Tauchnitz was the name of a family of German printers and publishers. Karl Christoph Traugott Tauchnitz (1761-1836), born at Grossbardau near Grimma, Saxony, established a printing business in Leipzig in 1796 and a publishing house in 1798. He specialized in the publication of dictionaries, Bibles, and stereotyped editions of the Greek and Roman classics.
The business was carried on by his son, Karl Christian Phillipp Tauchnitz (1798-1884), until 1865, when the business was sold to O. Holtze. He left large sums to the city of Leipzig for philanthropic purposes.
Christian Bernhard, Freiherr von Tauchnitz (1816-1895), the founder of the firm of Bernhard Tauchnitz, was the nephew of the first-mentioned. His printing and publishing firm was started at Leipzig (Germany) in 1837.
Bernhard started the Collection of British and American Authors in 1841, a reprint series familiar to anglophone travellers on the continent of Europe. These inexpensive, paperbound editions, a direct precursor to mass-market paperbacks, was begun in 1841, and eventually ran to over 5000 volumes. In 1868 he began the Collection of German Authors, followed in 1886 by the Students' Tauchnitz editions.
In 1860 he was ennobled with the title of Freiherr (Baron), and in 1877 was made a life member of the Saxon Upper Chamber. From 1866 to 1895 he was British Consul-General for the kingdom and duchies of Saxony. He was succeeded in the business by his son, Christian Karl Bernhard, Freiherr von Tauchnitz.
The Todd-Bowden Collection is an important collection of Tauchnitz editions in the British Library. It was acquired in 1992, with the aid of the German KulturStiftung der Länder and the National Heritage Memorial Fund. The collection includes approximately 6,700 volumes, together with sale catalogues, leaflets, and other advertising materials and is one of the most important collections of Tauchnitz books outside Germany.[1]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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