Eduard Alberti (11 March 1827 – 28 February 1898) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

literary historian The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry that attempt to provide entertainment or education to the reader, as well as the development of the literary techniques used in the communication of these pie ...

and

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

. His surviving published output includes approximately twenty biographical entries in ''

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB; ) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences between 1875 and 1912 in 56 volumes, printed in Lei ...

''.

Life

Eduard Christian Scharlau Alberti was born in

Friedrichstadt Friedrichstadt (; ; ; ; ) is a town in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the river Eider approx. 12 km (7 miles) south of Husum. History The town was founded in 1621 by Dutch settlers. Duk ...

, at that time in the

Duchy of Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig (; ; ; ; ; ) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km (45 mi) south of the current border between Germany and Denmark. The territory has been div ...

, then part of Denmark. He attended school in his hometown and then, between 1844 and Easter 1848, undertook a training in printing and book production ( ''"Buchdruck"''). He then returned to school, switching to a Gelehrtenschule (Pre-university academy) in nearby

Husum Husum (, ) is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) Nordfriesland in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The town was the birthplace of the novelist Theodor Storm, who coined the epithet "the grey town by the sea". It is also the home of the annual i ...

. In 1850, in further pursuit of his academic objectives, he enrolled at the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian Albrecht University of Kiel, (, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a public research university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the ''Academia Holsator ...

where, primarily under the supervision of Peter Wilhelm Forchhammer, he studied

classical philology Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek and Roman literature and their original languages, ...

, passing his final exams in the first part of 1854. After this, till 1856 Alberti worked as a home tutor in

Schwansen Schwansen ( or ''Svansø'', meaning "swan island/peninsula") is a peninsula in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, protruding into the Baltic Sea. It is located between Eckernförde Bay to the south and the Schlei inlet to the north. The Danish dia ...

, employed by the family of the jurist-politician . At the same time he worked on his doctorate (PhD) which he received in July 1856. In 1857, after a lengthy stay in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, he received his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

(higher academic qualification), still from Kiel University. At the same time he was working as an assistant at the

university library An academic library is a library that is attached to a higher education institution, which supports the curriculum and the research of the university faculty and students. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are an es ...

, where in 1868 he was promoted to the position of "deputy custos". After receiving a "professor" title in 1893, Eduard Alberti entered retirement with effect from 1 April 1894. He lived his final few years in Voorde (Flintbek), just outside Kiel. He died at Voorde on 28 February 1898, a couple of weeks short of what would have been his seventy-first birthday. Alberti's more enduring footprint on history results from his published output, notably a new edition of ''Lexicon of Writers in Schleswig-Holstein-Lauenburg and Eutin'' (). He worked on ''

'', to which he contributed approximately twenty articles for the volumes covering the letters B to E. He also wrote on his own account: his final work, produced jointly with his brother Leopold Alberti, was entitled ''Poems of Two Brothers'' (German: ''Gedichte zweier Brüder'') and appeared in 1898 very shortly before his death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alberti, Eduard People from Friedrichstadt People from the Duchy of Schleswig German literary historians Academic staff of the University of Kiel 1827 births 1898 deaths 19th-century German historians 19th-century German philosophers Danish historians