Brockhaus Enzyklopädie
Brockhaus Enzyklopädie is a German multi-volume general encyclopedia first published in the late-18th century, and enjoying a print run of over two hundred years before printing ceased in 2008. One of the most influential works of its kind, Brockhaus Enzyklopädie has directly or indirectly caused a number of similar works to be printed in other countries, with the best-known in the English-speaking world Chamber's Encyclopedia in Great Britain, and Encyclopedia Americana in the United States. Today, Brockhaus Enzyklopädie is a strictly online reference work[1], continually updated and revised.
The encyclopedia gained wide popularity because it told about the results of discoveries and research in a simple and accessible form without unnecessary details. Many publishers around the world have subsequently adopted this approach to creating encyclopedias. In addition to the English translations, the Dutch Winkler Prins Geïllustreerde Encyclopaedie, the Swedish Svenskt Konversations-Lexicon, and the Russian Enziklopeditscheski slowar Brokgausa i Jefrona encyclopedias were also built in the image of Brockhaus. The eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica says: "No work of reference has been more useful and successful, or more frequently copied, imitated and translated"[2].
History
The history of this encyclopedia began in 1796, when in the city of Leipzig scholars Dr. Renatus Gotthelf Löbel and Christian Wilhelm Franke edited and published his Conversations-Lexikon mit vorzüglicher Rücksicht auf die gegenwärtigen Zeiten (German: "Encyclopedic Dictionary with Remarkable Attention to Modern Times"). Ultimately, this first edition would have six volumes, but Löbel died in 1799 long before the edition was completed, and in 1808 Franke sold the rights to the work Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus, who completed the publication with volume six in 1811. Realizing the importance of this enterprise, in 1812 Brockhaus began the second edition of the encyclopedia in 10 volumes, with the corresponding changes and additions, taking on the role of editor of the encyclopedia.
In 1814, in parallel with the second, the third edition was begun, which, like the previous one, was edited by Brockhaus himself. Both editions were completed by 1819. In the release of the fourth and fifth editions, Brockhaus was assisted by Dr. Ludwig Hain and Professor F. C. Hasse. After Brockhaus's death in 1823, the publication was continued by his sons, Friedrich and Heinrich Brockhaus, who, together with Gasse, worked on the sixth and seventh editions of the encyclopedia. The eighth and ninth editions were edited by Dr. Karl August Espe. In 1839, an index titled the Universal-Register was added to the encyclopedia. When the 14th edition was published in 1894, it had grown to 16 volumes.
The fifteenth edition was planned but put on hold as a result of World War I, not to be resumed until 1925 and given the unofficial nickname of "Weimar Brockhaus", named for the peculiar government that rose from the ashes of the war. The set of this edition also included an atlas (of which there are practically no copies left) with full-page maps and full-color inserts. All text was printed in Gothic, with foreign words printed in serif; the actual printing process took place on line-type casting machines. Although the editorial board experienced strong pressure from Nazi ideology (which was especially evident in the last two volumes), with some exceptions the quality of the articles had remained high. It had been assumed that the second edition of the fifteenth, großdeutsche Ausgabe ("Great German"), would be written entirely from a pro-Nazi position; however, the implementation of the plans of the publishing house was prevented by World War II. In 1939, only one volume was published, and the following year, work on the publication was stopped.
End of the run
The final, twenty-first edition had become the largest printed German encyclopedia: it contained about 300,000 articles and over 40,000 maps, diagrams and tables, within 24,500 pages. Since the summer of 2003, 70 editors and over 1000 authors have worked on the creation of the encyclopedia. The first volumes began to appear in the fall of 2005; by September 2006, all 30 volumes had been fully printed. An interesting fact about the preparation of the publication was that the licensing costs for illustrations exceeded the cost of paying for all work on the text of the encyclopedia.
In February 2008 low sales and high prices (2,670 euros) caused the publisher to cease printing the encyclopedia[3], and to make it free and place it on the website[4]. showing advertising on which will become the main source of profit. However, by April it was announced that it was canceled, and that, probably, "the twenty-second edition of our dictionary will still take place". At the end of 2008, it became known that the rights to publish the encyclopedia were transferred to the Bertelsmann company[5], and the previous owner would continue to publish dictionaries under the Duden brand.
