page_title: Johann Heinrich Zedler
section_title: Compromise, libel, renewed printing ban and exit of Franckenstein
hierarchical_section_title: Johann Heinrich Zedler / Independent bookseller and publisher in Leipzig / Compromise, libel, renewed printing ban and exit of Franckenstein
context_page_description: Johann Heinrich Zedler was a bookseller and publisher. His most important achievement was the creation of a German encyclopedia, the Grosses Universal-Lexicon,
  the largest and most comprehensive German-language encyclopedia developed in the 18th century.
  After training as a bookseller, Zedler founded his own publishing house in 1726. It was initially based in Freiberg, Upper Saxony, and in 1727 moved to the Publishing and Book Trade Center in Leipzig.
  His first major publication was an eleven volume edition of the writings of Martin Luther published between 1729 and 1734, with an index volume published in 1740.
  As the founding publisher of the Universal Lexicon, started in 1731 and during his lifetime growing to a total of 64 volumes, Zedler got into a long-standing legal dispute with the established publishers in Leipzig, whose more specialized products were threatened.
  Some time before the spring of 1737, Zedler suffered a financial collapse. His business was bought by the Leipzig businessman Johann Heinrich Wolf.
context_section_description: The local Leipzig publishers were quick to react. During the Michaelmas Fair 1731 the Leipzig Book Commission ordered the seizure of all previously printed and undelivered copies.
  Zedler protested against the seizure, but the Commission maintained its verdict.
  The publisher turned to the Dresden Upper Consistory and achieved a partial success.
  In its decision of 14 December 1731 the court gave him permission to supply his Praenumeration subscribers with books that had been printed outside the Electorate of Saxony. This compromise allowed Zedler to continue book production, although transport added costs.
  A pamphlet lampooning the "charlatanism" of the bookstore appeared at this time.
  Almost ninety pages long, it takes the form of a dialog between two merchants at the 1731 Leipzig Michaelmas Fair.
  The two men talk of the injustices of the book trade, allege that Zedler engaged in sharp practices and fraud, say that he lacks finance and accuse his authors of stupidity.
  They say of Johann Peter von Ludewig that nobody knew where he obtained his title and his fortune.
  Zedler's response to this libel is not known, but on 11 February 1732 Ludewig offered a reward for discovery of the author.
  Zedler's opponents did not give up. They went back to the Upper Consistory in Dresden, and demanded payment of the penalty of 300 thalers imposed in October 1730.
  On 10 March 1732 the court asked for a new report from the Leipzig Book Commission, which responded with an 87-page list of allegations of plagiarism from Zedler's opponents. On 24 April the court ruled that Zedler must pay the fine of 300 thalers and banned him from further printing within Saxony.
  On 26 October 1732 Zedler suffered another blow. Jacob August Franckenstein publicly announced that he would have no more to do with Zedler's publications.
  Two months later, on 10 May 1733, Franckenstein died.
  After his death, Paul Daniel Longolius assumed the editorship of the Universal Lexicon.
caption: Cover of 1732 pamphlet on charlatanism of the bookstore.
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