Online Encyclopedia

FRIEDRICH ARNOLD BROCKHAUS (1772-1823)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 624 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

FRIEDRICH ARNOLD BROCKHAUS (1772-1823)  , German publisher, was born at
See also:
Dortmund, on the 4th of May 1772 . He was educated at the gymnasium of his native place, and from 1788 to 1793 served an apprenticeship in a mercantile house at
See also:
Dusseldorf . He then devoted two years at
See also:
Leipzig to the study of modem
See also:
languages and literature, after which he set up at Dortmund an emporium for
See also:
English goods . In 18or he transferred this business to Arnheim, and in the following
See also:
year to Amsterdam . In 1805, having given up his first
See also:
line of trade, he began business as a publisher . Two
See also:
journals projected by him were not allowed by the government to survive for any length of time, and in 18io the complications in the affairs of Holland induced him to return homewards . In 1811 he settled at
See also:
Altenburg . About three years previously he had
See also:
purchased the
See also:
copyright of the Konversations-Lexikon, started in 1796, and in 1810-1811 he completed the first edition of this celebrated
See also:
work (14th ed . 1901-4) . A second edition under his own editor-
See also:
ship was begun in 1812, and was received with universal favour . His business extended rapidly, and in 1818 Brockhaus removed to Leipzig, where he established a large printing-house . Among the more extensive of his many
See also:
literary undertakings were the critical periodicals—Hermes, the Literarisches Konversationsblalt (afterwards the Blatter filr literarische Unterhaltung), and the Zeitgenossen, and some large
See also:
historical and bibliographical
See also:
works, such as Raumer's Geschichte der
See also:
Hohenstaufen, and Ebert's Allgemeines bibliographisches Lexikon .

F . A . Brockhaus died at Leipzig on the loth of

August 1823 . The business was carried on by his sons, Friedrich Brockhaus (1800-i865) who retired in 185o, and Heinrich Brockhaus (1804-1874), under whom it was considerably extended . The latter especially rendered
See also:
great services to literature and science, which the university of
See also:
Jena recognized by making him, in 1858, honorary doctor of philosophy . In the years 1842-1848, Heinrich Brockhaus was member of the Saxon second chamber, as representative for Leipzig, was made honorary citizen of that city in 1872, and died there on the 15th of November 1874 . See H . E . Brockhaus, Friedrich A . Brockhaus, sein Leben and Wirken nach Briefen and andern Aufzeichnungen (3 vols., Leipzig . 1872—1881) ; also by the same author, Die Firma F . A .

Brockhaus von der Begri ndung bis zum hundertjahrigen Jubildum (1805—1905, Leipzig, 1905) . Another of Friedrich's sons,

HERMANN BROCKHAUS (i8o6-1877), German Orientalist, was born at Amsterdam on the 28th of
See also:
January 18o6 . While his two brothers carried on the business he devoted himself to an
See also:
academic career . He was appointed extraordinary professor in Jena in 1838, and in 1841 received a call in a similar capacity to Leipzig, where in 1848 he was made ordinary professor of ancient Semitic . He died at Leipzig on the 5th of January 1877 . Brockhaus was an
See also:
Oriental scholar in the old sense of the word, devoting his attention, not to one language only, but to acquiring a familiarity with the
See also:
principal languages and literature of the East . He studied
See also:
Hebrew, Arabic and Persian, and was able to lecture on
See also:
Sanskrit, after-wards his specialty,
See also:
Pali, Zend and even on Chinese . His most important work was the editio princeps of the
See also:
Katha-sarit-sagara, " The Ocean of the Streams of Story," the large collection of Sanskrit stories made by Soma Deva in the 12th century . By this publication he gave the first impetus to a really scientific study of the origin and spreading of popular tales, and enabled Prof . Benfey and others to trace the great bulk of Eastern and Western stories to an
See also:
Indian, and more especially to a Buddhistic source . Among Prof .

End of Article: FRIEDRICH ARNOLD BROCKHAUS (1772-1823)
[back]
BARTHOLD HEINRICH BROCKES (1680-1747)
[next]
RICHARD BROCKLESBY (1722-1797)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.