Johann Friedrich Cotta
Encyclopedia
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
– December 29, 1832 Stuttgart) was a German
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...
publisher, industrial pioneer and politician.
Ancestors
Cotta is the name of a family of German publishers, intimatelyconnected with the history of German literature. The Cottas
were of noble Italian descent, and at the time of the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
the family was settled in Eisenach
Eisenach
Eisenach is a city in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated between the northern foothills of the Thuringian Forest and the Hainich National Park. Its population in 2006 was 43,626.-History:...
in Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
.
Johann Georg Cotta (1631-1692), the founder of the
publishing house of J. G. Cotta, married in 1659 the widow of the
university bookseller, Philipp Braun, in Tübingen, and took over
the management of his business, thus establishing the firm which
was subsequently associated with Cotta's name. On his death,
in 1692, the undertaking passed to his only son, also name Johann Georg;
and on his death in 1712, to the latter's eldest son, also
named Johann Georg, while the second son, Johann Friedrich
Johann Friedrich Cotta (theologian)
Johann Friedrich Cotta was a German theologian.-Biography:He was the son of Johann Georg Cotta, who was in turn the son of Johann Georg Cotta, the founder of the publishing house J. G. Cotta. After studying theology at the University of Tübingen, Johann Friedrich began his public career as...
,
became a distinguished theologian.
Although the eldest son of the third Johann Georg, Christoph
Friedrich Cotta (1730-1807), established a printing-house to the
court at Stuttgart, the business languished.
Life
It was reservedto the youngest son of Christoph Friedrich, Johann Friedrich,
to restore the fortunes of the firm. He attended the gymnasium of his native place
Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium
Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium is a gymnasium in Stuttgart established in 1686.-History:The school was established in 1686 as Gymnasium illustre. In 1881, during the reign of Charles I of Württemberg, because of overcrowding, the Karls-Gymnasium was established and took over 18 of its 39 classes...
, and was originally intended to study theology. He, however, entered the university of Tübingen as a student of mathematics and law, and after graduating spent a considerable time in Paris, studying French and natural science, and mixing with distinguished literary men. After practising as an advocate in one of the higher courts, Cotta, in compliance with his father's earnest desire, took over the publishing business at Tübingen. He began in December 1787, and laboured incessantly to acquire familiarity with all the details. The house connexions rapidly extended; and, in 1794, the Allgemeine Zeitung
Allgemeine Zeitung
The Allgemeine Zeitung was in the first part of the 19th century the leading political daily journal in Germany. It has been widely recognised as the first world class German journal and is a symbol of the German press abroad....
, of which Schiller was to be editor, was
planned. Schiller was compelled to withdraw on account of his
health; but his friendship with Cotta deepened every year, and
was a great advantage to the poet and his family. Cotta awakened in Schiller so warm an attachment that, as Heinrich Döring
Heinrich Döring
Heinrich Doring, born Michael Johann Heinrich Döring was a German writer, theologian and mineralogist....
tells us in his life of Schiller (1824), when a bookseller offered him a higher price than Cotta for the copyright of Wallenstein, the poet firmly declined it, replying “Cotta deals honestly with me, and I with him.” In 1795 Schiller and Cotta founded the Horen, a periodical very important to the student of German literature. The poet intended, by means of this work, to infuse higher ideas into the common lives of men, by giving them a nobler human culture, and “to reunite the divided political world under the banner of truth and beauty.” The Horen brought Goethe and Schiller into intimate relations with each other and with Cotta; and Goethe, while regretting that he had already promised Wilhelm Meister to another publisher, contributed the Unterhaltung deutscher Ausgewanderten, the Roman Elegies and a paper on Literary Sansculottism. Fichte sent essays from the first, and the other brilliant German authors of the time were also represented. In 1798 the Allgemeine Zeitung appeared at Tübingen, being edited first by Posselt and then by Huber. Soon
the editorial office of the newspaper was transferred to Stuttgart,
in 1803 to Ulm
Ulm
Ulm is a city in the federal German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. The city, whose population is estimated at 120,000 , forms an urban district of its own and is the administrative seat of the Alb-Donau district. Ulm, founded around 850, is rich in history and...
, and in 1810 to Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
; it is now in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
.
In 1799 Cotta entered on his political career, being sent to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
by
the Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
estates as their representative. Here he made
friendships which proved very advantageous for the Allgemeine
Zeitung. In 1801 he paid another visit to Paris, also in a political
capacity, when he carefully studied Napoleon's policy, and
treasured up many hints which were useful to him in his literary
undertakings.
He still, however, devoted most of his attention
to his own business, and, for many years, made all the entries into
the ledger with his own hand. He relieved the tedium of almost
ceaseless toil by pleasant intercourse with literary men. With
Schiller, Huber, and Gottlieb Konrad Pfeffel
Gottlieb Konrad Pfeffel
Gottlieb Konrad Pfeffel was a French-German writer and translator, whose texts were put to music by Ludwig van Beethoven, Joseph Haydn and Franz Schubert. He is sometimes also known as Amédée or Théophile Conrad Pfeffel, which is the French translation of Gottlieb .-Biography:Gottlieb Konrad...
(1736-1809) he was
on terms of the warmest friendship; and he was also intimate
with Herder, Schelling, Fichte, Richter, Voss, Hebel, Tieck,
Therese Huber, Matthisson, the brothers Humboldt, Johann
Müller, Spittler and others, whose works he published in whole
or in part. In the correspondence of Alexander von Humboldt
Alexander von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt...
with Varnhagen von Ense we see the familiar relations in which
the former stood to the Cotta family. In 1795 he published the
Politischen Annalen and the Jahrbücher der Baukunde, and in
1798 the Damenalmanach, along with some works of less importance.
In 1807 he issued the Morgenblatt, to which Schorn's
Kunstblatt and Menzel's Literaturblatt were afterwards added.
In 1810 he removed to Stuttgart; and from that time till his
death he was loaded with honours. State affairs and an honourable
commission from the German booksellers took him to the
Vienna congress; and in 1815 he was deputy-elect at the
Württemberg diet. In 1819 he became representative of the
nobility; then he succeeded to the offices of member of committee
and (1824) vice-president of the Württemberg second chamber.
He was also appointed Prussian Geheimrat, and knight of the
order of the Württemberg crown; King William I. of Württemberg
having already revived the ancient nobility in his family by
granting him the patent of Freiherr (Baron) Cotta von Cottendorf .
Meanwhile such publications as the Polytechnische Journal, the
Hesperus, the Württembergische Jahrbücher, the Hertha, the
Ausland, and the Inland issued from the press. In 1828-1829
appeared the famous correspondence between Schiller and
Goethe. Cotta was an unfailing friend of young struggling men
of talent.
In addition to his high standing as a publisher, he was
a man of great practical energy, which flowed into various fields
of activity. He was a scientific agriculturist, and promoted
many reforms in farming. He was the first Württemberg landholder
to abolish serfdom on his estates. In politics he was
throughout his life a moderate liberal. In 1824 he set up a steam
printing press in Augsburg, and, about the same time, founded a
literary institute at Munich. In 1825 he started steamboats, for
the first time, on Lake Constance, and introduced them in the
following year on the Rhine. In 1828 he was sent to Berlin, on an
important commission, by Bavaria and Württemberg, and was
there rewarded with orders of distinction at the hands of the
three kings. He died, on the 29th of December 1832 leaving a son
and a daughter as coheirs.
Successors
His son, Johann Georg, Freiherr Cotta von Cottendorf(1796-1863), succeeded to the management of the business
on the death of his father, and was materially assisted by his
sister's husband, Freiherr Hermann von Reischach. He greatly
extended the connexions of the firm by the purchase, in 1839, of
the publishing business of G. J. Göschen in Leipzig, and in 1845 of
that of Vogel in Landshut; while, in 1845, “Bible” branches
were established at Stuttgart and Munich. He was succeeded by
his younger son, Karl, and by his nephew (the son of his sister),
Hermann Albert von Reischach. Under their joint partnership,
the before-mentioned firms 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...
and Landshut, and an
artistic establishment in Munich passed into other hands, leaving
on the death of Hermann Albert von Reischach, in 1876, Karl
von Cotta the sole representative of the firm, until his death in
1888. In 1889 the firm of J. G. Cotta passed by purchase into
the hands of Adolf and Paul Kroner, who took others into
partnership. In 1899 the business was converted into a limited
liability company.
Cotta’s publishing company survives today, although no longer owned by the family, under the name Klett-Cotta. Its contemporary offerings include German-to-Elvish dictionaries tied in to the Lord of the Rings movies.
External links
- http://www.klett-cotta.de