Justus Perthes

Johann Georg Justus Perthes ( born September 11, 1749 Rudolstadt; † May 1, 1816 in Gotha ) was a German bookseller and publisher.

Life

Justus Perthes was the son of the court physician Rudolstädter Johann Justus Perthes. After training as a clerk, he got a job at the bookstore by Carl Wilhelm Ettinger in Gotha. Along with this and his later brother Friedrich Dürfeldt 1778 he founded a company to continue the Ettinger'sche bookstore on its own.

In September 1785, he founded the Justus Perthes ' ​​Verlagsbuchhandlung that henceforth the 1763 first appeared and moved in Ettinger " Gotha Geneaologischen Court Calendar " and its French edition, the " Almanach de Gotha", produced and distributed. Thanks Perthes himself converted the soon throughout Europe as " The Gotha" known reference of a calendar of the Enlightenment to a Adelslexikon with diplomatic- static state manual.

1815 Perthes planned with the cartographers Adolf Stieler and Christian Gottlieb Reichard the publication of an atlas, which is characterized by ... Comfortable format greatest possible accuracy, clarity and completeness, but dabey expedient choice, uniformity of the projection and the scale, nice paper, good print, careful illumination, cheaper price ... excel and should expand the program of the publisher.

1816, the year of death of Perthes, published the first edition of Stieler 's Hand - Atlas, which ' ( only after Perthes Geographical ( publishing ) Institution Gotha ' death was ) established the worldwide reputation of Justus Perthes.

Family

Perthes married Ernestine Dürfeldt 1784 Sabine ( 1765-1817 ), the sister of his business partner and engraver Friedrich Dürfeldt. With her he had 15 children, including Wilhelm Perthes, who continued the publishing house from 1816.

The publisher Friedrich Christoph Perthes was the nephew of Justus Perthes, the princely control secretary Christoph Friedrich Perthes his brother.

Others

Justus Perthes found his final resting place on the Gotha Old cemetery (also called Cemetery I ) between guarantor Rough and Eisenacherstraße. After site clearance of the cemetery for construction of the Arnoldi school ( 1911) found Perthes ' ​​grave stone temporarily to a new location on the situated above the Eisenacherstraße Cemetery II After its abolition in 1968/69 the grave stone was placed on the central cemetery, where he is currently in Ehrenhain stands next to the stones of other significant personalities Gotha. The original grave site Perthes ' ​​is on today's schoolyard of the Arnoldi school, right at the foot of the grand staircase entrance.

In the 2011 novel, Dinner for One on Goth'sch is claimed that Justus Perthes had been the model for the character of Sir Toby in the famous sketch Dinner for One. In the listed annually since 2009 on New Year's eve in Gotha play Dar neunzschsde Gebordsdaach or Dinner for One on Goth'sch the performer of the Servant of the late Perthes quoted clearly the publishing business, borrowed, absurd toasts (eg " Cheers, Your high princely Atlas! " " Sophie, my crumpled map! ").

Works

  • Gothaischer Genealogy court calendar, publishing house of Justus Perthes, Gotha 1913 (see Genealogical Handbook of the nobility ).
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