Justus Perthes
Encyclopedia
Justus Perthes Publishers in Gotha
, Germany
was established in 1785. Justus Perthes was Publisher of geographic atlases, ‘’Petermann’s Geographische Mitteilungen’’ and also the Almanach de Gotha
, (Gothaischers Hofkalender). Publication under his name continued until 2008.
publisher and founder of the firm that bears his name (Justus Perthes).
He was born in the Thuringia
n town of Rudolstadt
, the son of a Schwarzburg
court physician. From 1778 he worked as a bookseller in nearby Gotha
, where he founded the publishing firm 'Justus Perthes' in 1785, in which year he got a fifteen-year lease for the Almanach de Gotha
. This almanac was published since 1763 by Carl Wilhelm Ettinger, Gotha and was the French version of the Gothaischer Hofkalender.
Only after the second 15-year lease contract he was allowed in 1816 to publish the almanac with the imprint of his own publishing house. The publication of the almanac ceased in 1944.
In later years another set of almanacs was published in the German language:
The updating of the almanacs required a lot of documentation. This was the beginning of an almost fastidious documentation and exactness that was fertile ground for the later geographic establishment. In 1911 these documents were added to the library called ‘Bücherei der Geographische Anstalt von Justus Perthes’, that contained already many (ms) maps and geographical publications. After the Second World War the Soviet army most probably destroyed the almanac-archives to prevent claims of the House of Romanov
on the tsarist’s throne.
and the life history of Martin Behaim
. In 1814 he was joined by his son Wilhelm Perthes (1793–1853), who had been in the publishing house of Justus's nephew Friedrich Christoph Perthes
at Hamburg
. On Justus' death in 1816 in Gotha, Wilhelm took over the firm and laid the foundation of the geographical branch of the business for which it is chiefly famous.
In 1801 the company published its first geographical book with a map of Germany by Adolf Schieler. In 1809 they published their first atlas, but the Napoleontic wars with their ever changing political and administrative boundaries did not form the right climate to do so and it soon became a financial disaster. Justus Perthes, however, was not so easily daunted and soon agreed with to a proposal by Adolf Stieler
to publish the soon to be famous Stielers Handatlas
. Stieler proposed to create the atlas together with Christian Gottlieb Reichard
(1758–1837), who later drafted part of the maps. Before the first issue of the atlas could be distributed in 1816 Justus Perthes died and was succeeded by his then 23-year old son Wilhelm Perthes.
As many publication in that era the ‘’Stieler’’ was published in issues. In fact this way of publishing was kept up for most of the Perthes’ atlases till the publication of the ‘international Stieler’. In 1823 the preliminary edition in 4 issues was completed and contained 50 maps. The demand for the atlas so outnumbered the amount of copies produced that during the publishing in 1816-1823 the first issues were already updated and sold. Therefore it is possible that hardly any of the atlases produced in this time contains all issues that were printed as first edition. That the atlas sold so well may have been caused also by its relative small size of 35x29 cm, which made it quite handy.
Most maps carry the now somewhat curious scales of 1:3,700,000, 1:925,000 en 1:850,000. Stieler used as basic unit for scale the French toise
, that became an international standard in higher geodesy
, because of the French-Spanish map grid survey in Peru.
The planning was such, that the first edition of the atlas would be accompanied by a textbook. This was published, however, only in 1840/46. While the preliminary edition was still being published Friedrich von Stülpnagel (1786–1865), who also was responsible for the 2nd and 3rd edition, already was revising the maps fort he next edition.
The first official edition of 1833 contained 75 maps. Through the years the amount of maps would increase and the final edition of 1925-1945 contained 254 main and auxiliary maps on 188 leaves.
In 1902 J.G. Bartholomew wrote: "No other private firm has ever been associated with so many distinguished geographers and cartographers, or rendered such great services to geographical science by its high-class works as Justus Perthes of Gotha”. In the article he sounds praises of the ‘’Stieler’’, that no British atlas can surpass.
From 1821 onwards the ’’Stieler’’ also was published as a school atlas. Till 1914 some 93 German and foreign editions of the school atlas would be published. In later years the ‘’Stieler’’ would be the basis for many other Perthes publications, as e.g. Stielers Schulatlas der alten Welt (23 editions 1824-1852).
Besides the International edition (1934-1941) of the big ‘’Stieler’’ from 1851 onwards at least 12 foreign editions were published in the United States and several European countries.
Shortly after Stieler’s death in 1836 Perthes published the 25-part map of Germany and surrounding countries on the scale 1:740,000. It was the first middle-scale map of Germany, that was marketed by a private firm like Perthes, where an official large scale map was converted into an easy-to-use reference- and travel map. This publication met with such a great demand that several editions were published up to the Second World War.
Shortly after the death of Adolf Stieler his map collection was bought by Wilhelm Perthes and added to his already rich company library.
created the Atlas von Asien. It was meant as the first part of the never realized project titled Große Atlas der außereuropäischen Erdteile. The publication not only resulted in the enormous loss of 5,240 Reichsthaler, but also in everlasting fame. As Bernhard Perthes, fourth generation publisher, worded in 1885: "While the direct profit was absolutely nothing –yes, even worse than that, the firm had to carry this failure for many years- the indirect profit was immense. The Atlas von Asien made Justus Perthes at one time world-famous”.
The next big project on which the firm tried its luck was the Physikalischer Atlas[ Physical atlas] of Heinrich Berghaus
. The first thematical worldatlas (with the issues meteorology
, hydrography
, geology
, magnetism
, plant geography, animal geography
, anthropology
, ethnography
) was published as a complement for the 5-volume work Kosmos
by Alexander von Humboldt
. Heinrich Berghaus edited the first two editions himself, while his nephew Hermann Berghaus
edited the third edition.
Von Humboldt provided Berghaus with much data, that he had acquired during his explorations and Berghaus processed these into physical maps, for which he used many kinds of isolines and a whole range of new symbols. He liked to project thematical content on top of topographic maps and was also very much interested in the right depiction of heights. Some maps of the first edition carry the signature "drawn and engraved in the ‘Geographische Kunstschule’[ Geographic Art School] at Potsdam
". Between 1839 and 1844 he there tutored amongst others August Petermann
, Heinrich 'Henry' Lange and his nephew Hermann Berghaus
. As compensation they had to edit amongst others maps for the Stieler and the Physikalischer Atlas. E.g. this happened with map 2 from issue 2 of the second edition of the Physikalischer Atlas (Hydrography). This shows among other things the discovery of Von Humboldt that the river Casiquiare was the watershed between the rivers Orinoco and Rio Negro.
In 1850 the big atlas was converted into a school atlas. This first thematical atlas had such a great influence in its time that the publisher Alexander Keith Johnston requested Berghaus to make some maps for the first part of his Physical atlas of natural phenomena. Though Berghaus did not find the British scientific climate ripe enough for such publications he complied. His criticism was repeated half a century later by J.G. Bartolomew, who declared that British contributions to the geographic sciences mainly lay in ‘search’, while the German contributions mainly lay in ‘research’. For the second part of his atlas Johnston required the cooperation of Heinrich Lange and August Petermann, who therefore moved to Scotland in 1844 en and 1845.
Between 1850 and en 1852 Berghaus published four issues of the Geographisches Jahrbuch, that were meant as supplements on several of the Perthes’ atlases. In 1854 the editorship of these annuals was taken over by his former pupil August Petermann. Probably this plus the fact that his son August in 1854 was not engaged by Perthes made Berghaus decide to brake off his relationship with the publisher.
Karl Spruner von Merz (1803-1892) to his publishing list. This was soon followed by the Historisch-Geographischen Hand-Atlas (ed. 1869), published between 1848 and 1853. To make comparison easier with the Stieler the same scales were used as much as possible. Heinrich Theodor Menke edited many maps for the second and third (1909) editions. Foreign editions were published in London, Turin and New York.
(1812-1873) was taken up by the problems of how to improve the inadequateness of geographic educational means. Eventually he ended up with Perthes, that wanted to publish a series of wallmaps. While cartographers like Friedrich von Stülpnagel and Christian Bär drew the outlines for the maps Sydow painted in the colours green for lowlands and brown-red for higher areas, a system still in use today. When Carl Ritter
saw the first map Asia he was very much taken with how it was decluttered from redundant toponyms and the way it was coloured. When Von Sydow’s wallmap series in the 20th century was replaced by the sries developed by Hermann Haack, the latter emphasized red for higher mountaineous areas.
As a follow-up of Stielers Schulatlas Von Sydow created the E. von Sydows methodischer Schulatlas, that after 1879 till 1943 was published as the Sydow-Wagners methodischer Schulatlas. To emphasize the contrast between text and atlas when describing landscapes he wrote in his introduction: "Even when text has to divide the subject of geography in several parts and to isolate it for systematic education in independent levels, it is preferably the task of the map to neutralize this division and to fuse the independent parts together into a wholeness".
Von Sydow spent most of his energy in editing the Der kartographische Standpunkt Europas[ Cartographical review of Europe] , that was published twelve times between 1857 and 1872 in Petermann's geographische Mitteilungen and contained 357 pages in total.
(1822–1878) was trained by Heinrich Berghaus and in the third quarter of the 19th century was internationally acclaimed to be one of the most outstanding geographers/cartographers. Before he started working with Perthes he worked in 1845-46 in Schotland on the Physical atlas, published by Alexander Keith Johnston and in 1847 moved to London. There he founded his own establishment in 1850. He was very active in the Royal Geographical Society
, which honoured him in 1868 with the 'Founders medal'
. In London he met with many geographers and explorers. Because he was fluent in German, French and English it was no trouble for him to be in such company. Forced by private worries in 1854 he complied with a request by Bernhardt Perthes (1824–1857) to work for his firm. Shortly after his move to Gotha the Duke of Gotha appointed him professor in 1854 and in 1855 he became doctor h.c. at the university of Göttingen.
It was intended that Petermann would continue the Geographischer Jahrbuch. But at the intercession of Adolph Müller, who from 1857 onwards managed the firm of Perthes because Bernhard Perthes was born only 8 months after the death of his father Bernhardt, he started in 1855 the journal Mittheilungen aus Justus Perthes Geographischer Anstalt über wichtige neue Erforschungen auf der Gesammtgebiet der Geographie von Dr. A. Petermann, after his death in 1878 renamed as Petermann's geographische Mitteilungen (PGM). The promise, made in the first issue, that every issue of this journal would at least contain one map was kept till the journal ceased to appear in 2004. In the same introduction to the journal it is said that PGM was meant as being supplementary to the Stieler and other Perthes’ atlases. PGM started in March 1855 with the then unbelievable high print run of 4,000 copies, with 1,000 subscriptions abroad. As so much information was coming into Gotha that it could not be published in the 40-page issues of PGM it was decided to start publishing the so-called Ergänzungshefte[ Supplementary issues] . Though the first supplementary issues were only small booklets they soon became hefty books. The last supplementary issue nr. 294 was published in 1999. For researchers it is well to know that 10-year cumulative indexes on PGM were published, also containing indexmaps for all maps contained in PGM in the respective periods.
PGM was renowned especially in the 19th century for its unusual fast publishing of the reworked reports it received from explorers, and not only German ones, and that the reports were almost always accompanied by up-to-date maps. This also shows how valuable the contacts were that Petermann had established in his London period. PGM not only published the explorers reports but also was proactive when new explorations were called for. As an example we may have a look at Ergänzungsband II of 1863, that contained in 10 parts the Karte von Inner-Afrika[ Map of inner-Africa] (210x102 cm), in which were drawn all then known routes of explorers between 1701 and 1863. The most important parts of the map, however, were the blanked areas, with the intention to stimulate explorers to explore them. The map was also meant to give the journal’s readers the possibility to keep close track on the progress of explorers and to read about the explorations in new issues of PGM. This kind of initiatives were taken later also with regard to the Northeast Passage of the Arctic ocean.
Petermann was not only a geographer/cartographer, who could distil from many sources a realistic image of the world, but he also was a very good taskmaster who could transfer his abilities in this field to his pupils. Amongst others these were Ernst Debes (1849–1923), Bruno Hassenstein (1939-1902), Hermann Habenicht(1844–1917), Fritz Hanemann (1847–1877), Otto Koffmahn (1851–1916), Christian Peip 1843-1922) and Arnim Welcker (1840–1888). They became known as 'Petermann’s school' or the 'Gotha school'. They put the crafts and lessons, that Petermann had learned with Berghaus, into practise, which resulted in unmatched cartographic images. The style –map lettering, relief representation, better engraving and colouring- became more uniform and influenced all new atlas publications of Perthes.
During his time as editor Petermann received much support from Ernst Behm
(1830–1884), who succeeded him after his untimely death as editor-in-chief. Following the example of The Statesman's Yearbook (1864-...) he published from 1866 onwards the first volume of the Geographisches Jahrbuch[ Geographical yearbook] as second complement to PGM. Sometimes the articles in PGM and the yearbook overlapped each other. The yearbook contained predominantly statistical data, that Behm circumscribed as ‘estimations. As the data resulting from censuses became so abundant it was decided that they would be published bi-annually (with maps) in PGM (14 volumes in 1872-1904, 1909,1931).
The content of PGM became more science-oriented after 1880, especially under the editorship of Alexander Supan (1847–1920), who would be editor-in-chief till 1909. He introduced the Literaturberichte[ Literature reviews] , that would contain 24,512 reviews and bibliographic description of geographical books and articles, published between 1886 and 1909.
were given in local language. A Dutch reviewer read the subtitle Grand atlas de géographie moderne as meaning that the atlas would be complemented with some maps in the style of the Physikalischer Atlas. Unfortunately the Second World War terminated this project before it was complete.
In 1908 he began a carto-bibliographic supplement in PGM, that contained many reviews of maps. In 1941-1945 this was succeeded by the feature Kartographie.
Haack was especially renowned for the publication of his wallmap series, of which 250 items were planned. In 1903 he began with the series Große historische Wandatlas[ Large historic wall atlas] (41 maps, 1908–1931) and in 1907 with the Große geographischer Wandatlas [ Large geographic wall atlas] (47 maps, 1907–1930). A third series concerning physical geography was produced between 1913 and 1937, but success failed because of the high production costs.
His last grand project was the Zentralasien-Atlas[ Central Asia atlas] for Sven Hedin
, but because of the Second World war this project soon ended.
Hermann Haack retired in 1944, but this would not mean the end of his career as cartographer and publisher.
in April 1945 to hand it over on July 1 to the Sowjet command. Fortunately only the Almanac-archives have suffered from this occupation. The rest of the Perthes-collections was left as it was. After the German partition Joachim Perthes and his son Wolf-Jürgen Perthes started in 1953 the 'Geographische Verlagsanstalt Justus Perthes Darmstadt' in Western Germany
. In 1980 the management was taken over by Stephan Perthes, seventh generation publisher. This publishing firm specialized in wall maps and modern geographic educational tools.
The publishing company in Gotha, that was then part of Eastern Germany
was expropriated by the state in 1953 and in 1955 renamed as 'VEB Hermann Haack Geographisch-Kartographische Anstalt Gotha'. For this reason Hermann Haack was recalled from retirement and till his death in 1966 led the company. The company was mainly known, for its (translations) of (school)atlasen en wall map series.
After the unifaction of both the Germanies both publishing companies were unified again in 1992 under their old name ’Justus Perthes Verlag’.
He was founder of the firm that bears his name. He was born in the Thuringia
n town of Rudolstadt
, the son of a Schwarzburg
court physician. From 1778 he worked as a bookseller in nearby Gotha
, where he founded the publishing firm 'Justus Perthes' in 1785. The main business was the publication of the noble almanacs
Wilhelm joined his fathers business in 1814. Before that time he had followed an apprenticeship in the publishing house of Justus's nephew Friedrich Christoph Perthes
at Hamburg
. He laid the foundation of the geographical branch of the business for which it is chiefly famous.
From the moment on that Bernhardt Perthes started to lead his firm it transformed from an ordinary publisher into an industrial business, as the production became too large to leave this to subcontractors. He bought new business premises and created departments for publishing, editing and drawing. The basis for all maps was still copper engraving, used till the Second World War. But for the printing Bernhardt Perthes switched to electrolytic reproduction and lithographic colourprint. His favourite printing process, however, was ‘Chimitypie’, a process that transformed drawings or copper engravings into die-stamp engraving.
It was his ambition that his firm not only would be the international center to distribute all new geographic information, but at the same time to become the international focus for gathering and disseminating of information. To underline this ambition he changed the name of his firm into 'Justus Perthes Geographischer Anstalt', and also started to publish many wall map series and school atlases in foreign languages. To support this program he hired amongst others August Petermann
, Ernst Behm, Hermann Berghaus
and Carl Vogel. All of them prominent figures in their fields of interest. To prevent unwanted competition none of them was appointed to general manager. From his death onwards till Berhard Perthes took over in 1880 this role was reserved for Adolf Müller. During this period land was bought to provide accommodation for the departments for engraving, printing of copper plates and electrolytic reproduction.
After Bernhard Perthes had taken over the management he added departments for lithography, letterpress and bookbinding, that previously had been jobbed out. Only the colouring of the maps were still done by independent artisans. In 1881 the company employed 30 printers and 90 women or girls as colorists. In 1935 the amount of employees had risen to 144: 57 editors and cartographers, 86 printers and 1 female colorist.
Because the documentation for the almanacs and the amount of geographic publications and maps had grown to such a volume, a new library was opened in 1911 measuring some 500 m². To honour their contributions to the company busts of August Petermann and Hermann Wagner were placed in the reading room.
Bernhard Perthes complained to Hermann Wagner that PGM had become a scientific and academic journal under the editorship of Supan, resulting in a decrease of subscriptions of 2,810 in 1884 to 1,330 in 1908.
Till 1980 the company was led by deputy executives, till Stephan Perthes was ready to take over the management.
(1992: Justus Perthes sold to Ernst Klett Schulbuchverlag)
Gotha (town)
Gotha is a town in Thuringia, within the central core of Germany. It is the capital of the district of Gotha.- History :The town has existed at least since the 8th century, when it was mentioned in a document signed by Charlemagne as Villa Gotaha . Its importance derives from having been chosen in...
, Germany
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...
was established in 1785. Justus Perthes was Publisher of geographic atlases, ‘’Petermann’s Geographische Mitteilungen’’ and also the Almanach de Gotha
Almanach de Gotha
The Almanach de Gotha was a respected directory of Europe's highest nobility and royalty. First published in 1763 by C.W. Ettinger in Gotha at the ducal court of Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, it was regarded as an authority in the classification of monarchies, princely and ducal...
, (Gothaischers Hofkalender). Publication under his name continued until 2008.
Almanacs
Johann Georg Justus Perthes (September 11, 1749 – May 2, 1816) was a GermanGermans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
publisher and founder of the firm that bears his name (Justus Perthes).
He was born in the 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....
n town of Rudolstadt
Rudolstadt
Rudolstadt is a town in the German Bundesland of Thuringia, close to the Thuringian Forest to the southwest, and to Jena and Weimar to the north....
, the son of a Schwarzburg
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was a small historic state in present-day Thuringia, Germany with its capital at Rudolstadt.-History:Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was established in 1599 in the course of a resettlement of Schwarzburg dynasty lands...
court physician. From 1778 he worked as a bookseller in nearby Gotha
Gotha (town)
Gotha is a town in Thuringia, within the central core of Germany. It is the capital of the district of Gotha.- History :The town has existed at least since the 8th century, when it was mentioned in a document signed by Charlemagne as Villa Gotaha . Its importance derives from having been chosen in...
, where he founded the publishing firm 'Justus Perthes' in 1785, in which year he got a fifteen-year lease for the Almanach de Gotha
Almanach de Gotha
The Almanach de Gotha was a respected directory of Europe's highest nobility and royalty. First published in 1763 by C.W. Ettinger in Gotha at the ducal court of Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, it was regarded as an authority in the classification of monarchies, princely and ducal...
. This almanac was published since 1763 by Carl Wilhelm Ettinger, Gotha and was the French version of the Gothaischer Hofkalender.
Only after the second 15-year lease contract he was allowed in 1816 to publish the almanac with the imprint of his own publishing house. The publication of the almanac ceased in 1944.
In later years another set of almanacs was published in the German language:
- Gothaisches genealogisches Taschenbuch der gräflichen Häuser(1825-1941)
- Gothaisches genealogisches Taschenbuch der freiherrlichen Häuser (1848-1942)
- Gothaisches genealogisches Taschenbuch der uradeligen häuser der in Deutschland eingeborene Adel (1900-1919)
- Gothaisches genealogisches Taschenbuch der briefadeligen Häuser (1907-1919).
The updating of the almanacs required a lot of documentation. This was the beginning of an almost fastidious documentation and exactness that was fertile ground for the later geographic establishment. In 1911 these documents were added to the library called ‘Bücherei der Geographische Anstalt von Justus Perthes’, that contained already many (ms) maps and geographical publications. After the Second World War the Soviet army most probably destroyed the almanac-archives to prevent claims of the House of Romanov
Romanov
The House of Romanov was the second and last imperial dynasty to rule over Russia, reigning from 1613 until the February Revolution abolished the crown in 1917...
on the tsarist’s throne.
Stieler's Hand-Atlas
From 1790 onwards Justus Perthes enlarged his publisher’s list with histories and obituary lists, amongst others the circumnavigation of Antonio PigafettaAntonio Pigafetta
Antonio Pigafetta was an Italian scholar and explorer from the Republic of Venice. He travelled with the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his crew on their voyage to the Indies. During the expedition, he served as Magellan's assistant and kept an accurate journal which later assisted him...
and the life history of Martin Behaim
Martin Behaim
Martin Behaim , was a German mariner, artist, cosmographer, astronomer, philosopher, geographer and explorer in service to the King of Portugal.-Biography:The Behaim family had immigrated to Nuremberg because of religious persecution around...
. In 1814 he was joined by his son Wilhelm Perthes (1793–1853), who had been in the publishing house of Justus's nephew Friedrich Christoph Perthes
Friedrich Christoph Perthes
Friedrich Christoph Perthes was a German publisher, nephew of Johan Georg Perthes.Perthes was born at Rudolstadtin Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. At the age of fifteen he became an apprentice in the service of Adam Friedrich Bohme, a bookseller in Leipzig, with whom he remained for about six years...
at Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. On Justus' death in 1816 in Gotha, Wilhelm took over the firm and laid the foundation of the geographical branch of the business for which it is chiefly famous.
In 1801 the company published its first geographical book with a map of Germany by Adolf Schieler. In 1809 they published their first atlas, but the Napoleontic wars with their ever changing political and administrative boundaries did not form the right climate to do so and it soon became a financial disaster. Justus Perthes, however, was not so easily daunted and soon agreed with to a proposal by Adolf Stieler
Adolf Stieler
Adolf Stieler was a German cartographer who worked most of his life in the Justus Perthes Geographical Institute in Gotha.His atlases are deservedly held in high esteem for their excellence...
to publish the soon to be famous Stielers Handatlas
Stielers Handatlas
Stielers Handatlas , formally titled "Hand-Atlas über alle Theile der Erde und über das Weltgebäude" , was the leading German world atlas of the last three decades of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century...
. Stieler proposed to create the atlas together with Christian Gottlieb Reichard
Christian Gottlieb Reichard
Christian Gottlieb Reichard was a German cartographer born in Schleiz, Thuringia. He studied law in Leipzig and subsequently became a city official in Bad Lobenstein....
(1758–1837), who later drafted part of the maps. Before the first issue of the atlas could be distributed in 1816 Justus Perthes died and was succeeded by his then 23-year old son Wilhelm Perthes.
As many publication in that era the ‘’Stieler’’ was published in issues. In fact this way of publishing was kept up for most of the Perthes’ atlases till the publication of the ‘international Stieler’. In 1823 the preliminary edition in 4 issues was completed and contained 50 maps. The demand for the atlas so outnumbered the amount of copies produced that during the publishing in 1816-1823 the first issues were already updated and sold. Therefore it is possible that hardly any of the atlases produced in this time contains all issues that were printed as first edition. That the atlas sold so well may have been caused also by its relative small size of 35x29 cm, which made it quite handy.
Most maps carry the now somewhat curious scales of 1:3,700,000, 1:925,000 en 1:850,000. Stieler used as basic unit for scale the French toise
Toise
A toise is a unit of measure for length, area and volume originating in pre-revolutionary France. In North America, it was used in colonial French establishments in early New France, French Louisiana , and Quebec...
, that became an international standard in higher geodesy
Geodesy
Geodesy , also named geodetics, a branch of earth sciences, is the scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation of the Earth, including its gravitational field, in a three-dimensional time-varying space. Geodesists also study geodynamical phenomena such as crustal...
, because of the French-Spanish map grid survey in Peru.
The planning was such, that the first edition of the atlas would be accompanied by a textbook. This was published, however, only in 1840/46. While the preliminary edition was still being published Friedrich von Stülpnagel (1786–1865), who also was responsible for the 2nd and 3rd edition, already was revising the maps fort he next edition.
The first official edition of 1833 contained 75 maps. Through the years the amount of maps would increase and the final edition of 1925-1945 contained 254 main and auxiliary maps on 188 leaves.
- Preliminary: Hand-Atlas über alle Theile der Erde nach dem neuesten Zustande und über das Weltgebäude, 1816–1833, 50-75 maps (Adolf Stieler & Heinrich Berghaus)
- 1st ed.: Stieler's Hand-Atlas über alle Theile der Erde und über das Weltgebäude, 1834–1845, 75-83 maps. (Adolf Stieler & Friedrich von Stülpnagel)
- 2nd ed.: Stieler's Hand-Atlas über alle Theile der Erde und über das Weltgebäude, 1846–1852, 83 maps (Friedrich von Stülpnagel)
- 3rd ed.: Stieler's Hand-Atlas über alle Theile der Erde und über das Weltgebäude, 1853–1862, 83-84 maps (Friedrich von Stülpnagel)
- 4th ed.: Stieler's Hand-Atlas über alle Theile der Erde und über das Weltgebäude, 1863–1867, 84 maps (August Petermann)
- 5th ed.: Hand-Atlas über alle Theile der Erde und über das Weltgebäude, 1868–1874, 84 maps (August Petermann)
- 6th ed.: Hand-Atlas über alle Theile der Erde und über das Weltgebäude, 1875–1881, 90 maps (Hermann Berghaus & Carl Vogel)
- 7th ed.: Adolf Stieler's Hand Atlas über alle Theile der Erde und über das Weltgebäude, 1882–1889, 95 maps (Hermann Berghaus & Carl Vogel)
- 8th. Ed.: Adolf Stieler's Hand Atlas über alle Theile der Erde und über das Weltgebäude, 1890–1902, 95 maps (Alexander Supan)
- 9th ed.: Stielers Hand-Atlas, 1905–1924, 100 maps (Hermann Haack)
- 10th ed.: Stielers Hand-Atlas, 1925–1945, 108 maps (Hermann Haack)
- International ed.: Stieler grand atlas de géographie moderne, 1934–1940, 84 maps (Hermann Haack)
In 1902 J.G. Bartholomew wrote: "No other private firm has ever been associated with so many distinguished geographers and cartographers, or rendered such great services to geographical science by its high-class works as Justus Perthes of Gotha”. In the article he sounds praises of the ‘’Stieler’’, that no British atlas can surpass.
From 1821 onwards the ’’Stieler’’ also was published as a school atlas. Till 1914 some 93 German and foreign editions of the school atlas would be published. In later years the ‘’Stieler’’ would be the basis for many other Perthes publications, as e.g. Stielers Schulatlas der alten Welt (23 editions 1824-1852).
Besides the International edition (1934-1941) of the big ‘’Stieler’’ from 1851 onwards at least 12 foreign editions were published in the United States and several European countries.
Shortly after Stieler’s death in 1836 Perthes published the 25-part map of Germany and surrounding countries on the scale 1:740,000. It was the first middle-scale map of Germany, that was marketed by a private firm like Perthes, where an official large scale map was converted into an easy-to-use reference- and travel map. This publication met with such a great demand that several editions were published up to the Second World War.
Shortly after the death of Adolf Stieler his map collection was bought by Wilhelm Perthes and added to his already rich company library.
Berghaus Physikalischer Atlas
Between 1833 and 1837 Heinrich BerghausHeinrich Berghaus
Heinrich Berghaus was a German geographer.-Life:Berghaus was born at Kleve. He was trained as a surveyor, and after volunteering for active service under General Tauentzien in 1813, joined the staff of the Prussian trigonometrical survey in 1816...
created the Atlas von Asien. It was meant as the first part of the never realized project titled Große Atlas der außereuropäischen Erdteile. The publication not only resulted in the enormous loss of 5,240 Reichsthaler, but also in everlasting fame. As Bernhard Perthes, fourth generation publisher, worded in 1885: "While the direct profit was absolutely nothing –yes, even worse than that, the firm had to carry this failure for many years- the indirect profit was immense. The Atlas von Asien made Justus Perthes at one time world-famous”.
The next big project on which the firm tried its luck was the Physikalischer Atlas
Heinrich Berghaus
Heinrich Berghaus was a German geographer.-Life:Berghaus was born at Kleve. He was trained as a surveyor, and after volunteering for active service under General Tauentzien in 1813, joined the staff of the Prussian trigonometrical survey in 1816...
. The first thematical worldatlas (with the issues meteorology
Meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
, hydrography
Hydrography
Hydrography is the measurement of the depths, the tides and currents of a body of water and establishment of the sea, river or lake bed topography and morphology. Normally and historically for the purpose of charting a body of water for the safe navigation of shipping...
, geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
, magnetism
Magnetism
Magnetism is a property of materials that respond at an atomic or subatomic level to an applied magnetic field. Ferromagnetism is the strongest and most familiar type of magnetism. It is responsible for the behavior of permanent magnets, which produce their own persistent magnetic fields, as well...
, plant geography, animal geography
Animal geographies
Animal geographies is an area of study in geography, studying the spaces and places occupied by animals in human culture.An interest in animal geographies emerged in human geography in the mid 1990s...
, anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, ethnography
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
) was published as a complement for the 5-volume work Kosmos
Kosmos (Humboldt)
Kosmos was an influential treatise on science and nature written by the German scientist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt. Kosmos began as a lecture series delivered by Humboldt at the University of Berlin, and was published in five volumes between 1845 and 1862...
by 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...
. Heinrich Berghaus edited the first two editions himself, while his nephew Hermann Berghaus
Hermann Berghaus
Hermann Berghaus was a German cartographer.-Biography:He was a nephew of Heinrich Berghaus. During most of his life, he was cartographer in the Geographical Institute of Justus Perthes at Gotha. His best known work is a chart of the world which went through at least 11 editions...
edited the third edition.
Von Humboldt provided Berghaus with much data, that he had acquired during his explorations and Berghaus processed these into physical maps, for which he used many kinds of isolines and a whole range of new symbols. He liked to project thematical content on top of topographic maps and was also very much interested in the right depiction of heights. Some maps of the first edition carry the signature "drawn and engraved in the ‘Geographische Kunstschule’
Potsdam
Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....
". Between 1839 and 1844 he there tutored amongst others August Petermann
August Heinrich Petermann
August Heinrich Petermann was a German cartographer.-Early years:Petermann was born in Bleicherode, Germany. When he was 14 years old he started grammar school in the nearby town of Nordhausen...
, Heinrich 'Henry' Lange and his nephew Hermann Berghaus
Hermann Berghaus
Hermann Berghaus was a German cartographer.-Biography:He was a nephew of Heinrich Berghaus. During most of his life, he was cartographer in the Geographical Institute of Justus Perthes at Gotha. His best known work is a chart of the world which went through at least 11 editions...
. As compensation they had to edit amongst others maps for the Stieler and the Physikalischer Atlas. E.g. this happened with map 2 from issue 2 of the second edition of the Physikalischer Atlas (Hydrography). This shows among other things the discovery of Von Humboldt that the river Casiquiare was the watershed between the rivers Orinoco and Rio Negro.
In 1850 the big atlas was converted into a school atlas. This first thematical atlas had such a great influence in its time that the publisher Alexander Keith Johnston requested Berghaus to make some maps for the first part of his Physical atlas of natural phenomena. Though Berghaus did not find the British scientific climate ripe enough for such publications he complied. His criticism was repeated half a century later by J.G. Bartolomew, who declared that British contributions to the geographic sciences mainly lay in ‘search’, while the German contributions mainly lay in ‘research’. For the second part of his atlas Johnston required the cooperation of Heinrich Lange and August Petermann, who therefore moved to Scotland in 1844 en and 1845.
Between 1850 and en 1852 Berghaus published four issues of the Geographisches Jahrbuch, that were meant as supplements on several of the Perthes’ atlases. In 1854 the editorship of these annuals was taken over by his former pupil August Petermann. Probably this plus the fact that his son August in 1854 was not engaged by Perthes made Berghaus decide to brake off his relationship with the publisher.
- 1e ed.: Dr. Heinrich Berghaus' Physikalischer Atlas oder Sammlung von Karten, auf denen die hauptsächlichsten Erscheinungen der anorganischen und organischen Natur nach ihrer geographischen Verbreitung und Vertheilung bildlich dargestellt sind, 1837–1848, 90 maps
- 2e ed.: Dr. Heinrich Berghaus' Physikalischer Atlas, Sammlung von 93 Karten, auf denen die hauptsächlichsten Erscheinungen der anorganischen und organischen Natur nach ihren geographischen Verbreitung und Vertheilung bildlich dargestellt sind, 1849–1863, 93 maps
- 3e ed.: Berghaus' Physikalischer Atlas, 1886–1892, 75 maps
Spruner Historisch-Geographischen Hand-Atlas
In 1838 Perthes added the ’’Historischer Atlas von Bayern’’ by Karl Spruner von MerzKarl Spruner von Merz
Karl Spruner von Merz , or Karl von Spruner as he preferred to be known, was a German cartographer and scholar.He spent most of his long life in military service. He joined the Bavarian army, aged 11, in 1814, and was promoted to lieutenant in 1825...
Karl Spruner von Merz (1803-1892) to his publishing list. This was soon followed by the Historisch-Geographischen Hand-Atlas (ed. 1869), published between 1848 and 1853. To make comparison easier with the Stieler the same scales were used as much as possible. Heinrich Theodor Menke edited many maps for the second and third (1909) editions. Foreign editions were published in London, Turin and New York.
Von Sydow methodischer Schulatlas
While teaching at the Erfurt military school Emil von SydowEmil von Sydow
Emil von Sydow was a German geographer and cartographer born in Freiberg, Saxony. Early in his career he was a geography instructor at the military academy in Erfurt, and in 1867 became director of statistics and geography to the Prussian General Staff.Emil von Sydow is considered to be the...
(1812-1873) was taken up by the problems of how to improve the inadequateness of geographic educational means. Eventually he ended up with Perthes, that wanted to publish a series of wallmaps. While cartographers like Friedrich von Stülpnagel and Christian Bär drew the outlines for the maps Sydow painted in the colours green for lowlands and brown-red for higher areas, a system still in use today. When Carl Ritter
Carl Ritter
Carl Ritter was a German geographer. Along with Alexander von Humboldt, he is considered one of the founders of modern geography. From 1825 until his death, he occupied the first chair in geography at the University of Berlin.-Biography:Ritter was born in Quedlinburg, one of the six children of a...
saw the first map Asia he was very much taken with how it was decluttered from redundant toponyms and the way it was coloured. When Von Sydow’s wallmap series in the 20th century was replaced by the sries developed by Hermann Haack, the latter emphasized red for higher mountaineous areas.
As a follow-up of Stielers Schulatlas Von Sydow created the E. von Sydows methodischer Schulatlas, that after 1879 till 1943 was published as the Sydow-Wagners methodischer Schulatlas. To emphasize the contrast between text and atlas when describing landscapes he wrote in his introduction: "Even when text has to divide the subject of geography in several parts and to isolate it for systematic education in independent levels, it is preferably the task of the map to neutralize this division and to fuse the independent parts together into a wholeness".
Von Sydow spent most of his energy in editing the Der kartographische Standpunkt Europas
Petermann's geographische Mitteilungen
Between 1839 and 1844 August Heinrich PetermannAugust Heinrich Petermann
August Heinrich Petermann was a German cartographer.-Early years:Petermann was born in Bleicherode, Germany. When he was 14 years old he started grammar school in the nearby town of Nordhausen...
(1822–1878) was trained by Heinrich Berghaus and in the third quarter of the 19th century was internationally acclaimed to be one of the most outstanding geographers/cartographers. Before he started working with Perthes he worked in 1845-46 in Schotland on the Physical atlas, published by Alexander Keith Johnston and in 1847 moved to London. There he founded his own establishment in 1850. He was very active in the Royal Geographical Society
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
, which honoured him in 1868 with the 'Founders medal'
Gold Medal (RGS)
The Gold Medal are the most prestigious of the awards presented by the Royal Geographical Society. The Gold Medal is not one award but consists of two separate awards; the Founder's Medal 1830 and the Patron's Medal 1838. The award is given for "the encouragement and promotion of geographical...
. In London he met with many geographers and explorers. Because he was fluent in German, French and English it was no trouble for him to be in such company. Forced by private worries in 1854 he complied with a request by Bernhardt Perthes (1824–1857) to work for his firm. Shortly after his move to Gotha the Duke of Gotha appointed him professor in 1854 and in 1855 he became doctor h.c. at the university of Göttingen.
It was intended that Petermann would continue the Geographischer Jahrbuch. But at the intercession of Adolph Müller, who from 1857 onwards managed the firm of Perthes because Bernhard Perthes was born only 8 months after the death of his father Bernhardt, he started in 1855 the journal Mittheilungen aus Justus Perthes Geographischer Anstalt über wichtige neue Erforschungen auf der Gesammtgebiet der Geographie von Dr. A. Petermann, after his death in 1878 renamed as Petermann's geographische Mitteilungen (PGM). The promise, made in the first issue, that every issue of this journal would at least contain one map was kept till the journal ceased to appear in 2004. In the same introduction to the journal it is said that PGM was meant as being supplementary to the Stieler and other Perthes’ atlases. PGM started in March 1855 with the then unbelievable high print run of 4,000 copies, with 1,000 subscriptions abroad. As so much information was coming into Gotha that it could not be published in the 40-page issues of PGM it was decided to start publishing the so-called Ergänzungshefte
PGM was renowned especially in the 19th century for its unusual fast publishing of the reworked reports it received from explorers, and not only German ones, and that the reports were almost always accompanied by up-to-date maps. This also shows how valuable the contacts were that Petermann had established in his London period. PGM not only published the explorers reports but also was proactive when new explorations were called for. As an example we may have a look at Ergänzungsband II of 1863, that contained in 10 parts the Karte von Inner-Afrika
Petermann was not only a geographer/cartographer, who could distil from many sources a realistic image of the world, but he also was a very good taskmaster who could transfer his abilities in this field to his pupils. Amongst others these were Ernst Debes (1849–1923), Bruno Hassenstein (1939-1902), Hermann Habenicht(1844–1917), Fritz Hanemann (1847–1877), Otto Koffmahn (1851–1916), Christian Peip 1843-1922) and Arnim Welcker (1840–1888). They became known as 'Petermann’s school' or the 'Gotha school'. They put the crafts and lessons, that Petermann had learned with Berghaus, into practise, which resulted in unmatched cartographic images. The style –map lettering, relief representation, better engraving and colouring- became more uniform and influenced all new atlas publications of Perthes.
During his time as editor Petermann received much support from Ernst Behm
Ernst Behm
Ernst Behm was a German geographer and statistician who was a native of Gotha.Behm studied medicine and sciences at the Universities of Jena, Berlin and Würzburg, and in 1856 began work as an editor at Petermanns Geographischen Mitteilungen in Gotha...
(1830–1884), who succeeded him after his untimely death as editor-in-chief. Following the example of The Statesman's Yearbook (1864-...) he published from 1866 onwards the first volume of the Geographisches Jahrbuch
The content of PGM became more science-oriented after 1880, especially under the editorship of Alexander Supan (1847–1920), who would be editor-in-chief till 1909. He introduced the Literaturberichte
Hermann Haack
In 1897 Hermann Haack (1872–1966) took up employment with Perthes. He began with the editing of school atlases and from 1907 onwards he became the main editor of the Sydow-Wagners Methodischer Schulatlas. In 1902 he became responsible for the Stieler. It was the second time that this was accompanied by a textbook. In 1934 He started on the ‘internationale Stieler'. For this projects a lot of maps were redrawn and toponymsToponymy
Toponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word "toponymy" is derived from the Greek words tópos and ónoma . Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds...
were given in local language. A Dutch reviewer read the subtitle Grand atlas de géographie moderne as meaning that the atlas would be complemented with some maps in the style of the Physikalischer Atlas. Unfortunately the Second World War terminated this project before it was complete.
In 1908 he began a carto-bibliographic supplement in PGM, that contained many reviews of maps. In 1941-1945 this was succeeded by the feature Kartographie.
Haack was especially renowned for the publication of his wallmap series, of which 250 items were planned. In 1903 he began with the series Große historische Wandatlas
His last grand project was the Zentralasien-Atlas
Sven Hedin
Sven Anders Hedin KNO1kl RVO was a Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, and travel writer, as well as an illustrator of his own works...
, but because of the Second World war this project soon ended.
Hermann Haack retired in 1944, but this would not mean the end of his career as cartographer and publisher.
Brake up of Perthes
The American army occupied ThüringenThuringia
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....
in April 1945 to hand it over on July 1 to the Sowjet command. Fortunately only the Almanac-archives have suffered from this occupation. The rest of the Perthes-collections was left as it was. After the German partition Joachim Perthes and his son Wolf-Jürgen Perthes started in 1953 the 'Geographische Verlagsanstalt Justus Perthes Darmstadt' in Western Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
. In 1980 the management was taken over by Stephan Perthes, seventh generation publisher. This publishing firm specialized in wall maps and modern geographic educational tools.
The publishing company in Gotha, that was then part of Eastern Germany
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
was expropriated by the state in 1953 and in 1955 renamed as 'VEB Hermann Haack Geographisch-Kartographische Anstalt Gotha'. For this reason Hermann Haack was recalled from retirement and till his death in 1966 led the company. The company was mainly known, for its (translations) of (school)atlasen en wall map series.
After the unifaction of both the Germanies both publishing companies were unified again in 1992 under their old name ’Justus Perthes Verlag’.
Close down
In 1992 Justus Perthes Verlag was bought by Ernst Klett Schulbuchverlag in Stuttgart. In 2003 the Perthes archives (185,000 maps, 120,000 geographical publications and approximately 800 metres business archives) were bought by the Free State of Thüringen and deposited in the Gotha-annex of the University of Erfurt. In 2010 the business premises and the accompanying land Justus-Perthes-Straße 1-9 en Gotthardstraße 6 were bought by the municipality of Gotha. This means the end to the 225-year history of this publishing house. But fortunately the Perthes archives, which survived all difficulties and wars intact, will be available to future scholars and interested parties.Publishers
- Justus Perthes (September 11, 1749 – May 2, 1816)
He was founder of the firm that bears his name. He was born in the 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....
n town of Rudolstadt
Rudolstadt
Rudolstadt is a town in the German Bundesland of Thuringia, close to the Thuringian Forest to the southwest, and to Jena and Weimar to the north....
, the son of a Schwarzburg
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was a small historic state in present-day Thuringia, Germany with its capital at Rudolstadt.-History:Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was established in 1599 in the course of a resettlement of Schwarzburg dynasty lands...
court physician. From 1778 he worked as a bookseller in nearby Gotha
Gotha (town)
Gotha is a town in Thuringia, within the central core of Germany. It is the capital of the district of Gotha.- History :The town has existed at least since the 8th century, when it was mentioned in a document signed by Charlemagne as Villa Gotaha . Its importance derives from having been chosen in...
, where he founded the publishing firm 'Justus Perthes' in 1785. The main business was the publication of the noble almanacs
- Wilhem Perthes (1793–1853)
Wilhelm joined his fathers business in 1814. Before that time he had followed an apprenticeship in the publishing house of Justus's nephew Friedrich Christoph Perthes
Friedrich Christoph Perthes
Friedrich Christoph Perthes was a German publisher, nephew of Johan Georg Perthes.Perthes was born at Rudolstadtin Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. At the age of fifteen he became an apprentice in the service of Adam Friedrich Bohme, a bookseller in Leipzig, with whom he remained for about six years...
at Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. He laid the foundation of the geographical branch of the business for which it is chiefly famous.
- Bernhardt Perthes (1824–1857)
From the moment on that Bernhardt Perthes started to lead his firm it transformed from an ordinary publisher into an industrial business, as the production became too large to leave this to subcontractors. He bought new business premises and created departments for publishing, editing and drawing. The basis for all maps was still copper engraving, used till the Second World War. But for the printing Bernhardt Perthes switched to electrolytic reproduction and lithographic colourprint. His favourite printing process, however, was ‘Chimitypie’, a process that transformed drawings or copper engravings into die-stamp engraving.
It was his ambition that his firm not only would be the international center to distribute all new geographic information, but at the same time to become the international focus for gathering and disseminating of information. To underline this ambition he changed the name of his firm into 'Justus Perthes Geographischer Anstalt', and also started to publish many wall map series and school atlases in foreign languages. To support this program he hired amongst others August Petermann
August Heinrich Petermann
August Heinrich Petermann was a German cartographer.-Early years:Petermann was born in Bleicherode, Germany. When he was 14 years old he started grammar school in the nearby town of Nordhausen...
, Ernst Behm, Hermann Berghaus
Hermann Berghaus
Hermann Berghaus was a German cartographer.-Biography:He was a nephew of Heinrich Berghaus. During most of his life, he was cartographer in the Geographical Institute of Justus Perthes at Gotha. His best known work is a chart of the world which went through at least 11 editions...
and Carl Vogel. All of them prominent figures in their fields of interest. To prevent unwanted competition none of them was appointed to general manager. From his death onwards till Berhard Perthes took over in 1880 this role was reserved for Adolf Müller. During this period land was bought to provide accommodation for the departments for engraving, printing of copper plates and electrolytic reproduction.
- Bernhard Perthes (1858–1919)
After Bernhard Perthes had taken over the management he added departments for lithography, letterpress and bookbinding, that previously had been jobbed out. Only the colouring of the maps were still done by independent artisans. In 1881 the company employed 30 printers and 90 women or girls as colorists. In 1935 the amount of employees had risen to 144: 57 editors and cartographers, 86 printers and 1 female colorist.
Because the documentation for the almanacs and the amount of geographic publications and maps had grown to such a volume, a new library was opened in 1911 measuring some 500 m². To honour their contributions to the company busts of August Petermann and Hermann Wagner were placed in the reading room.
Bernhard Perthes complained to Hermann Wagner that PGM had become a scientific and academic journal under the editorship of Supan, resulting in a decrease of subscriptions of 2,810 in 1884 to 1,330 in 1908.
- Joachim Perthes (1889—1954)
- Hermann Haack (1872–1966) (1955-1992: VEB Hermann Haack Geographisch-Kartographische Anstalt Gotha)
- Joachim Perthes en Wolf-Jürgen Perthes (1921–1964) ( 1953-1992: Geographische Verlagsanstalt Justus Perthes Darmstadt)
- Stephan J. Perthes (1955-...)
Till 1980 the company was led by deputy executives, till Stephan Perthes was ready to take over the management.
(1992: Justus Perthes sold to Ernst Klett Schulbuchverlag)
Publications
- Noble almanacs (1785–1944)
- Heusinger, Johann Heinrich Gottlieb. Handatlas über alle bekannte Laender des Erdbodens (1809)
- Stieler's Hand-Atlas über alle Theile der Erde und über das Weltgebäude (10 ed. 1817-1945)
- Stielers kleiner Schulatlas über alle Teile der Erde (93 ed. 1820-1914)
- F.M. Diez Post- und Reise-Karte von Deutschland und den anliegenden Laendern : bis London, Havre de Grace, Tours, Lyon, Genua, Bologna, Pesth, Warschau, Königsberg u. jenseits Kopenhagen, nebst den Haupt-Routen durch das übrige Europa = Carte Des Postes Et Routes De L'Allemagne Et De La Plus Grande Partie De L'Europe (geographisch entworfen von Ad
[ olf] St[ [ieler] ) (1825) - Adolf Stieler Karte von Deutschland, Dem Koenigr. Der Niederlande, Dem Kgr. Belgien, Der Schweiz und den angränzenden Ländern : bis Paris, Lyon, Turin, Mailand, Venedig, Ofen, Königsberg ; in XXV Blättern (1829–1836)
- Heinrich Berghaus' Physikalischer Atlas : Oder Sammlung Von Karten, Auf Denen Die Hauptsächlichsten Erscheinungen Der Anorganischen Und Organischen Natur Nach Ihrer Geographischen Verbreitung Und Vertheilung Bildlich Dargestellt Sind (3 ed. 1837-1892)
- C. von Spruners Historisch-Geographischer Hand-Atlas von Europa (3 ed. 1837-1909)
- Atlas zur Geschichte von Bayern (1838–1852)
- E. von Sydows/Haack wall maps (1838–1857 and later)
- E. von Sydow's Methodischer Hand-Atlas für das wissenschaftliche Studium der Erdkunde Schulatlas (1844–1879)
- Justus Perthes' Taschenatlas (1845 and later)
- Eisen-Bahn-Atlas von Deutschland, Belgien, Elsass und dem nördlichtsen Theile von Italien (12 ed. 1847-1858)
- Petermann's geographischen Mitteilungen (1855–2004)
- Herman Berghaus' Chart of the world (16 ed. 1863-1924)
- R. Grundemann's Allgemeiner Missions-Atlas (1867–1871)
- Theodor Menke Bibelatlas In Acht Blättern (1868)
- Bruno Hassenstein Atlas von Japan (1885–1887)
- Sydow-Wagners methodischer Schulatlas (23 ed. 1888-1944)
- Vogels Karte des Deutschen Reichs und der Alpenländer (1893–1915)
- R. Lüddecke's Deutscher Schulatlas (1897 en later)
- Paul Langhans Alldeutscher Atlas (1900 en later)
- Hermann Haack Geographen-Kalender (1903–1914)
- Die territoriale Entwicklung der europäische Kolonien (1906)
- Hermann Haack Oberstufen-Atlas für hőheren Lehranstalten (1913)
- Richard Lepsius Geologische karte des deutschen Reiches (1913–1915)
- Hermann Haack Geographische Bausteine (1913–1996)
- Heinz Zeiss Seuchen-Atlas (1942–1945)
- Vom Bild zur Karte (1951–1966)
- Edgar Lehmann Weltatlas : die Staaten der Erde und ihre Wirtschaft (9 ed. 1952-1969)
- dtv-Perthes-Weltatlas (1973–1980)
- Welt-Atlas für Blinde (2006–2009)
- Justus Perthes' Taschenatlanten (Taschenatlas vom Deutschen Reich, See - Atlas, Atlas Antiquus, Geschichtsatlas, Staatsbürger-Atlas),
- Many publications concerning geographic schooling and concerning geography in general
Literature
- Karl E. Fick: Justus Perthes. Grundlagen, Wirkungsfelder und Funktionen eines geographisch-kartographischen Verlages. In: Geographisches Taschenbuch und Jahrweiser für Landeskunde, 1987/1988. Stuttgart, Franz Steiner Verlag, 1987.
- Jan Smits: Petermann's Maps. Carto-bibliography of the maps in Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen, 1855-1945. 't Goy-Houten, Hes & De Graaf, 2004. ISBN 90-6194-249-7.
External links
- See an 1872 map by August Petermann, published by Justus Perthes, [Map of Texas, Indian Territory, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas] / bearbeitet v. H. Habenicht. hosted by the Portal to Texas History.
- The 1875 Stieler Hand-Atlas, and many other maps and atlases, are viewable online at DavidRumsey.com
- More information about the history and the current situation of the huge archive (map archiveMap collectionA map collection is a storage facility for maps, usually in a library, archive, or museum, or at a map publisher or public authority, and the maps and other cartographic items stored within that facility....
, bibliothèque) of 'Justus Perthes Geographische Anstalt Gotha' (including 'VEB Hermann Haack Geographisch-Kartographische Anstalt Gotha', publishing firm in the German Democratic RepublicGerman Democratic RepublicThe German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
(GDR) from 1955 to 1991, and 'Justus Perthes Geographische Verlagsanstalt Darmstadt', publishing firm in Darmstadt from 1953 to 1994), as well as about the current publishing house 'Ernst Klett Verlag GmbH, Zweigniederlassung Gotha, Gymnasialverlag, Programmbereich Klett-Perthes' available online at perthes.de (German language) - More information about 'Almanach de Gotha' (English) online at perthes.de