Johann Jacob Weber

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Portrait of Johann Jacob Weber (around 1870)

Johann Jacob Weber (born April 3, 1803 in Basel ; † March 16, 1880 in Leipzig ) was a German bookseller and publisher as well as the founder of the J. J. Weber publishing house in Leipzig. For 37 years he was the editor of the Illustrirten Zeitung , Germany's first illustrated magazine .

resume

After completing high school and a seven-year apprenticeship with the Basel bookseller Emanuel Thurneysen , Johann Jacob Weber , who comes from Siblingen , gained his first experience at Pachod in Geneva , the Didot company in Paris , Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig and the Herder'schen bookstore in Freiburg his profession. In 1830 he became managing director of the Leipzig branch of the Paris company Bossange père . He worked there until 1833 as editor of the then very popular and well-known magazine Das Pfennig-Magazin .

In August 1834 Weber went into business for himself and founded the J. J. Weber publishing house . Except for the parent company in Leipzig's old town (Nikolaistraße), all later publishing houses and printers were located in the graphic quarter . In the immediate vicinity of his publishing house, he had the imposing Weber Villa built on the corner of Marienplatz and Chopinstrasse.

Publishing activity

  • The publishing house under Johann Jacob Weber until 1880

The publishing focus of Johann Jacob Weber was on lavishly illustrated works from the field of natural history and in the field of popular educational publications . In 1843, together with Carl Berendt Lorck, he founded the Illustrirte Zeitung , the first illustrated weekly newspaper in Germany, and thus revolutionized the way the world is perceived in the print media. Even today, the series of images, first the steel engravings and later the wood engravings in his illustrated newspaper, shape our ideas of the “good old days”. In 1869 Weber founded his own printing company.

  • Political stance on the revolution of 1848

The Illustrirte reported in the year of the March on technical innovations and natural disasters, social gossip stories were also the topic. The political movement of the Vormärz does not get Weber's attention in the newspaper, apart from the debates about the freedom of the press . In the field of politics, the newspaper brought stories from the European noble families. Against this background, a report about Baron Nathan von Rothschild (edition of October 2, 1847) is striking, which uses long columns to justify that, in the opinion of the author, Jews should not be citizens with equal rights in a country whose majority is Christian. Like all others, the text is not identified by name on the sheet, but it is hard to imagine that anyone other than the editor Weber could represent his opinion so prominently. At the beginning of 1848, the magazine reported on the student riots in Munich and defended the king's rights against the outrage in his dealings with the maitress Lola Montez . A “revolution” took place in Munich “for reasons that can hardly stand the light of the sun,” commented the newspaper on the report of its correspondent. (March 4th, 1848) The attitude of Weber and the Illustrirten Zeitung to the revolution of 1848 is expressed in his political-philosophical commentator under the heading “The struggle of the peoples and the powers”: “Only then can this struggle have a good outcome, when the powers grant the peoples their full, long-deprived right, but no longer, and the peoples leave to the mighty what belongs to them for their own good. ”(May 12, 1849) Weber helped to justify the suppression of the uprising in Dresden in May 1849 the remark that the violent insurrection "had to be fought by all means if law and order were not to be threatened". (Edition June 2, 1849)

After the failed revolution of 1848, Weber was not exposed to any political persecution, he was able to continue his magazine until his death. He has received a number of awards and honors for his publishing work. In 1864 he was appointed a member of the Masters of the Free German Higher Education Institute ( Frankfurt / Main ) and in 1873 an honorary member of the Società scientifica letteraria, artistica ed umanitaria El Chark in Constantinople . For the publication of Franz Kugler's story of Frederick the Great , he was awarded the Prussian Golden Medal for Art and Science .

  • Continuation of publishing activities under the sons of Johann Jacob Weber

After Weber's death, his sons took over the company. A branch was opened in Berlin together with a chemical graphic institute and a bookbindery . The publishing house was totally destroyed in the Second World War .

In 1948 it was expropriated. In 1951 the company was deleted from the commercial register. Company archive material such as author contracts and printed matter are stored in the Leipzig State Archives .

Important editions and book series

"The Mammon and His Slave". Wood engraving. From the series of masterpieces of woodcutting art , Verlag J. J. Weber, Leipzig

Pictures of the publishing history

  • The publisher's oldest shop: Nikolaistraße 29

  • The publishing house in Querstraße until 1858

  • The residential and publishing house at Mittelstrasse 2 (1858–1896)

  • Building complex printing and publishing house J. J. Weber, architect: Max Bösenberg

  • Former building of the J. J. Weber publishing house, Reudnitzer Straße 1–7 (2012)

  • Former villa of the J. J. Weber publishing family, Chopinstrasse / corner of Marienplatz (2012)

Honors of the publisher's founder

In 1934, on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the J. J. Weber publishing house, a square in Leipzig- Probstheida on today's Prager Strasse was named after Johann Jacob Weber.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see the report The 1848 Revolution in the mirror of the Illustrirten Zeitung , http://www.medien-gesellschaft.de/html/1848_in_der_illustrirten.html ;
  2. ↑ Edition available online at http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=izl&date=18471002&seite=1&zoom=33
  3. ↑ see the report The Lola Montaz Revolution in Munich in the spring of 1848 in the Spiegel of the Leipziger Illustrirten Zeitung , http://www.medien-gesellschaft.de/html/1848_lola-revolution.html
  4. ↑ Edition available online at http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=izl&date=18480304&seite=1&zoom=33
  5. ↑ Edition available online at http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=izl&date=18490512&seite=1&zoom=33
  6. ↑ Edition available online at http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=izl&date=18490602&seite=1&zoom=33
  7. ↑ State Archive in Leipzig, inventory 21085 JJ Weber, Leipzig
  8. ^ Gina Klank, Gernot Griebsch: Lexikon Leipziger Straßeennamen , Verlag im Wissenschaftszentrum Leipzig, 1995, ISBN 3-930433-09-5 , p. 114

Web links

Commons : Johann Jacob Weber  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Johann Jacob Weber  - Sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Weber, Johann Jacob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German bookseller and publisher
DATE OF BIRTH April 3, 1803
PLACE OF BIRTH Basel
DATE OF DEATH March 16, 1880
Place of death Leipzig