Johann Georg Justus Perthes (11 September 1749,

Rudolstadt Rudolstadt is a town in the German federal state Thuringia, with the Thuringian Forest to the southwest, and to Jena and Weimar to the north. The former capital of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, the town is built along the River Saale inside a wide v ...

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was a small historic state in present-day Thuringia, Germany, with its capital at Rudolstadt. History Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was established in 1599 in the course of a resettlement of Schwarzburg dynasty lands. Since ...

– 2 May 1816,

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 ...

, Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

and founder of the publishing house that bears his name.

Life

He was born in the

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

n town of

, the son of a Schwarzburg court physician. From 1778 he worked as a bookseller in nearby

, where he founded the cartographic publishing firm ''Justus Perthes Geographische Anstalt Gotha'' in 1785. In this, he was joined in 1814 by his son Wilhelm Perthes (1793–1853), who had been in the publishing house of Justus's nephew Friedrich Christoph Perthes at

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

. On Justus' death in Gotha, Wilhelm took over the firm and laid the foundation of the geographical branch of the business for which it is chiefly famous, by the first publishing of the '' Hand-Atlas'' from 1817–1823 after Adolf Stieler (1775–1836). Wilhelm Perthes engaged the collaboration of the most eminent German geographers of the time, including Stieler, Heinrich Berghaus (1797–1884), Christian Gottlieb Reichard (1758–1837), who was associated with Stieler in the compilation of the atlas, Karl Spruner (1803–1892), and Emil von Sydow (1812–1873). The business passed to his son Bernhardt Wilhelm Perthes (1821–1857), who was associated with August Heinrich Petermann under whose direction the well-known periodical ''Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen'' was first edited in 1855, and

Bruno Hassenstein Bruno Hassenstein (23 November 1839 – 27 August 1902) was a German cartographer born in Ruhla, Thuringia. From 1854 he worked and studied cartography under August Petermann in Gotha. Here he drew numerous maps for Petermann's geographical ...

(1839–1902); and in next generation to his son Bernhard Perthes (1858–1919), who was born after his father Bernhardt Wilhelm had died. Since 1785 the firm also issued the

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 ...

, a statistical, historical and genealogical annual (in

and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

) of the various countries of the world (first published by Carl Wilhelm Ettinger, Gotha, in 1763); and in 1866 the elaborate ''Geographisches Jahrbuch'' was produced under the editorship of Ernst Behm (1830–1884), on whose death it was continued under that of Professor Hermann Wagner.

References

External links

*See an 1872 map by August Petermann, published by Justus Perthes
''[Map_of_Texas,_Indian_Territory,_Louisiana,_Arkansas,_Missouri,_Kansas]_/_bearbeitet_v._H._Habenicht.''
hosted_by_th
Portal_to_Texas_History
*The_1875_Stieler_Hand-Atlas,_and_many_other_maps_and_atlases,_are_viewable_online_a

*More_information_about_the_history_and_the_current_situation_of_the_huge_archive_(map_collection.html" ;"title="ap of Texas, Indian Territory, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas] / bearbeitet v. H. Habenicht.''">''[Map of Texas, Indian Territory, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas] / bearbeitet v. H. Habenicht.''
hosted by th
Portal to Texas History
*The 1875 Stieler Hand-Atlas, and many other maps and atlases, are viewable online a

*More information about the history and the current situation of the huge archive (map collection">map archive, bibliothèque) of 'Justus Perthes Geographische Anstalt Gotha' (including 'VEB Hermann Haack Geographisch-Kartographische Anstalt Gotha', publishing firm in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1955 to 1991, and 'Justus Perthes Geographische Verlagsanstalt Darmstadt', publishing firm in Darmstadt from 1953 to 1994), as well as about the current publishing house 'Ernst Klett Verlag GmbH, Zweigniederlassung Gotha, Programmbereich Klett-Perthes' available online a
perthes.de
(German language) *More information about 'Almanach de Gotha' (English) online a

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perthes, Justus 1749 births 1816 deaths German publishers (people) Map publishing companies People from Rudolstadt People from Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt