Friedrich Soennecken (20 September 1848 – 2 July 1919) was an
entrepreneur and
inventor
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...
. He was the founder of
Soennecken Soennecken is a German office products manufacturer. Its products are well known in the United Kingdom, North America, Australia and also India. Founded by Friedrich Soennecken in 1875, the name was registered as a trademark in 1905. Soennecken is ...
, a German office supplier.
Soennecken was born in
Iserlohn-Dröschede,
Sauerland
The Sauerland () is a rural, hilly area spreading across most of the south-eastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, in parts heavily forested and, apart from the major valleys, sparsely inhabited.
The Sauerland is the largest tourist region in ...
in 1848, the son of a
blacksmith. On 27 May 1875 he founded the ''F. Soennecken Verlag'', a commercial enterprise in
Remscheid,
Westphalia.
He is best known for the reintroduction of a ''Rundschrift'' (round script) style of
calligraphy
Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...
and the broad
pen nib
A nib is the part of a quill, dip pen, fountain pen, ball point or stylus which comes into contact with the writing surface in order to deposit ink. Different types of nibs vary in their purpose, shape and size, as well as the material from which ...
associated with it.
While
''ronde'' script rendered with
quill originated in late 16th-century France and was widely used in the country throughout 17th and 18th centuries, it fell out of popularity after the invention of a mass-produced pointed
pen from steel in early 19th century.
Round writing was designed to be a visually appealing, standardized style of penmanship which was easy to learn and execute, and Soennecken published books on the topic in several languages.
[http://netznotizen.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Rundschrift_Teaser.jpg ] As a result, broad-nibbed pen (this time from steel) was popular again not just in Germany, but also in France, Russia and elsewhere; scribes of the
French Ministry of Finance
The Ministry of Economics, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty (french: Ministère de l'Économie, des Finances et de la Souveraineté industrielle et numérique, pronounced ), informally referred to as Bercy, is one of the most impor ...
used it even until right after World War II.
In 1888,
Friedrich Nietzsche wrote to a friend that he had finally discovered both a quality paper to write on and a quality pen from
Germany: ''Soenneckens Rundschrift Federhalter.''
Soennecken also introduced the
two-hole punch and the
ring binder. In 1876 he and his company relocated to Poppelsdorf, near
Bonn, to be closer to the
University which later awarded him the honorary title ''Dr. med. h. c.''.
Soennecken died in Bonn in 1919.
Inventions
* Ink container with stable stand (invented as an
apprentice)
* A style of writing with the round tip of the feather of a pen
nib (1860)
* An early type of binder which later became the ''Soennecken file'' (1886)
* The
hole punch
* The
ring binder, later symbolically part of the
logo of Soennecken
Literature
* Hans Schreiber: Soennecken Alphabete No. 7 (Neue Rundschrift), Verlag Soennecken, Zurich, approx. 1930
References
External links
*
life and history of Soennecken (German)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soennecken, Friedrich
1848 births
1919 deaths
19th-century German inventors
19th-century German businesspeople
20th-century German businesspeople
German company founders
People from Iserlohn