Joseph Meyer (9 May 1796 - 27 June 1856) was a German industrialist and publisher, most noted for his encyclopaedia, Meyers Konversations-Lexikon.
Joseph Meyer (9 May 1796 - 27 June 1856) was a German industrialist and publisher, most noted for his encyclopaedia, Meyers Konversations-Lexikon.
Meyer was born at Gotha, Germany, and was educated as a merchant in Frankfurt am Main. He went to London in 1816, but returned to Germany in 1820 after business adventures and stock speculations fell through. Here he invested in enterprises such as the textile trade (1820–24). Soon after the first steam-hauled railway had started in December 1835, Meyer started to make business plans to start the first railways. He also bought some concessions for iron mining. In 1845 he founded the Deutsche Eisenbahnschienen-Compagnie auf Actien (German Railway Rail joint stock company).
Meyer operated very successfully as a publisher, employing a system of serial subscription to publications, which was new at that time. To this end he founded a company, Bibliographisches Institut, in Gotha in 1826. It published several editions of the Bible, works of classical literature ("Miniatur-Bibliothek der deutschen Classiker", "Groschen-Bibliothek"), the world in pictures on steel engravings ("Meyers Universum", 1833–61, 17 volumes in 12 languages with 80,000 subscribers all over Europe), and an encyclopaedia, ("das Grosse Conversations-Lexikon für die gebildeten Stände"; see Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 1839–55, 52 volumes). His company grew substantially, and in 1828 he moved it from Gotha to Hildburghausen, [1] : 452/2 where he died thirty years later. [2] He became involved in cartography, producing many atlases with steel-engraved maps printed from steel plates, including Meyer's Groẞer Hand-Atlas (1843-1860). [1] : 458/2
In 1830, inspired by new of the July Revolution in France, Meyer founded newspapers that promoted the liberal ideals of the revolutionaries. [1] : 460/2 In 1848 he supported the revolutions that took place throughout Germany and much of Europe, and in 1849 was briefly imprisoned for his revolutionary activities. [1] : 461/1 His publishing and other businesses prospered, and by 1910 his grandsons constituted the richest family in the Saxon territories, with more total wealth than the King of Saxony. [1] : 464/1
After Meyer's death in 1856, his son Herrmann Julius Meyer took over the Bibliographisches Institut, which was at that time struggling financially.
Meyers Konversations-Lexikon or Meyers Lexikon was a major encyclopedia in the German language that existed in various editions, and by several titles, from 1839 to 1984, when it merged with the Brockhaus Enzyklopädie.
The Brockhaus Enzyklopädie is a German-language encyclopedia which until 2009 was published by the F. A. Brockhaus printing house.
The German publishing company Bibliographisches Institut was founded 1826 in Gotha by Joseph Meyer, moved 1828 to Hildburghausen and 1874 to Leipzig. Its production over the years includes such well-known titles as Meyers Lexikon, Brehms Tierleben ; Duden ; Meyers Reisebücher ; Meyers Klassiker ; atlases, newspapers and others.
Saxe-Hildburghausen was an Ernestine duchy and Imperial Estate of the Holy Roman Empire in the southern side of the present State of Thuringia in Germany. It existed from 1680 to 1826 but its name and borders are currently used by the District of Hildburghausen.
Verlag Herder is a publishing company started by the Herders, a German family. The company focuses primarily on Catholic topics of ecclesiology, Christian mysticism, women's studies, and the development of younger Catholic theologians.
Joseph Hasner, Ritter von Artha was an Austrian ophthalmologist born in Prague. His brother, Leopold Hasner von Artha (1818–1891), was an influential Austrian politician.
Johann Kaspar Friedrich Manso was a German historian and philologist.
Herrmann Julius Meyer was a German publisher born in Gotha. He was the son of publisher Joseph Meyer (1796-1856).
Heinrich August Pierer was a German officer, lexicographer and publisher known particularly for his Universal-Lexikon der Gegenwart und Vergangenheit, a multi-volume encyclopedic dictionary first published in 1824 as Encyclopädisches Wörterbuch der Wissenschaften, Künste und Gewerbe. Bearbeitet von mehreren Gelehrten ; it is considered "the first full-fledged modern general lexicon".
Eugen Oswald, was a German journalist, translator, teacher and philologist who participated in the German revolutions of 1848–49.
Gustav Reichardt, also Heinrich Wilhelm Ludwig Gustav Reichardt, was a 19th-century German music teacher and composer.
Georg Karl Wilhelm Adolf Ebert was a Romance philologist and literary historian. He was an author of literary studies as well as a publisher of periodicals, including the Jahrbuch für Romanische und Englische Literatur.
Johann Friedrich Reusch was a German sculptor and art teacher.
A variety of units of measurement were used in the various independent Italian states and Italian dependencies of foreign empires up to the unification of Italy in the 19th century. The units to measure length, volume, mass, etc., could differ widely between countries or between towns in a country, but usually not between a country and its capital.
F. A. Brockhaus AG was a German book publishing firm founded by Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus. It was best known for its eponymous encyclopedia and other renown bedrock brands for lexical functional grammar such as Duden, Meyers or the Harenberg Lexikon-Verlag and Kunstverlag Weingarten. Its legal successor is the company Bibliographisches Institut & F. A. Brockhaus AG.
Benedictus Gotthelf Teubner was a German bookseller and the founder of a publishing company.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Erfurt, Germany.
Josef Cesar was an Austrian sculptor and medallist.
Count Joseph Maria Anton Brassier de Saint-Simon-Vallade was a Prussian diplomat.
Ferdinand Dümmler was a German publisher and bookseller.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
