Johann Karl Philipp Spener

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Johann Karl Philipp Spener (born September 5, 1749 in Berlin ; † January 27, 1827 there ) was a German publisher, bookseller, publicist and editor of the Spenersche Zeitung .

Life

Spener was born as the son of the bookseller Johann Karl Spener (1710–1756) and his wife Sophie Helene, b. Würful (1728–1799) born. The father was a grandson of the theologian Philipp Jacob Spener and brother-in-law of the publisher Ambrosius Haude , who in 1740 founded the newspaper Berlinische Nachrichten von Staats- und schultten Dinge . After Haude's death in 1748, Spener senior took over his publishing bookstore and continued to run it together with his widowed sister, Susanne Haude, under the name Haude und Spener . After the death of both partners, the publisher and newspaper initially fell to Sophie Spener. In 1764 she obtained a privilege from Frederick II , which ensured the successor of her underage sons.

The young Karl Spener traveled to Germany, Switzerland, France, England and the Netherlands between 1769 and 1772 and met numerous booksellers, publishers, scholars and writers, including Joseph Banks , Reinhold Forster and Georg Forster , with whom he later did business stayed connected.

In 1772 he took over the management of the bookstore and newspaper. He gave up the retail book trade and from then on concentrated on selling his own publishing works and on editing the newspaper, which he completely took over. He expanded his network of correspondents and in particular the international coverage from London and Paris, raised the level of local news and gradually added literary and scientific reports to the newspaper.

In addition to the Berlinische Nachrichten , Spener has also published the enlightening Berlinische Monatsschrift since 1783 , in which many well-known names such as Immanuel Kant , Moses Mendelssohn , Friedrich Nicolai , or Wilhelm von Humboldt contributed, as well as the women's literary magazine Iris and the “ Weekly News ” published by Anton Friedrich Büsching of new maps, geographic, statistical and historical books and things ” .

After his brother's death in 1813, he inherited his printing company and was able to produce his magazines in-house from then on. From 1823 the Berlinische Nachrichten was the first newspaper on the European mainland to be published on fast press based on the English model. The circulation had meanwhile risen to 10,000 copies and had surpassed the Vossische Zeitung as the most widely read newspaper in Berlin.

In 1826 Spener withdrew from active business. Since his only son had already died, he handed over the management of the book publisher to Julius Siegfried Joseephy (1792-1856), newspaper and printer to Samuel Heinrich Spiker .

Johann Karl Philipp Spener died in Berlin in January 1827 at the age of 77. He was buried in the Trinity Cemetery in front of the Potsdamer Tor . The grave was lost when the cemetery was leveled in 1922 at the latest.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 , pp. 152–153.
personal data
SURNAME Spener, Johann Karl Philipp
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Spener, Johann Karl; Spener, Johann Carl; Spener, Johann Carl Philipp
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German publisher and publicist
DATE OF BIRTH September 5, 1749
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH January 27, 1827
Place of death Berlin