the allocation of the Bohemian incolate . See about his nobility → Schönfeld (Bohemian noble family) .

Schönfeld invested his large profits from the printing business in various Prague-based companies. He founded a clothing factory, a warehouse whose goods were advertised in his newspapers, and a lending library . He had a simple paper mill expanded into a large, modern paper factory, for which he also acquired a market garden in 1790 in order to test vegetable substitutes (e.g. from mulberry trees ) for paper production. In 1784 he bought a large piece of land in front of the then Spitteltor in what would later become the Prague suburb of Karolinenthal , where he built a large villa and an extensive English garden with a summer restaurant and theater, which he made available to the Prague population.

As early as the middle of the 1790s, Schönfeld largely withdrew from day-to-day business, mostly staying in Vienna and finally moving there in 1799. In 1803 he bought a large farm in St. Helena , near Baden near Vienna, and converted it into his summer villa . He leased the nearby Rauhenstein castle ruins , had some of them repaired, laid out paths and gardens, and made the complex a popular excursion destination. After his nobility had been officially recognized by Vienna, he acquired the Trnová manor south of Prague in 1789 and opened a training facility for agricultural supervisory staff there in 1791.

Schönfeld had gained particular fame through his technological museum and his aristocratic archive. The intensive preoccupation with these two collections is the reason for the almost complete withdrawal from his other endeavors. In 1811 he had returned his Viennese book printer justice. It was handed over to Felix Stöckholzer von Hirschfeld. He also sold his properties in Trnová and Karolinenthal.

Johann Ferdinand Ritter von Schönfeld died on October 15, 1821 in Vienna. The Prague print shop and paper factory was taken over by his son Jakob, who sold the print shop to Gottlieb Haase and Sons in 1835 and limited himself to paper production from then on.

Works (selection)

(Selection)

• Yearbook of Music from Vienna and Prague . Prague 1796 ( onb.ac.at - (This work, which is important for the music scene in both cities, was reprinted in 1976 on the initiative of Otto Biba by the Katzbichler music publisher)).
• The old help of the Bohemians and Moravians, through which they usually knew how to make up for the suffering and damage of war . Prague 1808 ( onb.ac.at ).
• Materials on the diplomatic history of the nobility in the Austrian imperial state . tape 1 . Prague 1812 ( google.de ).
• Division of the diplomatic aristocratic archive, which is located in the v. Schönfeld'schen Museo in Vienna is located . Incorrectly under Ignaz v. Schönfeld led! Vienna 1812 ( google.de ).
• First alphabet of the old family documents, which can be found in Ritter v. Schönfeld's Viennese aristocratic archives are located . Incorrectly under Ignaz v. Schönfeld led! Prague 1818 (reprint: Trier 2005).
• General catalog of the first 6000 family names, their coats of arms and coats of arms, which the famous archivist Joseph Klauser of Prague from all majestic coats of arms letters, documents and registers of coats of arms, dedications, graves, churches and altars, then of bells, prayer chairs, windows and doors through more than 30 Has collected for years . Erroneously listed under Joseph Klauser! Prague 1818 ( google.de ).

literature

• Roxane Cuvay: The Technological Museum Johann Ferdinand von Schönfeld . In: Viennese history sheets . tape 38 , 1983, p. 120-136 .
• Margarete Egger: The Schönfeld family and their cultural significance for Vienna . Viennese phil. Dissertation No. 17991. 1951.
• J. Mikuletzky:  Schönfeld, Johann Ferdinand. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 11, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1999, ISBN 3-7001-2803-7 , p. 74 f. (Direct links on p. 74 , p. 75 ).
• Novel by Procházka : The cultural and historical significance of the Prague family v. Schönfeld and her clan for genealogy and heraldry . In: Archives for kin research . No. 33/34 , 1967, pp. 42-46 .
• Aladar Guido Przedak: History of the German magazine system in Bohemia . Heidelberg 1904 ( archive.org ).
• Ferdinand Seibt , Hans Lemberg , Helmut Slapnicka: Biographical lexicon on the history of the Bohemian countries . Ed .: Collegium Carolinum (Institute) . tape 3 . Munich 2000, ISBN 3-486-55973-7 , pp. 735 ( ostdok.de ).
• Petr Voit: Encyclopedie knihy: starší knihtisk a příbuzné obory mezi polovinou 15. a počátkem 19. století . Prague 2006 ( encyklopedieknihy.cz ).
• Josef Volf: History of book printing in Bohemia and Moravia until 1848 . Weimar 1928, p. 134-138 .
• Josef Volf: Šlechtictví dvorního knihtiskaře Jana Ferdinanda šl. ze Schönfeldu [The nobility of the court book printer Johann Ferdinand v. Schönfeld] . In: Časopis Společnosti přátel starožitností . tape 36 . Prague 1928, p. 28-33 .
• Constantin von Wurzbach : Schönfeld, Johann Ferdinand Ritter von . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 31st part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1876, pp. 152–156 ( digitized version ).

Web links

• Literature by and about Johann Ferdinand von Schönfeld in the catalog of the German National Library
• Portrait I.
• Portrait II
• Photo of the Villa Schönfeld in Baden from 1900

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Procházka, p. 42.
2. ^ Voit [1] .
3. ^ Volf: Buchdruck, p. 259.
4. ↑ Volf: Šlechtictví, p.30 f.
5. ↑ Johann Seifert: Anjetzo floristic render High families Kurtze Historical and Genealogical description . tape 10 . Regensburg 1710, p. 125 ff . ( google.de ).
6. ↑ Franz Wißgrill: scene of the rural Lower Austrian nobility from the gentry and knighthood . tape 4 . Vienna 1800, p. 245 ( google.de ).
7. ^ Archives: Parish St. Martin in der Mauer. Holdings: burial book, born 1735–1771. Document: Sheet 59. Prague City Archives. 02/22/1755. Signature: MAR Z3. link
8. ↑ Volf: Šlechtictví, S. 31st
9. ↑ Archives: Parish of St. Giles (Jiljí). Holdings: burial book, born 1756–1774. Document: Sheet 229. Prague City Archives. 02/08/1772. Signature: JIL Z3. link
10. ^ Eduard Šebesta: Popis obyvatelstva hlavního města Prahy z roku 1770 . 1 (Staré město). Prague 1933, p. 109 ( hranet.cz [PDF]).
11. ↑ Archives: Parish of St. Giles (Jiljí). Holdings: marriage book, born 1731–1781. Document: Sheet 493. Prague City Archives. 01/28/1776. Signature: JIL O3. link
12. ↑ To the most joyful marriage of the noble gentleman Johann von Schönfeld with the well-bored maiden Johann Lehnerinn . Prague 1776 ( google.de ).
13. ↑ Deceased in Vienna . In: Wiener Zeitung . No. 24 . Vienna January 30, 1862, p. 12 ( onb.ac.at ).
14. ↑ Voit; Christian Fürchtegott Gellert: The widow . Johann Ferdinand Edlen von Schönfeldt, in the Jesuitergasse Nro. 495, Prague 1773 ( google.de ).
15. ^ Eduard Herold: Picturesque walks through Prague . tape 1 . Prague 1866, p. 367-368 ( google.de ).
16. ^ Franz Klutschak: Chronicle of the Annenkloster in Prague . Prague 1887, p. 134 .
17. ^ Kk Prager Oberpostamts-Zeitung . tape 1 , no. 1 . Prague 1781 ( google.de ).
18. ↑ Schönfeldské Cýs. Král. Pražské Nowiny . tape 1 , no. 1 . Prague 1786 ( google.cz ).
19. ↑ kk privileged Prague intelligence paper . tape 3 , no. 1 . Prague 1798 ( google.de ).
20. ↑ See in detail: Letters from Vienna on the state of literature and the book trade in Austria . In: The German viewer . tape 8 , no. 22 . Zurich 1788 ( google.de ).
21. ^ Archives: Parish St. Martin in der Mauer. Holdings: Baptism book, born 1750–1771. Document: Sheet 6. Prague City Archives. 07/20/1750. Signature: MAR N5. link
22. ↑ Cuvay, p. 124 f .; see. in detail Volf, Šlechtictví; as well as the three diatribes: The Viennese authors versus the nobles von Schönfeld, printer and bookseller at the Kärtnerthor . Vienna 1785, urn : nbn: de: kobv: 11-d-4737052 . The Prague book printers contra Johann Ferdinand Schönfeld . Prague 1786 ( google.de ). The noble von Schönfeld defends against the Prague printers . Prague 1786.
23. ^ Letters from Vienna on the state of literature and the book trade in Austria . In: The German viewer . tape 8 , no. 22 . Zurich 1788, p. 324 ( google.de ).
24. ↑ The castle forts and knight palaces of the Austrian monarchy . tape 8 . Brno 1820 ( google.de ).
25. ^ Anton Mayer: Vienna's book printer history 1482-1882 . tape 2 . Vienna 1887, p. 124-125 .
26. ↑ cf. in detail up to 1798: Georg Christoph Hamberger: The learned Teutschland or Lexicon of the now living German writers . tape 7 . Lemgo 1798, p. 281 ( google.de ).