Jump to content

Franz Gräffer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Franz Gräffer (6 January 1785 – 8 October 1852) was an Austrian librarian, bookseller and writer. He was a founder of the Österreichische National-Encyklopädie, regarded as the first comprehensive reference work about Austria.

Life

[edit]

Gräffer was born in Vienna in 1785; his father August Gräffer opened in 1790 a bookshop specializing in military books, and he wrote about military history.[1] Franz in his early career joined his father's business. He later became librarian successively for Louis Bonaparte, for Moritz von Liechtenstein [de] and for Karl Borromäus von Harrach [fr]. Afterwards he opened an antiquarian bookshop and was a publisher, making unsuccessful plans to produce magazines. He also began the trade for autographs in Vienna.[2][3][4]

He was a freelance writer, from 1812 writing numerous works about the cultural history and customs of Vienna, some published anonymously or pseudonymously. With Johann Jakob Czikann (1789–1855) he founded the Österreichische National-Encyklopädie (6 volumes, 1835–37), regarded as the first comprehensive reference work about Austria.[2][3][4]

In later years he became mentally ill; he died impoverished in a mental hospital in 1852.[2][3] His biographer in Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich wrote: "Gräffer was, in his innermost character, after all no businessman, but a scholar by calling, burdened with all the weaknesses and advantages of those often eccentric people."[4]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Heinrich Kábdebo (1879), "Gräffer, August", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 9, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, p. 574
  2. ^ a b c "Gräffer, Franz (1785-1852), Schriftsteller und Verleger" Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Gugitz, Gustav. "Gräffer, Franz Arnold (Pseudonym Böttiger, Contée, Fergar, Rittgräff)" Neue Deutsche Biographie, 1964.
  4. ^ a b c Wurzbach, Constantin von, ed. (1859). "Gräffer, Franz" . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Vol. 5. p. 296 – via Wikisource.
[edit]

Media related to Franz Gräffer at Wikimedia Commons