About Johann Heinrich Zedler

The publisher and bookseller Johann Heinrich Zedler was born 1706 in Breslau as a shoemaker's son. He probably enjoyed no higher education. After a brief stint as an employee in a Hamburg bookshop, Zedler opened in 1726 his first bookstore in Freiberg an der Mulde, where he was also active as a publisher. The following year he moved his publishing house to Leipzig, which was the capital of the German book trade at the time. From now on, Zedler initiated several extensive publications, such as a edition of Martin Luthers works. However, the longest and largest project was to be the Universal Lexicon, which became associated with his name forever. Although Zedler made ​​bankrupt in 1736, the Universal Lexicon could be completed in 1750 thanks to the financial support of the merchant Johann Heinrich Wolff. The four supplementary volumes were published after Johann Heinrich Zedler's death in early 1751 in Leipzig.