Friedrich Adolf Ebert (July 9, 1791 – November 13, 1834) was a German

bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliograph ...

and librarian.

Biography

Ebert was born at Taucha, near

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, the son of a

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

pastor. At the age of fifteen, Friedrich was appointed to a subordinate post in the municipal library of Leipzig. He studied

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

for a short time at Leipzig, and afterwards

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

at Wittenberg, where he received a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1812. While still a student in 1811, he had already published a work on public libraries. In 1812, he published another work entitled ''Hierarchiae in religionem ac literas commoda'', which roughly translates to "Hierarchy in religion and letters advantages." In 1813, he was attached to the Leipzig University library, and in 1814 was appointed secretary to the Royal Library of Dresden. The same year, he published ''F. Taubmanns Leben und Verdienste'' and in 1819 ''

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' (Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

'', a translation from

Pierre Louis Ginguené Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translatio ...

with annotations. The rich resources open to him in the Dresden library enabled him to undertake the work on which his reputation chiefly rests, the ''Allgemeines bibliographisches Lexikon'', the first volume of which appeared in 1821 and the second in 1830. This was the first work of the kind produced in Germany, and the most scientific published anywhere. From 1823 to 1825, Ebert was librarian to the Duke of Brunswick at Wolfenbüttel. He returned to Dresden in 1827 and was made chief librarian of the Dresden Royal library. Among his other works are: *''Die Bildung des Bibliothekars'' (1820) ("The Education of the Librarian") *''Geschichte und Beschreibung der königlichen Bibliothek in Dresden'' (1822) ("History and Description of the Royal Library in Dresden") *''Zur Handschriftenkunde'' (1825–1827) *''Culturperioden des obersächsischen Mittelalters'' (1825) ("Cultural Periods of Medieval Upper Saxony")
''A general bibliographical dictionary, Volume 4'' (1837)
Ebert was a contributor to various journals and took part in the editing of Ersch and Gruber's great encyclopedia. He died in Dresden on November 13, 1834, due to a fall from a ladder in his library.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ebert, Friedrich Adolf 1791 births 1834 deaths People from Taucha People from the Electorate of Saxony German Lutherans German bibliographers German librarians German male non-fiction writers Leipzig University alumni University of Wittenberg alumni

Biography

Further reading

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