Wilhelm Spemann

Johann Wilhelm Spemann (born December 24, 1844 in Unna , † June 29, 1910 in Stuttgart ) was a German publisher .

Life

Wilhelm Spemann's father Adolph Spemann (born February 6, 1812 in Hörde, now Dortmund, † December 16, 1851 in Dortmund) came from an old farming family from Rheinen . Both the grandfather Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Spemann (* December 2 in Rheinen, now Schwerte ; † December 5, 1813 in Hörde, now Dortmund) and the great-grandfather were rent masters, the great-grandfather from 1793 to 1800 also Hörder mayor. The grandfather was also a royal Prussian councilor and owned the Hörder Burg , which the grandmother Elisabeth Spemann, née Crone (born April 2, 1772 in Hörde, now Dortmund, † December 14, 1856 ibid) sold to Hermann Diedrich Piepenstock on October 23, 1840 . Wilhelm Spemann's mother, Thekla Spemann, née Keller (* July 15, 1815 in Erlangen, † December 9, 1895 in Stuttgart), was the daughter of the lawyer Ludwig Keller (* July 18, 1786 in Orsoy, now Rheinberg; † 26. July 1869 in Hamm). Wilhelm Spemann was baptized as a Protestant.

The father Adolph Spemann settled in Dortmund as a lawyer and notary and so Wilhelm Spemann grew up there. He attended grammar school in Dortmund until 1862 when he went to Montreux and Zurich because of an asthma problem . In Zurich he attended lectures at the university and polytechnic , among others with Friedrich Theodor Vischer and Johannes Scherr . He began an apprenticeship as a bookseller that took him to Stuttgart and Leipzig . Because of renewed asthma he spent the winter of 1866/1867 in Rome , where he came into contact with German scientists and artists. In 1868 he joined the Weise'sche Hofbuchhandlung Stuttgart as authorized signatory, which he bought on January 1, 1870 and operated under the name Julius Weise's Hofbuchhandlung Wilhelm Spemann.

Wilhelm Spemann was married twice: first to Lisanka Hoffmann (1839–1871) from Ballenstedt, then to Marie Adriani (1849–1917) from Hattingen. Both weddings took place in Dortmund, the one with Lisanka Hoffmann in the Marienkirche . He had six children, including the two publishers Gottfried and Adolf and the biologist and Nobel Prize winner Hans Spemann .

Act

In 1873 Wilhelm Spemann founded the publishing house named after him, which mainly published delivery editions and book series . Examples are the Germania by Johannes Scherr, published between 1876 and 1878 , the work Die Erde und seine Völker , published between 1876 and 1880 , the books of the Spemann Collection published between 1881 and 1890 , the youth book series Das Neue Universum , which existed until 2002, and the series between 1882 and German national literature published by Joseph Kürschner in 1899 . This also published the German Literature Calendar . In addition, the publisher also published magazines such as the monthly Vom Fels zum Meer with the subtitle Spemann's Illustrirte Zeitschrift , the boys ' newspaper Der Gute Kamerad or the girls' newspaper Das Kränzchen .

The Wilhelm Spemann publishing house merged into the Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft in 1890 , which Spemann had founded together with Adolf Kröner . After seven years Spemann left this company because he saw no possibility of realizing his ideas in the major publishing house. The branch of the Wilhelm Spemann publishing house, founded in 1882, was spun off from the Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft and formed the basis for Spemann's new publishing activity. There, among other things, the world historical considerations and the Greek cultural history from the estate of Jacob Burckhardt , a new edition of Herman Grimm's The Life of Michelangelo and the manual of German history by Bruno Gebhardt appeared . In addition, Spemann took part in August Scherl Verlag in Berlin and Engelhorn Verlag in Stuttgart.

Spemann was marked by poor health throughout his life. Nevertheless, in addition to his publishing activities, he also took on tasks in the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels , of which he was a board member from 1880 to 1884. During this time he advocated fixed book prices , among other things . From 1893 until his death he was a member of the Committee on Copyright and Publishing Law.

Awards

In 1889 Spemann was awarded the Knight's Cross First Class of the Royal Württemberg Order of Frederick . In 1896 he was given the title of Privy Councilor of Commerce .

literature

Adolf Spemann: Wilhelm Spemann . A builder among publishers. J. Engelhorn's successor Adolf Spemann, Stuttgart 1943.
Wilhelm Schulte: Westphalian heads . 3. Edition. Aschendorff, Münster 1984, ISBN 3-402-05700-X .
Rudolf Schmidt: Spemann, W. In: German booksellers. German book printer . tape 5 . Verlag der Buchdruckerei Franz Weber, Berlin 1908, p. 910 ff . ( Schmidt, 1902 [accessed October 4, 2008]).

Individual evidence

↑ Peter E. Fässler: Hans Spemann 1869–1941: Experimental research in the field of tension between empiricism and theory. A contribution to the history of developmental physiology at the beginning of the 20th century . Springer, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-540-62557-7 , p. 16.
^ ^A ^b Alois Klotzbücher: Spemann, Wilhelm . In: Hans Bohrmann (Ed.): Biographies of important Dortmunders. People in, from and for Dortmund . tape 2 . Klartext, Essen 1998, ISBN 3-88474-677-4 , p. 105 ff .

personal data
SURNAME	Spemann, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Spemann, Johann Wilhelm (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German publisher
DATE OF BIRTH	December 24, 1844
PLACE OF BIRTH	Unna
DATE OF DEATH	June 29, 1910
Place of death	Stuttgart

[1] Peter E. Fässler: Hans Spemann 1869–1941: Experimental research in the field of tension between empiricism and theory. A contribution to the history of developmental physiology at the beginning of the 20th century . Springer, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-540-62557-7 , p. 16.

[BBD-2] A ^b Alois Klotzbücher: Spemann, Wilhelm . In: Hans Bohrmann (Ed.): Biographies of important Dortmunders. People in, from and for Dortmund . tape 2 . Klartext, Essen 1998, ISBN 3-88474-677-4 , p. 105 ff .