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In 1837, Russian national poet Pushkin died from the wounds received in a duel. Not an unusual cause of death in the early 19th century. Ten thousands of students fought duels on a regular basis. Politician Heinrich Stephani campaigned against this foolishness.

The Bastille had already been stormed, the king’s power limited, his execution and the birth of the Republic were to take place two years later: In the middle of the French Revolution, playwright Kotzebue travelled to Paris. He wrote about it. The occasion was a very sad one.

Would you ever take out a loan on the condition that you vouch for it with a pound of your own flesh? With this premise opens the thrilling drama of the “Merchant of Venice”. How it ends? We’ll tell you in this article.

With his Theatrum Machinarium, the Saxon engineer Jacob Leupold wrote an epoch-making textbook series about all kinds of useful machines. Our volume is dedicated to the “Heb-Zeugen” – devices that can be used to lift heavy loads.

There was no connection between the South Sea Company and our South Sea whatsoever. The company’s objective was to shoulder national debt and generate as much profit as possible. The fact that it’s still considered the prime example of a financial bubble today is due to a deadly sin, greed.

Sports Personality of the Year, the Oscars, weekly charts – rarely a domain can do without those popular rankings. They date back to the era of Enlightenment. In 1748, David Herrliberger presented the most important Swiss personalities. Do we still know them today?

Humanists did not have Facebook to maintain their international contacts. They were not in need of “likes” to show someone’s popularity. But they also had their methods...

The French novelist Victor Hugo once wanted to write a biography of Shakespeare. He ended up writing about the great geniuses of literature in general. Among them: Aeschylus, Shakespeare and – himself.

Perhaps you’ll know the heroes of today’s story from Wagner’s opera of the same name: apart from Lancelot and Guinevere, Tristan and Isolde were the most famous couple in the Arthurian legends. Today, we follow their footsteps through Europe...

He became known as the knight who fought the windmills. However, Cervantes’ masterpiece Don Quixote is about much more: about chivalric novels as popular literature, the power of imagination and the danger of reading too much.

Those who discuss must argue logically. Until modern times, the philosopher’s “toolbox” needed for this was the Organon by Aristotle. Royal printer Guillaume Morel presented a neatly edited version of this work in 1562.

If you think that globalisation first started with the Internet, you’re mistaken. Global trade has existed since antiquity and its development accelerated rapidly in the 19th century. This was due to the many international expositions. Today, we’ll be talking about the Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893.

Acta Eruditorum is one of the earliest scientific journals we have. Of course, the research findings it contains have long become obsolete and outdated. It is however a valuable testimony to the beginnings of our modern scientific discussion.

To this day, we still associate the horrors of the Inquisition and the brutal treatment of ‘heretics’ with Spain – forgetting that Spain’s enemies weren’t any better. They simply had better PR, which historians are only gradually starting to realise.

Not having to work, partying every night in the sparkling city, drinking and dancing as if there were no tomorrow. Doesn’t that sound good? F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel about the rich and beautiful of the 1920s shows that, unfortunately, it’s not quite as easy as that…

In the 16th century, discussions on how to secure one’s life beyond death were waged just as fiercely as the discussions about secure pensions would be waged today. Jakob Heerbrand’s “New Papal Indulgence” shows how Protestant theologians prepared themselves for these discussions.

In 1670, Charles II granted the East India Company all the rights it needed to become a ‘state within a state’ in the Far East. In 1673, John Ogilby published a book for the benefit of investors wondering whether they should buy shares in the East India Company, describing the kind of profit there was to be made there.

In 1518, Spanish pirates captured a ship carrying a diplomat of the Sultan of Fez. The pirates enslaved him and presented him as a gift to the Pope, in whose service he wrote an account of the countries of Africa. For centuries, this book was the only source of information the Christian world had on inland Africa.

Boccaccio dedicated the 99th chapter of his book about the famous women to “Popess” Joan. But did she really exist? And if not, why has this figure survived to this day?

Imagine spending your childhood in the countryside. You can run around barefoot and play as much as you want, without any grown-ups telling you what to do. Sounds like a dream, right? Rousseau thought so too. Some of his contemporaries weren’t convinced and burned his books.

Zurich didn’t have a standing army, instead, the city had a citizen militia that mastered the difficult discipline of artillery. The so-called “Gesellschaft der Constaffleren und Feuerwerker” (Society of Constables and Ordnance Technicians) was responsible for the militia and issued wonderful single-leaf prints on the occasion of the New Year. These prints tell us what you needed to know in early modern times to be a successful artilleryman.

The first World’s Fair was the first international exhibition showcasing industry and commerce, and a promotional event for international free trade. The German Customs Union commissioned a report on the event covering 2,522 pages.

The figure of Carmen known from the opera is not an invention by Georges Bizet, but Prosper Mérimée. In 1947 the female artist Frey-Surbeck created the illustrations for our luxury edition of his work and shows us how the role of the woman changed in the 100 years since Mérimée.

Who would have thought that the roots of American comic books could be found in Switzerland? The Geneva educationalist Rodolphe Töpffer created picture stories that even fascinated Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The detailed realism of his pictures helps us to catch a true-to-life glimpse of him and his students.

Nowadays, the Suez Canal is a main artery of the global economy. When its construction began, people were fascinated by the project – but there was hardly anyone who wanted to invest money, as today’s book shows.

René Descartes wanted to develop nothing less than ‘a universal method for searching for truth’. His ideas were revolutionary – and shocking. His key philosophical statements are all condensed in this Latin edition from 1685.

Some say that the world would be better without evil. Others say that, if there really were a God, evil couldn’t exist in the world. Leibniz says: God does exist, and we live in the best of all possible worlds. Don’t agree? Just read on...

“The North Star of architecture”, that is how Johann Wolfgang von Goethe called the master builder Palladio. Although he created most of his works in the 16th century, it was not until much later that Palladio turned into a worldwide success. He became a role model for all those who wanted to create democratic architecture.

His life was a battle: a soldier against the enemy, a lawyer against an unjust state, an author against censorship. Johann Gottfried Seume is one of the most famous authors of the German Enlightenment. And he did not mince words in his books.

With its German and French past, Alsace has an exciting history. Johann Daniel Schoepflin, a clever man with a Europe-wide reputation, already thought so, too. In the middle of the 18th century he wrote a comprehensive work about the history of Alsace, which is still quoted today.

Those who want to share their creative works with the world write a blog. But what did writers do in the 18th century? They followed Schiller’s example and published an almanac that was only related to astrology regarding its title.

What happened when written arithmetic with Arabic numerals was introduced? It called for new units of measure and currencies of the decimal system that were perfectly suited for this form of arithmetic. However, humans are creatures of habit...

Does something float on water due to its weight or its shape? And can this be answered sitting in a study? In the 17th century, two schools of thought opposed each other in the matter: Aristotelians and natural scientists. In 1612, Galileo Galilei clarified it once and for all.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau is considered a pioneer of the French Revolution, his “Social Contract” a key treatise for the theory of modern democracy. Yet he was convinced that humankind would become evil only through association with others.

Johann Baptist Homann was a highly successful cartographer – even though he did not have remotely the means to keep up with his competitors. His secret to success: scholarly expertise, good customer service… and copying.

There are men who spend a lifetime gaining experience. And there are men who learn how to put their knowledge on paper at universities. And then there are a select few who possess both, experience and university knowledge. The mint master Reiner Budel was one of them. He wrote an influential work on numismatics.

In September 1909, two explorers returned from expeditions to the Arctic that had lasted several years. Both claimed to have been the first human to reach the North Pole. A dirty fight for fame broke out. So, who really was the first man to reach the North Pole?

Who was the first man to reach the North Pole? Not an easy question, since two men claim this honor for themselves. In this article and the next, we introduce you to their books and discuss why reaching the North Pole was such a big deal in the first place.

In Zeiten vor Wikipedia gab es wiederholt Versuche, das Wissen einer Epoche zusammenzufassen. Die „Naturkunde“ des Plinius war für fast 1500 Jahre die Enzyklopädie schlechthin. Ein Ein-Mann-Monumentalwerk, das seinesgleichen sucht!

Why was Albrecht Dürer so successful? For many different reasons. One of them: Dürer was a specialist in metrology and mathematics, too. He was particularly fascinated by human proportions – to that extent that he wrote four treatises on the subject.

When Jean Jacques Rousseau came to Paris, he was called ‘the little Rousseau’. The great Rousseau’s name was Jean Baptiste and he was considered an important author. Today, we hardly know anything about him. He became a victim of the highly competitive literary market at the time of the Enlightenment.

Bertuch’s picture book for children is considered a milestone in educational non-fiction literature. It sold extremely well. The producers of this unauthorised reprint wanted to participate in this success. Bertuch didn’t think it was funny at all...

Regional information and lists – not exactly the most exciting reading matter. However, in 17th and 18th century England the respective market was highly competitive.

In an enormous heroic poem, the former national epic of the Germans tells of political conflict in the early Middle Ages, deadly attempts at emancipation and (almost) immortalising dragon blood.

There are moments that change the world. The Lisbon earthquake was one of them. Europe’s educated elite wondered: How can a gracious God let something like that happen? Of course, there had been terrible natural disasters before – but there had never been such a high amount of reports on one of them.

When British envoys were received by the Chinese Emperor for the first time in 1793, two fundamentally different world views collided. Although the diplomatic mission of the envoys was no success, their report on China became a bestseller.

How would you go about gaining self-confidence and daring to take on new challenges? In the past, people turned to prominent figures of antiquity, from Alexander to Caesar, and their great achievements. This what made Plutarch’s timeless work “Parallel Lives” so successful.

Samuel Auguste Tissot was probably the most respected physician of his time: the rich and noble people of Europe queued up to see him. This book gives health advice to these very persons. After all, it became clear at that time that the decadent life at court with its opulent meals wasn’t very beneficial to their health.

What does an Augustinian priest who left his monastery spend his time doing? Among other things, he deals with the question of whether it’s possible to lead a Christian life outside the monastery. And if your name is Erasmus of Rotterdam, these considerations become a best seller.

Today we go on a little scavenger hunt. We start with an undated book on the Sons of Aymon, meet Charlemagne and, after many bloody battles, end up with Saint Reinold of Cologne, who went on to become the patron saint of Dortmund. Follow me!

For Roman aristocrat Pliny, it wasn’t enough to fulfil his duties obediently, he was thirsty for eternal glory. For this purposes, he created a new literary genre: the letters written for publication. For the humanists, Pliny’s letters were the ultimate example for their intense correspondence.

The field of classical studies was first established in the 19th c. The foundations for the work of scholars such as Mommsen and Curtius were initially laid by teachers like E. Th. Hohler, who produced illustrated introductory books to nudge their knowledge-hungry pupils, who loved pictures, in the right direction.

In 1546, Heinrich Petri printed a luxury edition of the completed work by the Roman scholar Boethius. Boethius once rose to the highest political ranks – only to fall to rock bottom, at which point, he was moved to write his philosophical work ‘Consolation of Philosophy’, which remained a best seller for centuries.

‘When legend becomes fact, print the legend!’ This film quote is very fitting for Rome’s early period. The Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus turned legend to fact, and people believed it for millennia. This edition from 1563 shows how popular his work remained.

Artists in modern Ethiopia are still producing paintings that draw their inspiration directly from Byzantium. This Ethiopian picture bible depicts scenes from the life of Jesus, thus recalling one of the oldest Christian kingdoms in history.

The court of the Sun King was a shark pool. Those who were popular – and who stepped on as few toes as possible – survived. Abbot de Bellegarde explained how to do this in the style of a modern manual. He wrote a bestseller.

Five Francs, 60 Francs, two Louisdor – what can money buy? A cup of coffee, a visit to the theater, the love of a woman? De Maupassant’s bestselling and highly entertaining novel shows that participation in social life is rarely possible without money.

One of the title pages of Honoré de Balzac’s novel The Wild Ass’s Skin is decorated with a strange squiggle. The sign is supposed to come from the 322nd chapter of a book by Laurence Sterne – however, such a chapter does not exist. We tell you what the enigmatic sign is all about and why it is sometimes worthwhile not skipping over the title pages of a book.

Ever since it was discovered, America has played a major role in the dreams of European emigrants. With the mass emigration of the 19th century, a new genre became popular: self-help books. Find out what emigrants needed to know ca. 1870 in this article.

A Bavarian toll ordinance from 1765 gives us an insight into the people’s everyday life: what goods were transported on the roads, how were they taxed and why did the subsistence economy endure until the 19th century?

Yes, it’s true. The Catholic Church prohibited its believers from reading vernacular translations of biblical texts. At the time, they thought they had good reasons for it. We present a book that summarises these reasons.

In the 1770s, Scottish soldier John Stedman travelled to South America to suppress a slave uprising in a Dutch colony. His account of the atrocities inflicted on the slaves there sent shock waves throughout Europe.

What does it take to invent statistics? Well, a huge amount of data and a fussy character. Johann Heinrich Waser was fussy and unscrupulous enough to make use of methods that weren’t legally impeccable to obtain data. But was that the actual reason for his execution?