Otto Friedrich Bassermann

Otto Friedrich Bassermann (born March 12, 1839 in Mannheim ; † January 31, 1916 ), often just called Otto Bassermann , was a German publisher who ran Bassermann Verlag for several decades .

Otto Friedrich Bassermann was the son of Friedrich Daniel Bassermann . Today he is best known as the editor of numerous picture stories and prose texts by the humorous draftsman and poet Wilhelm Busch . The collaboration began after Saint Anthony of Padua was published by Moritz Schauenburg in 1870 and the publisher Moritz Schauenburg was therefore sued as the publisher by the public prosecutor in Offenburg. When Wilhelm Busch offered him another anti-clerical picture story with the pious Helene , Moritz Schauenburg turned it down because he feared further lawsuits. The work, which was quickly translated into other European languages, was then published by Wilhelm Busch's long-time friend Otto Friedrich Bassermann.

Life

Father Friedrich Daniel Bassermann in a lithograph from 1842

Single scene from The Pious Helene

Otto Friedrich Bassermann was born in Mannheim in 1839. His father was the well-known politician and entrepreneur Friedrich Daniel Bassermann, who, as a liberal member in the Second Chamber of the Assembly of Estates of the Grand Duchy of Baden , had helped shape the politics of his time, and in 1848 made a name for himself as a brilliant speaker as a confidante of his Baden compatriots in the Frankfurt National Assembly , but shot himself in 1855 as a result of a mental illness. At sixteen, Otto Friedrich Bassermann was a half-orphan. After his father's suicide, he was separated from his mother and siblings and trained as a bookseller in Munich. He was very well educated and had a well-trained voice.

Wilhelm Busch and Bassermann met in 1857 at the Munich artists' association Jung München . Busch's career as a humorous draftsman and poet had not yet begun. At that time he was hanging around in Lüthorst and Munich without a plan , he had largely given up his art studies. The summer of 1859, which Busch and Bassermann spent together in Bavaria, was particularly formative for the friendship. At this time Bassermann was suffering from an eye disease and the then completely destitute Busch acted as a reader and secretary for Bassermann. The correspondence between Otto Friedrich Bassermann and Wilhelm Busch began in May 1860, when Busch carried out his first orders for the publisher Kaspar Braun , and lasted almost seamlessly until Bassermann's death.

In February 1869 Bassermann married his bride of many years, Marie Nietzschke. The marriage meant that Busch avoided contact with Bassermann for almost two years, who in the meantime had settled in Heidelberg with his father's publisher . The works that were published by “Bassermann Verlag” at the time included demanding works such as a multi-volume history of modern philosophy , manuals for engineers, reflections on Roman history, studies on pre-Islamic poetry and anti-war literature.

When Busch offered him the pious Helene and his pictures for the Jobsiade in 1872 , Bassermann immediately accepted. However, he was also concerned about the frivolous scenes in the pious Helene , like Moritz Schauenburg about having problems with the judiciary. Both books turned out to be a great success. After the scandal surrounding Saint Anthony of Padua , the German readership was curious about the works of the scandal author Wilhelm Busch, whose books provoked angry comments from priests and educators. The first edition of the Jobsiade was sold out within four weeks. Against the background of the Kulturkampf there was a large market for anti-Catholic books and Bassermann suggested Father Filucius , who was directed against the Jesuit order, which was particularly controversial at the time . Of the three anti-clerical writings of Busch, it is considered to be the weakest and is also the only work that Busch produced at the suggestion of a publisher. Bassermann himself did not agree with the picture story. In the Börsenblatt of October 26, 1872, he announced it with half-hearted words: In this new little work, Busch deals with the Jesuit question, which is currently very demanding in the daily press, with his own sense of humor ... It is a small, apparently very harmless family play, in its comical one But scenes ... the representatives of all the contending parties appear in allegorical figures ...

After the publication of Balduin Bählamm, the poet and painter Klecksel who prevented him , the last two picture stories in Wilhelm Busch's work, there was a crisis between Bassermann and Busch. It was primarily about fee issues. In the opinion of Busch biographer Eva Weissweiler , the background to the conflict between the two friends is a growing dissatisfaction between Bassermann and his author. The situation came to a head to such an extent that Wilhelm Busch hired a lawyer in September 1884. The publishing collaboration continued, however, and Bassermann published, among other things, Eduards Traum , a prose text by Busch, about whose literary value opinions differ widely to this day. Bassermann brought out this work in only a very small edition. Finally, in 1896, Wilhelm Busch ceded all rights to his works to the publisher. For this, Busch received a settlement of 50,000 gold marks .

literature

• Eva Weissweiler : Wilhelm Busch. The laughing pessimist. A biography . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-462-03930-6

Individual evidence

1. ^ Entry in the state bibliography of Baden-Württemberg
2. ↑ Note ( Memento of the original from February 5, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. for the wrong year of death 1907 at www.zisska.de 
3. ↑ Weissweiler, p. 109
4. ↑ Weissweiler, p. 112
5. ↑ Weissweiler, p. 186
6. ↑ Weissweiler, p. 207
7. ↑ quoted from Weissweiler, p. 213
8. ↑ Weissweiler, p. 303
9. ↑ 50,000 marks from 1896 corresponds to around 500,000 euros in 2010