Johann Samuel Heinsius
Encyclopedia
Johann Samuel Heinsius was a German bookseller and publisher based in Leipsig, best known for the works he published in collaboration with Johann Heinrich Zedler
Johann Heinrich Zedler
Johann Heinrich Zedler was a bookseller and publisher. His most important achievement was the creation of a German encyclopedia, the Grosses Universal-Lexicon ,...

.

Heinsius founded his firm, also named Heinsius, in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

 in 1725.
After Zedler, publisher of the "Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon
Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon
The Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon aller Wissenschafften und Künste is a 68-volume German encyclopedia published by Johann Heinrich Zedler between 1731 and 1754...

" had lost control of his firm to Johann Heinrich Wolf around 1735, he became interested in new projects and began to collaborate with Heinsius.
In 1740 a number of Zedler's products appeared under the Heinsius name, starting with a relaunch of Zedler's Cabinet magazine, under a slightly altered title. It is not know how successful the new magazine was, or why Heinsius included it in his publishing program since from 1739 he already had a similar monthly magazine under the title of "Genealogical and historical messages of the principal events of the European courts".

In 1741 there followed the first volume of the General Treasure Chamber, a four volume commercial lexicon translated by Carl Günther Ludovici
Carl Günther Ludovici
Carl Günther Ludovici was a German philosopher, lexicographer and economist.He edited a large part of the Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon, a major German encyclopedia of the 18th century.-Life:Ludovici was born on 7 August 1707 in Liepzig, son of Christian Ludovici , professor of...

 from the Dictionnaire Universel de Commerce (General Commercial Dictionary) by Jacques Savary des Brûlons
Jacques Savary des Brûlons
Jacques Savary des Brûlons was the French Inspector General of the Manufactures for the King at the Paris Customs in the 18th century, and a lexicographer who wrote the Dictionnaire universel de commerce....

.
The partner's next publishing project was the Corpus Juris Cambialis (Stock Exchange Laws) of Johann Gottlieb Siegel
Johann Gottlieb Siegel
Johann Gottlieb Siegel was a German legal scholar.-Life:Johann Gottlieb was born on 25 April 1699 in Klosterhäseler, Saxony-Anhalt, the son of Pastor Johann Georg Siegel and his wife Amanda Helen Elizabeth, daughter of Johann Gottfried Schuchardt, the Auditor of the dragoons .He attended the...

.
Heinsius advertised the two-volume publication in the newspapers in April 1742, seeking Praenumeration
Praenumeration
Praenumeration was a common business practice in the 18th Century book trade in Germany.The publisher offered to sell a book that was planned but had not yet been printed, usually at a discount, so as to cover their costs in advance....

 subscribers. Both volumes were ready in time for the Leipzig Michaelmas Fair that year.

After the Treasury Board and the Corpus Juris Cambialis, Zedler and Heinsius again began a major publishing project.
The basis for Heinsius's Historical and Political-Geographic Atlas of the whole world was a translation of the Grand Dictionnaire Géographique Et Critique of Antoine-Augustin Bruzen de La Martinière
Antoine-Augustin Bruzen de La Martinière
Antoine-Augustin Bruzen de La Martinière or de la Martiniere, born at Dieppe in 1683 and died in The Hague on 19 June 1746, was a French polymath...

. The German version ran to 13 volumes, published by Heinsius between 1744 and 1749.
The Heinsius catalog issued in 1748 listed 14,000 titles. The subjects included science, philosophy, biography and literature.
Most of the books were 18th century works in German or Latin, but there were many translations of English, French and Latin works.

Heinsius died in December 1750, and his company became known as "Johann Samuel Heinsius heirs".
His son, Johann Samuel Heinsius the Younger (1734–1807), continued with the firm and was followed by his grandson Johann Wilhelm Heinsius (1768–1817).

Further reading

  • Die Verlagsbuchhandlung von Johann Samuel Heinsius (1686–1750), in der die späteren Verlagsprodukte Zedlers erschienen
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