Johann Christian Dieterich (1722The '' Allgemeinen Deutschen Biographie'' gives 1712, but this contradicts church records.–1800) was the founder of the Dieterich'schen Verlagsbuchhandlung publishing house and a close friend of

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1 July 1742 – 24 February 1799) was a German physicist, satirist, and Anglophile. As a scientist, he was the first to hold a professorship explicitly dedicated to experimental physics in Germany. He is remembered for ...

. He published the first ''

Musen-Almanach A ''Musen-Almanach'' ("Muses' Almanac") was a kind of literary annual, popular in Germany from 1770 into the mid-19th century. They were modelled on the '' Almanach des Muses'' published in Paris from 1765. Development in the 1770s The first exam ...

''.

Early years

Dieterich was born in

Stendal The Hanseatic City of Stendal () is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the capital of the Stendal District and the unofficial capital of the Altmark region. Geography Situated west of the Elbe valley, the Stendal town centre is located s ...

. He began his career as proprietor of a

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the ...

shop in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, which he moved to

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the Gotha (district), district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine House of Wet ...

. In 1749 he married the daughter of the bookseller Mevius and began running his shop for him.

Career

In 1760 he started a new bookshop in

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

, printed a few books, and in 1770 established a publishing house. Among the most famous authors whose works he published are

Gottfried August Bürger Gottfried August Bürger (31 December 1747 – 8 June 1794) was a German poet. His ballads were very popular in Germany. His most noted ballad, '' Lenore'', found an audience beyond readers of the German language in an English and Russian ad ...

and

. He was a close friend of the latter, and between 1776 and his death in 1799, Lichtenberg lived in the Dieterich family's house. On his travels he wrote many long letters to the Dieterichs.

Death

Dieterich died in

. His son Heinrich (1761-1837) continued running the business himself until 1824.

Works published by Dieterich before 1850

* ''

Almanach de Gotha The ''Almanach de Gotha'' (german: Gothaischer Hofkalender) is a directory of Europe's royalty and higher nobility, also including the major governmental, military and diplomatic corps, as well as statistical data by country. First publish ...

'' or ''Gothaischer genealogischer Kalender'', Göttingen 1763. The German equivalent of

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great ...

, it was taken up by a different publisher (C. W. Ettinger) in 1775, then by

Justus Perthes Johann Georg Justus Perthes (11 September 1749, Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt – 2 May 1816, Gotha, Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg) was a German publisher and founder of the publishing house that bears his name. Life He was born in the Thuringian t ...

in 1815, and was published continuously until 1944. From 1951 a different company continued it as ''

Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels The ''Almanach de Gotha'' (german: Gothaischer Hofkalender) is a directory of Europe's royalty and higher nobility, also including the major governmental, military and diplomatic corps, as well as statistical data by country. First published ...

'' (GHdA). * ''Systema vegetabilium'', by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

in 1784. * ''Göttinger Taschen Calender'', which contained, from 1784 to 1796, Lichtenberg's commentaries on the work of

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraver, pictorial satirist, social critic, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like ...

. These were republished between 1794 and 1799. * Jacob Grimm's ''Deutsche Grammatik'', ''Weisthümern'', and others * Works by

Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann (13 May 1785, Wismar5 December 1860, Bonn) was a German historian and politician. Biography He came of an old Hanseatic family of Wismar, then controlled by Sweden. His father, who was burgomaster of the town, int ...

, Gottfried Müller, Heinrich Albert Zachariä, Konrad Johann Martin Langenbeck,

Carl Friedrich Gauss Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (; german: Gauß ; la, Carolus Fridericus Gauss; 30 April 177723 February 1855) was a German mathematician and physicist who made significant contributions to many fields in mathematics and science. Sometimes refer ...

Georg Friedrich Benecke Georg Friedrich Benecke (10 June 1762, Mönchsroth – 21 August 1844, Göttingen) was a German philologist. Beginning in 1780, he was a student at the University of Göttingen, where he was a pupil of Christian Gottlob Heyne. In 1814 he be ...

, Ernst Ludwig von Leutsch and

Friedrich Wilhelm Schneidewin Friedrich Wilhelm Schneidewin (6 June 1810 – 11 January 1856), was a German classical scholar. Biography He was born on 6 June 1810 at Helmstedt. In 1833, he became a teacher at the Braunschweig gymnasium. In 1837 he was appointed an associa ...

Bibliography

* Elisabeth Willnat: ''Johann Christian Dieterich. ein Verlagsbuchhändler und Drucker in der Zeit der Aufklärung''. Buchhändler-Vereinigung, Frankfurt am Main 1993. (''Dissertation'') * Johann Christian Dieterich, Ludwig Christian Lichtenberg, Ulrich Joost (eds): ''Der Briefwechsel zwischen Johann Christian Dieterich und Ludwig Christian Lichtenberg''. Vandehoek und Rupprecht, Göttingen 1997 * Gottfried August Bürger, Ulrich Joost (eds): ''Mein scharmantes Geldmännchen: Gottfried August Bürgers Briefwechsel mit seinem Verleger Dieterich''. Wallstein, Göttingen 1988 * Eduard Grisebach (ed): ''G. C. Lichtenberg's Briefe an Dieterich 1770–1798.'' Dieterich'sche Verlagsanstalt Leipzig 1898.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dieterich, Johann Christian 1722 births 1800 deaths German publishers (people)