Wilhelm Hoffmann (bookseller)

Johann Wilhelm Hoffmann (* July 12, 1777 in Weimar ; † September 21, 1859 there ) was a Weimar publisher and bookseller.

Life

Hoffmann was born as the second son of Carl Ludolph Hoffmann into a publishing family. He was confirmed by Johann Gottfried Herder in 1792 and joined his father's book trade and publishing business in the same year. In 1794 he committed himself to a five-year apprenticeship in the Schöpfische Buchhandlung in Zittau , where he became a clerk in 1797 due to his good performance. During his apprenticeship he was a member of the Zittau Liebhabertheater.

At the end of his apprenticeship, Hoffmann started working at the Bohnschen Buchhandlung in Hamburg in 1800 , then returned to Weimar in 1802 to work in his father's business. One of his first innovations was the introduction of viewing mail, which significantly increased book sales. On December 24, 1808, Hoffmann married Elisabeth Cronrath, who came from a Rhenish family. On November 8, 1809 Hoffmann was appointed ducal court bookseller. The first daughter was born in 1811 (died in 1826). In 1814 he became a member of the Landsturm in Weimar and until its dissolution in 1818 head of the battalion. On the eve of Christmas 1815 he set up the first publicly decorated Christmas tree in Germany for poor children . The son Carl was born in 1818. In the 1920s, Hoffmann also served Duke Karl August as a stopover for secret mail. For these and other services he received the Golden Civil Merit Medal in 1825; in the same year he was awarded the title of " Commissioner ".

In 1832 he founded the Weimar newspaper, which he published until 1853 (1848 edition: 2000 copies); publishing activities also included works by Weimar authors (e.g. Herders and Wielands ). Weimar's first address book was also published by Hoffmann in 1839. Hoffmann worked several times as an organizer of fundraising for charitable purposes; in 1848 he collected 700 thalers to build a school in Schöndorf near Weimar. In Weimar, Anna Amalia was a member of the Masonic lodge there for the three roses .

literature

• Fink, Fritz: Minor characters from the classical period in Weimar. - Weimar: Fritz Fink Verlag, 1937. pp. 119-138.