Ludwig Konrad Bethmann

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Ludwig Konrad Bethmann , also Ludwig Conrad Bethmann (born June 23, 1812 in Helmstedt , † December 5, 1867 in Wolfenbüttel ) was a German historian , librarian and university professor . From 1854 to 1867 he headed the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel.

Life

Ludwig Konrad Bethmann was born in Helmstedt in 1812. He attended high school there until he graduated from high school in 1830. He then studied history, German and antiquity in Göttingen . His academic teachers included Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm , Karl Otfried Müller and Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann . Bethmann was 1833 state exam for teachers at secondary schools and was subsequently initially worked as a tutor before 1838 at Dahlmann in Jena to the Dr. phil. received his doctorate. In the years 1834 and 1837 to 1854, Bethmann worked under Georg Heinrich Pertz at the Monumenta Germaniae Historica . He edited around 30 texts, including the world chronicle of Sigebert von Gembloux (1844) and the chronicle of the Novalesa monastery (1846). Several scientific manuscript journeys took him to Holland, Belgium, France and, in 1844, to Italy. From there he visited Greece and Egypt, where he met Karl Richard Lepsius , with whom he remained lifelong friends. Bethmann returned to Germany in 1846. He stayed in Berlin for four years and went back to Italy in 1850, where he worked in several archives and libraries.

Head of the Herzog August Library Wolfenbüttel

After the retirement of the Wolfenbüttel library director Karl Philipp Christian Schönemann , Bethmann received a call from the ducal government to this position during his stay in Italy in 1854. He took up the position in October 1854 and held it until his death. He earned services to the further development of the library by obtaining the legal deposit right for new publishers in the Duchy of Braunschweig in 1856 and increasing the budget for book purchases from 400 to 800 thalers in 1861. For the accesses since around 1700 he introduced a new list based on a modern system, today's mean list . He also set up an interlibrary loan for manuscripts and prints. During his tenure there was a significant increase in the number of loans.

In the last years of his life, Bethmann gave lectures on the history of architecture at the Collegium Carolinum in Braunschweig. He was a corresponding member of the academies in Berlin and Göttingen and the German Archaeological Institute in Rome .

Bethmann died in Wolfenbüttel in December 1867 at the age of 55.

Fonts (selection)

  • Sigeberti Gemblacensis chronica cum continuationibus. In: Georg Heinrich Pertz u. a. (Ed.): Scriptores (in Folio) 6: Chronica et annales aevi Salici. Hanover 1844, pp. 268-535 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )
  • Some manuscripts from the Graflich Schönborn library in Pommersfelde . In: Serapeum 6, 1845, pp. 33-39.
  • Journey through Germany and Italy in the years 1844–1846 . In: Archive of the Society for Older German History 9, 1847, pp. 513–658.
  • The foundation of Braunschweig and the cathedral of Henry the Lion . In: Westermanns Jahrbuch der Illustrirten Deutsche Monatshefte 10, 1861, pp. 524–559.
  • Duke August the Younger, founder of the Wolfenbüttler Library , Bindseil, Wolfenbüttel 1863. ( digitized version )

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Otto von Heinemann: The ducal library in Wolfenbüttel. A contribution to the history of German book collections . 2., completely new. Wolfenbüttel 1894 (Reprint Amsterdam 1969), p. 241.
personal data
SURNAME Bethmann, Ludwig Konrad
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bethmann, Ludwig Conrad
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian, librarian and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH June 23, 1812
PLACE OF BIRTH Helmstedt
DATE OF DEATH December 5, 1867
Place of death Wolfenbüttel