Johann Georg Friedrich Jacobi

Steel engraving

Johann Georg Friedrich Jacobi (born February 15, 1751 in Schwabach in Bavaria, † June 11, 1824 in Weißenburg in Bavaria ) was a German merchant, publisher, lieutenant and customs officer .

Life

Johann Georg Friedrich Jacobi, the son of the merchant and needle manufacturer Friedrich Jacobi, moved to the Free Imperial City of Weißenburg (in Bavaria) in 1769, where he first tried to set up a large-scale needle factory in collaboration with his father. With the Schwabacher Nadler-Gilde, who feared strong competition, there were soon arguments, in the course of which the father was arrested and imprisoned. With the help of the municipality of Weißenburg, however, the son managed to obtain an imperial privilege for so-called needle marks, which were very similar to those of the Schwabacher family. The process is considered to be one of the first to get trademarks . In the main it was probably more about selling needles than about own production; before the turn of the century, the trade in needles was no longer detectable.

The Jacobis were also inn owners: First, the father bought a prestigious house in a prime location on the former Holzmarkt, after his death the son moved to a side street (Bachgasse) in the meantime, and from 1791 ran a garden café at the gates of the city on the Nürnberger Straße and finally built a new inn there in 1801, into which the "Harmonie" society moved and gave the house its first name. Later it was called "Casino", under which it is still used as an inn today. It remained in the family until 1728.

Apparently, neither the needle publisher nor the inn could satisfy the knowledge-hungry Johann Georg Friedrich Jacobi. He concluded the wine trade that his father had conducted with three public raffles for the wine stocks. Looking for an independent commercial activity, he saw his future in the publishing of books and writings, as there was an increasing need for reading material during the Enlightenment . After a few attempts with a periodical publication, “Secret Parcel from the Nordgau” and a “Weekly Address and Advertisement Sheet”, he attempted to collect all of geographical knowledge with the “New Collection of Geographical-Historical-Statistical Writings”, which appeared in deliveries from 1783 of the time to spread in an inexpensive edition. The collection was to comprise 30 volumes, a significant part of which was based on Anton Friedrich Büsching 's geography work, published in 11 parts since 1754 . Jacobi was soon insulted by the press as a bad reprinter, but regardless of this he pursued his goal with regard to a popular edition and added additions via staff and increasingly also with his own hand, and even invited his readers to contribute.

An editorially revised reprint was also the »Little Instruction, Emergency and Help Booklet for Citizens and Farmers« by Rudolph Zacharias Becker, which he stripped of the novel-like framework story, instead with a »Little Arzney Book for People and Cattle« and a »Book of Superstition, Misuse and false delusion «added.

The series of geographical writings came to an unwanted end as a result of the political turmoil and wars after the French Revolution in 1795 - a volume about France could of course not be written at that time.

Due to financial difficulties, Jacobi hired himself out as a soldier, led the small Weissenburg troops as first lieutenant and fought with the imperial army in Mainz and in the Rhineland. While still serving as a soldier, he wrote - again based on a template - a three-volume »New, complete and general goods and trading lexicon« with information on current retail prices. After his time as a soldier, he hired himself out as a customs officer from 1801, to the annoyance of his fellow citizens, even in front of the gates of the Freyen imperial city of Weißenburg. From 1806 to 1810 he was finally accepted into the service of the Royal Bavarian Customs Authority as a "Maut- und Zoll-Oberamts Gegenschreiber". A "collection of useful and proven contributions to the best of town, house and agriculture, gardening, hunting, forestry and technology" begun in 1800 was not continued after four editions during the Napoleonic wars - even in a continuation of its geographical range was initially unthinkable.

Only after the Congress of Vienna did Jacobi speak up again from 1815 on with his "New systematic and general description of the earth for all estates," which after an introductory first volume was the first geographical representation of the young Kingdom of Bavaria in six more volumes contains.

When the Tambora volcano erupted on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa in 1815 and caused bad harvests in the years 1816 and 1817 due to its dust clouds in the northern hemisphere, Jacobi propagated in 1818 with his book "About potatoes, potatoes, earth pears" Growing potatoes and enriched the book with his own recipes. This book is surely his most personal legacy.

With the publication of a weekly news, question and notification sheet, he finally became the founder of the first Weissenburg newspaper in 1819, which continued until 1950.

Works

Johann Georg Friedrich Jacobi as editor and author

• "New collection of geographical-historical-statistical writings", 17 volumes, Weißenburg and Schwabach 1783–1795.
• "Geography of all imperial free imperial cities in Germany", Weißenburg 1786.
• “Weekly address and notification sheet”, Weißenburg, publication documented for 1787.
• "Lessons, emergency and help books for citizens and farmers", 2 volumes, Weißenburg 1790 - 6th new edition 1804.
• “Arzney booklet for people and cattle”, Weißenburg 1791.
• “The book of superstition, abuse and false delusions. - A necessary contribution to the teaching emergency and help booklet ”. Weißenburg 1790.
• "New complete and general commodity and trade lexicon". 3 volumes, Heilbronn and Rothenburg od T. 1798–1800.
• "Collection of useful and proven contributions to the best of city, house and agriculture, gardening, hunting and forestry and technology", Weißenburg 1800, 1801, Augsburg 1802 and 1803.
• "New systematic and general description of the earth for all classes". Augsburg 1815-1819.
  • Volume 1: "General introduction to the description of the earth for a complete knowledge of geography". Augsburg 1815
  • Volumes 2 to 7 contain: "New systematic and general description of the earth of the Bavarian royal state" Volumes 1 to 6, Augsburg, 1816 to 1819.
• “About potatoes, potatoes, ground pears, their different types, cultivation and appropriate economic use, especially in the kitchen. Collected from the best writings, experiments made from them and from personal experience and edited by G. Fr. Jacobi ”, Nuremberg 1818. - Facsimile reprint in“ Jacobis Kartoffelbuch von 1818 ”, Weißenburger Heimatbücher, Volume 13, Weißenburg 2006.
• "Weekly news, question and notification sheet of the Royal. Baier. City of Weissenburg in the Rezatkreise “, Weißenburg, from 1819 ff.

Jacobi as a publisher

• Geiger, Carl Ignaz: "Secret Parcel from the Nordgau". A periodical publication, Weißenburg - 1781, published by JGF Jacobi.
• Prosper Dallingers “... Collected news and comments about the spruce moth or the tree caterpillar ...”, Weißenburg 1798
• Roth, Johann Theodor: "Treatise on the rights of bees", Weißenburg 1798.
• "Prosper Dallinger's heart to grow and use the tiger nuts", Weißenburg 1799.

literature

• Bernhard Aign: "Johann Georg Friedrich Jacobi - A Weissenburg Citizen and Publisher" - BoD-Verlag 2009 ISBN 978-3-837020670

Web links

• Literature by and about Johann Georg Friedrich Jacobi in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by Johann Georg Friedrich Jacobi in the Gutenberg-DE project