Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus
Encyclopedia
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
encyclopedia
Encyclopedia
An encyclopedia is a type of reference work, a compendium holding a summary of information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge....
publisher and editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
, famed for publishing the Conversations-Lexikon
Conversations-Lexikon mit vorzüglicher Rücksicht auf die gegenwärtigen Zeiten
The Conversations-Lexikon mit vorzüglicher Rücksicht auf die gegenwärtigen Zeiten , Leipzig, 1796 to 1808, 8vo, 6 vols., 2,762 pages, was an encyclopedia edited by Dr Renatus Gotthelf Löbel, who intended to supersede Johann Hübner, and included geography, history, and in part biography, besides...
, which is now published as the Brockhaus encyclopedia.
Biography
Brockhaus was educated at the gymnasiumGymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
of his native Dortmund
Dortmund
Dortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....
, and from 1788 to 1793 served an apprenticeship in a mercantile house at Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
. He then devoted two years at the University of Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
to the study of modern languages and literature, after which he set up in Dortmund
Dortmund
Dortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....
an emporium for English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
goods. In 1801 he transferred this business to Arnheim
Arnhem
Arnhem is a city and municipality, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland and located near the river Nederrijn as well as near the St. Jansbeek, which was the source of the city's development. Arnhem has 146,095 residents as one of the...
, and in the following year to Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
.
In 1805, having given up his first line of trade, Brockhaus began business as a publisher. Two journals projected by him were not allowed by the government to survive for any length of time, and in 1810 the complications in the affairs of Holland induced him to return homewards. In 1811 he settled at Altenburg
Altenburg
Altenburg is a town in the German federal state of Thuringia, 45 km south of Leipzig. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district.-Geography:...
. About three years previously he had purchased the copyright of the bankrupt Conversations-Lexikon
Conversations-Lexikon mit vorzüglicher Rücksicht auf die gegenwärtigen Zeiten
The Conversations-Lexikon mit vorzüglicher Rücksicht auf die gegenwärtigen Zeiten , Leipzig, 1796 to 1808, 8vo, 6 vols., 2,762 pages, was an encyclopedia edited by Dr Renatus Gotthelf Löbel, who intended to supersede Johann Hübner, and included geography, history, and in part biography, besides...
, an encyclopedia
Encyclopedia
An encyclopedia is a type of reference work, a compendium holding a summary of information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge....
started in 1796, and in 1810-1811 he completed the first edition of this celebrated work. It was widely imitated as a model for encyclopedias, and is still published today, known as the Brockhaus.
A second edition under Brockhaus's editorship was begun in 1812, and was received with universal favour. His business extended rapidly, and in 1818 Brockhaus moved to Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
where he established a large printing-house. Among the more extensive of his many literary undertakings were the critical periodicals — Hermes, the Literarisches Konversationsblatt (afterwards the Blätter für literarische Unterhaltung) and the Zeilgenossen, and some large historical and bibliographical works, such as Friedrich Ludwig Georg von Raumer
Friedrich Ludwig Georg von Raumer
Friedrich Ludwig Georg von Raumer was a German historian. He was the first scientific historian to popularize history in German. He traveled extensively and served in German legislative bodies.-Biography:...
's Geschichte der Hohenslaufen, and Friedrich Adolf Ebert
Friedrich Adolf Ebert
Friedrich Adolf Ebert was a German bibliographer and librarian.-Biography:Ebert was born at Taucha, near Leipzig, the son of a Lutheran pastor....
's Allgemeines bibliographisches Lexikon.
Brockhaus died in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
. The business was carried on by his sons, Friedrich Brockhaus (1800–1865), who retired in 1850, and Heinrich Brockhaus (1804–1874), under whom it was considerably extended. Heinrich especially rendered great services to literature and science, which the University of Jena recognized by making him, in 1858, honorary
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
. In the years 1842–1848, Heinrich Brockhaus was member of the Saxon
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
second chamber, as representative for Leipzig, was made honorary citizen of that city in 1872, and died there on 15 November 1874.
27765 Brockhaus
27765 Brockhaus
27765 Brockhaus is a main-belt asteroid discovered on September 10, 1991 by F. Borngen at Tautenburg.- External links :*- References :...
, a main belt asteroid discovered in 1991, was named in F. A. Brockhaus' honor.