Georg Joachim Göschen (22 April 1752Several sources list 22 December 1752 as his date of birth; while others list 22 April 1752 as the date he was baptised. – 5 April 1828) was a German publisher and bookseller in

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 ...

Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony () was a German monarchy in Central Europe between 1806 and 1918, the successor of the Electorate of Saxony. It joined the Confederation of the Rhine after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, later joining the German ...

, notable for

typography Typography is the art and technique of Typesetting, arranging type to make written language legibility, legible, readability, readable and beauty, appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, Point (typogra ...

and his publications of music and philosophy. He was the patriarch of the Goschen family, whose English branch rose to prominence as bankers and politicians, including the

Viscounts Goschen Viscount Goschen, of Hawkhurst in the County of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1900 for the politician George Goschen. History The Goschen family descended from prominent publisher and printer Georg Jo ...

and Goschen baronets.

Early life

Born Jürgen (or Georg) Joachim von Göschen, he was the second child of merchant Johann Reinhard and Gebeta Göschen. Johann's father, Emanuel, was a doctor who had settled in Bremen. Johann eventually was ruined financially and abandoned the family. Georg was admitted to the

August Hermann Francke August Hermann Francke (; 22 March 1663 – 8 June 1727) was a German Lutheran clergyman, theologian, philanthropist, and Biblical scholar. His evangelistic fervour and pietism got him expelled as lecturer from the universities of Dresden and ...

orphanage until relatives arranged for him to live in Arbergen with Rev. Hinrich Erhard Heeren, who educated him. At age 15, he began an apprenticeship with the bookseller Johann Heinrich Cramer in Bremen. In 1772, he moved to Leipzig, where he worked as an assistant to publisher Siegfried Leberecht Crusius.

Career

In 1785, with the financial backing of

Christian Gottfried Körner Christian Gottfried Körner (2 July 1756 – 13 May 1831) was a German jurist. His home was a literary and musical salon, and he was a friend of Friedrich Schiller. Biography Born in Leipzig, he studied law at the University of Göttingen and at ...

, Göschen opened his own publishing house in Leipzig, the . His first major client was Körner's friend

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

, who was looking for someone to publish his journal '' Thalia''. Göschen published numerous works for Schiller, including ''

Don Carlos ''Don Carlos'' is an 1867 five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the 1787 play '' Don Karlos, Infant von Spanien'' (''Don Carlos, Infante of Spain'') by Fried ...

'' in 1787 and ''Geschichte des dreißigjährigen Kriegs'' (''A History of the Thirty Years' War'') in 1789. One of Göschen's early successes was Rudolph Zacharias Becker's ''Noth- und Hülfsbüchlein für Bauersleute'' (''Emergency Advice Booklet for Peasants''). The book, which sold 30,000 copies in its first printing, became a pillar of German educational history. Göschen much preferred to print more classic subjects and scientific journals, and was the first German publisher to print affordable books for the general public. From 1786 to 1790, he published the first complete edition of

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

's works in eight volumes. He also published 42 volumes of the works of

Christoph Martin Wieland Christoph Martin Wieland (; ; 5 September 1733 – 20 January 1813) was a German poet and writer, representative of literary Rococo. He is best-remembered for having written the first ''Bildungsroman'' (''Geschichte des Agathon''), as well as the ...

. He moved the printing house to

Grimma Grimma (; , ) is a town in Saxony, Central Germany, on the left bank of the Mulde, southeast of Leipzig. Founded in 1170, it is part of the Leipzig district. Location The town is in northern Saxony, southeast of Leipzig and south of Wurz ...

in 1797. There he was granted an unlimited licence to print and was free from the restrictive rules of the Leipzig printers guild. Göschen has been lauded for his efforts to improve

letterpress printing Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing for producing many copies by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against individual sheets of paper or a continuous roll of paper. A worker composes and locks movable t ...

; with the best examples being deluxe editions of the Greek New Testament and

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

's works. Göschen assumed a leadership role among German booksellers on issues such as copyright law and fixed prices. In 1802, he published his manifesto, "" (''My Thoughts on the Bookselling Trade''). Göschen died in 1828. His youngest son, Hermann, sold the publishing house in 1838. Ownership of the company changed hands several times until it was purchased by Walter de Gruyter & Co. in 1919. where the publishing continued in the "" (''Collection Göschen'').

Family

In 1788, he married Johanna Henriette Heun, sister of author

Heinrich Clauren Carl Gottlieb Samuel Heun (20 March 1771 – 2 August 1854), better known by his pen name Heinrich Clauren, was a German author. Biography Born on 20 March 1771 in Doberlug, Lower Lusatia. Heun went into the Prussian civil service, and wrote ...

. They had 10 children, six of whom survived into adulthood: *Carl Friedrich Göschen-Beyer (1790–1881) *Georg Joachim Göschen Jr. (1791–1855) *Wilhelm Heinrich Göschen (1793–1866) *Henriette (1795–1888), married firstly Franz Wilhelm Adolph Ludwig Susemihl; secondly Ludwig Moritz Otto von Schröter *Friederike Charlotte (1802–1886), married Lambert Heinrich Peter Frühling *Hermann Julius Göschen (1803–1846) His third son Wilhelm Heinrich (William Henry) Göschen moved to England in 1814 and the next year co-founded the merchant banking firm ″ Frühling & Göschen″, of Leipzig and London. Wilhelm's eldest son George Goschen entered politics and was raised to the peerage as

Viscount Goschen Viscount Goschen, of Hawkhurst in the County of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1900 for the politician George Goschen, 1st Viscount Goschen, George Goschen. History The Goschen family descended from prom ...

in 1900. In 1903, Lord Goschen published a biography of his grandfather, ''The Life and Times of Georg Joachim Goschen, Publisher and Printer of Leipzig, 1752–1828''. Lord Goschen's younger brother

Edward Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...

was made a baronet in 1916, while his nephew Harry Goschen was made a baronet in 1927.

Notes

References

External links

Göschen House Museum in Grimma-Hohnstädt''Verlagsbibliographie Göschen 1785 bis 1838'' (''Publisher's Bibliography of Göschen, 1785 to 1838'')
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goschen, Georg Joachim 1752 births 1828 deaths Georg Businesspeople from Bremen (city) German printers Businesspeople from Leipzig 18th-century German publishers (people)