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News from Nowhere
News from Nowhere: The Dream of a More Beautiful Life
A world without money, what could that look like? At the end of the 19th century, the English socialist William Morris invented such a world. His utopia doesn’t fully explain how such a society would function, but it is an invitation to dream.

Max Weber: Protestant Ethics and the "Spirit" of Capitalism. In: Archives of Social Science and Social Policy.
The Protestant Work Ethic: Why Catholics are Lazy and Protestants Hardworking
In 1904/1905, Max Weber published his ground-breaking work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. He put forward the thesis that the faith of a population is causally linked to the progress of a country. Today, his theses have long been long considered outdated. But why do they still seem so plausible?

Selbstbildnis
Rousseaus Self-Portrait: “I Feel All, but See Nothing”
Rousseau is rarely associated with modesty. He begins his "Confessions" often treated as the first modern autobiography, with the announcement that his work is unparalleled in history and that he himself is unique. However, it would be too easy to reduce this complex and complicated personality to its thoroughly self-confident tones.

Brigitta und andere Erzählungen
Brigitta and Other Tales: Kitsch or Force of Nature?
Stifter polarized despite his romantic-sounding stories. His texts divided the readership. Thomas Mann criticized the old-fashioned, moralizing style, while Friedrich Nietzsche praised his work as a literary icon. What is it about Stifter's texts that some appreciate and others revile?

Stopfkuchen. Eine See- und Mordgeschichte
Stopfkuchen: More Than a Whodunit
The subtitle of Wilhelm Raabe's Stopfkuchen is " a sea- and murder story." But don't expect a shallow whodunit because of that. While the reader is still trying to sort out the complex time and space levels of events, he realizes that the novel has an even deeper level...

Satyricon
Satyricon: An Ancient Picaresque Novel
Grotesque, vulgar, obscene – but also learned, sensitive, subtle. There is no other ancient book as full of excesses as the Satyricon of Titus Petronius. The wealth of ideas, humor and linguistic diversity make this portrait of the mores of the Roman imperial era a pleasure to read!

Die Edda. Götter- und Heldenlieder der Germanen
The Edda: Of Revenge, Honor, Murder and Courage
The world of fantasy literature would look very different today if it wasn’t for the medieval Eddas. After all, the two texts were major source of inspiration for J.R.R Tolkien and his successors. The ancient stories of the Eddas take us into the world of Norse mythology; tell of heroes and gods, of dwarves and giants.

Liebesbriefe
The Love Letters of Abaelard and Heloise: Love in the Times of the Crusades
For over 200 years, Paris tourists with a penchant for great love stories have visited the tomb of Abaelard and Heloise. The heartbreaking love letters between the theologian and his pupil are a unique document of the Middle Ages. They tell of a tragic love story - which, as so often, should be questioned.

Schloß Gripsholm
Schloß Gripsholm: Who Still Loves Nowadays?
"Schloß Gripsholm" by Kurt Tucholsky is many things at once: a cheerful summer vacation, a love story told with a twinkle in the eye, a satire on man and his absurd actions and, last but not least, a persiflage of the author on himself. No wonder that many consider it Tuchosky's best work.

The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq.
The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon: The Rise and Fall of a Swindler
Soldier, cardsharp, nobleman: with his description of the fictional career of Barry Lyndon, Thackery takes us on a tour across the social classes of the 18th century. His story of the rise and fall of the Irish upstart is a satirical masterpiece.

Erzählungen
Master Tales by Arthur Schnitzler: Ordinary People With Ordinary Problems
In his stories, Arthur Schnitzler set a monument to "ordinary" people. The description of their everyday worries reveals to us: we are not that different from the people in Vienna around 1900.

Radetzkymarsch
Radetzky March: Swan Song to the Habsburg Monarchy
With the end of First World War, the centuries-long Habsburg monarchy and the splendor of the old Austria also came to an end. It had been looming for some time. No one described this age before the abyss as sensitively and devotedly as Joseph Roth in his novel Radetzkymarsch.

Also sprach Zarathustra
Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None
“The most profound book of mankind”, this is how, in all modesty, Friedrich Nietzsche spoke of probably his most popular work, “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”. At that time, the wild child generated buzz among European intellectuals. What is the book actually about? Not an easy question...

Meistererzählungen
Meistererzählungen by Kafka: Strange, Disturbing, Confusing – And Deeply Funny?
Manesse's collection contains, in addition to Kafka's world-famous novel fragments, a multitude of lesser-known tales that are equally fascinating and enigmatic. They have the potential to plunge the reader into deep philosophical crisis - or to merely inspire a cheerful smile.

The White Heron, and Other Tales from the Country of the Pointed Firs
Tales from the Country of the Pointed Firs: New England Local Color
Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909) dedicates her short stories to her homeland, the New England coast. She lovingly captures the peculiarities of the region and its inhabitants, exploring the contrasting relationship between town and country, civilization and nature. Join her to the land of the pointed firs.

The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter: A is for...?
Personal freedom versus moral values: Since the beginning of English settlement in North America, this conflict has shaped the history of the United States, and continues to do so to this day. Nathaniel Hawthorne devoted his novel "The Scarlet Letter." to this contradiction in 1850.

Oblomov
Oblomov: The Superfluous Man
In 1881, Tsar Alexander II was assassinated, although he initiated comprehensive reforms. After all, no one in Russia any longer believed that the tsar and the nobility could bring about political improvement. They are discredited, and novels like Oblomov, published in 1859, have contributed to this.

Erewhon
Erewhon: Somewhere Between Utopia and Dystopia
Welcome to Erewhon, a fascinating non-place between utopia and dystopia that is both a reflection and a parody of our society. In his satirical novel "Erewhon" from 1872, Samuel Butlers raises surprisingly topical questions about technology and humanity.

Das Leben des Capitán Alonso de Contreras. Von ihm selbst erzählt.
The Life of Captain Alonso de Contreras: An Old School Swashbuckler
Who were these men with whom the Spanish built their Empire? What is the nature of someone who sails into the unknown, to capture gold and silver in the New World for the Spanish King? Anyone looking for an answer to this question will find it in the autobiography of Captain Alonso de Contreras.

Tevye the Dairyman
Tevye the Dairyman: If I Were a Rich Man…
The Fiddler on the Roof is one of the most famous musicals of all time. It is based on Scholem Alejchem's novel Tewje, der Milchmann. The humorous stories about a Jewish dairyman, told with sensitivity and wit, made Alejchem one of the most important authors of Yiddish-language literature.

Legenda aurea (Golden Legend)
Legenda aurea (Golden Legend): Edification for the people
Would you like to get to know a bestseller from the Middle Ages? It's about blood and violence and yet everything ends well. No, we're not talking about a soap opera, but about the Legenda aurea by Jacobus de Voragine.

Candide / Zadig / L’Ingénu
Candide or All for the Best: The End of Positive Thinking
In 1755 the earth trembled and left the city of Lisbon in ruins. Voltaire took this as an opportunity to reflect on this "dear" God in "Candide". Its basic question is, how a good God can tolerate evil in the world. Is the world completely abandoned by God? Read on.

Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World
Gulliver’s Travels: Well-Packaged Social Criticism
Gulliver's Travels didn't start as a children's book, but as a spiteful and apt criticism of his contemporaries. If you want to know who Jonathan Swift was teasing with his Houyhnhnms and the Brobdingnags, read on.

Der Kontrabass (The Double Bass)
Der Kontrabass (The Double Bass): Lonely musician in search of love
Patrick Süskind has created a classic with his drama about the man with the double bass. How does it feel to be at the back of the shadows loving the woman in the spotlight. Read why the answer to this question found such a wide audience.

Il Milione
Il Milione: Journey to fabulous worlds
The description of his journey to Asia in the 13th century made him famous. Like no other, Marco Polo, a Venetian merchant and adventurer, stands for wanderlust and the desire for the exotic. His travelogue is without doubt a milestone.

Farm der Tiere (Animal Farm)
Animal Farm: Fable on Human Seductibility
This fable is one of the post-war classics par excellence: Orwell's "Animal Farm". It masterfully illustrates how well-intentioned ideas for a better life for all can quickly turn into their opposite. Intended as a critique of Stalinism, the book's basic cautionary message can easily be applied to today's ideologies.

Chronique du règne de Charles IX
Chronique du Règne de Charles IX: Blood Toll in the Name of God
Find out what significance Proper Mérimée has for our imagination of the French past and why it is still worth reading a book today that deals with the bloody conflict between Huguenots and Catholics.

Die Verlobten (The Betrothed)
The Betrothed: A Love With Obstacles
In Italy, Manzoni's historical novel The Betrothed is still taught in schools. Find out why here with us.

Der Seewolf (The Sea-Wolf)
The Sea-Wolf: Hard-As-Steel Macho Versus Pampered Aesthete
A power-hungry captain and an intellectual castaway: they are fascinated by each other. In The Sea Wolf, Jack Londons depicts the clash of ultimate pragmatism and urban ideals. How does it end? Continue reading.

Die Leute von Seldwyla (The People of Seldwyla)
The People of Seldwyla: More Appearance Than Reality
"Clothes make the man", Gottfried Keller illustrates the truth of this proverb in a story from Seldwyla. Not only this story shows how well Keller knew human nature. That is why his book, written in the mid-19th century, is still worth reading today.

Meistererzählungen
Meistererzählungen by Hoffmann: Off to the “Otherworld”!
Do you like fantasy? Then you will love E.T.A. Hoffmann! At the beginning of the 19th century, he created fantasy worlds to escape from his daily routine as a lawyer. Lose yourself with us in his dream worlds.

The Maltese Falcon
The Maltese Falcon: A Detective on the Loose
This thriller brought about a turning point: in it, the good investigator no longer fights the bad criminal, but good and bad are mixed in many layers. But that's what makes this novel so exciting.

Im Gespräch (Conversations with Goethe)
Conversations With Goethe: Poet Prince as a Beacon for a Different Germany
Shortly before the end of the Second World War, when Europe was ravaged by violence and destruction, the Zurich publishing house Conzett & Huber began a series of books that tied with the spirit of reason and humanity. The German prince of poets Goethe was one of the first authors to be published. Here you will read, why.

Effi Briest
Effi Briest: Civic Morality – A Wide Field ...
Fontane's literary mastery is evident in his seminal novel Effi Briest. From today's perspective, the conventions and constraints described therein seem hardly comprehensible. You can find out here why it is still worth reading this book.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes / The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes / The Hound of the Baskervilles: The Pattern of all Detectives
Sherlock Holmes is the father of all detectives. With him, Conan Doyle created the pattern every television inspector is still modelled on today. Join us to have a look at the beginning of the crime novel.

Der Idiot
The Idiot: The Limit of Compassion
Dostoyevsky’s Idiot illustrates that the opposite of "good" is not "evil" but "well intentioned". "The idiot" wants to do good and fails terribly, and that’s relevant today: Finally, our world has become so complex that nobody can know for sure what’s good and what’s bad for it.

Divine Comedy
Divine Comedy: A Journey to Heaven and Hell
Dante's Divine Comedy is the most important work in Italian literary history and at least parts of it belong to the “Splatter and Blood” genre. Even then, people simply enjoyed reading about how the wicked are punished in the most horrific ways.

Don Quixote
Don Quixote: Heroism Meets Mental Derangement
Cervantes' novel about the Knight of Sorrowful Countenance is world literature. His "tilting at windmills" is part of the English vocabulary. Even more than 400 years later, this book is still a pleasure to read.

Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre: Of Hard Strokes of Fate and Strong Women
It could be so simple: a man and a woman fall in love, get married and live happily together – not so with Charlotte Brontë. In Jane Eyre she showed how complicated it can be and thus created topoi that have become the standard in romance novels.

Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451: Reading Books Forbidden!
No book by Bradbury is as topical as his parable of the decline of written expression. If you don't want to hurt anyone, don't write anything. If you want to make everyone equal, those unwilling to learn are your benchmark, TV is your tool. The Fahrenheit 451 society sees no other solution than to burn all the books.

The Martian Chronicles
The Martian Chronicles: Utopia Meets Truth
More than 70 years ago, Ray Bradbury wrote a masterpiece of science fiction and psychology: How do people behave in the face of the stranger? How do the seemingly defenseless strangers fight back? The colonization of Mars provides the backdrop for a study in human error.

Les Fleurs du mal
Les Fleurs du Mal: Human Abysses in Form of Poetry
This book was a scandal! Never before had an author written so explicitly about the dark side of the big cities. With his Fleurs du Mal, Charles Baudelaire paved the way for poetry describing today’s world.

Iwein
Iwein: Of Knights, Dragons and Beautiful Damsels
A graceful lady of the castle, a heroic knight, dragons to conquer, vows of love – what reads like the conventional ingredients for a classic medieval novel can be traced back to this book, among others. Without a doubt, this work manifests one of the origins of German-language literature.

The Golden Ass
From Donkey to Redeemed: The Roman World Through the Eyes of an Animal
What's it like waking up and being stuck in a donkey skin? The Roman author Apuleius shows his readers their everyday life from the perspective of a donkey. The Golden Donkey is a funny satire and a realistic picture of the ancient Mediterranean world.

Sansibar oder der letzte Grund
Sansibar Oder Der Letzte Grund: Dreams of a Better Future
Andersch's probably most important novel takes us back to the time of National Socialism. Five completely different people give themselves up in search of freedom, but recognize more and more clearly the limitations of their possibilities and the constraints of their existence. The plot inevitably leads us to ask how we would have acted in those times.

Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe
Johann Caspar Lavater, Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe
It is a truism that life comes easier for beautiful people. While we are ashamed of our superficiality today, educated contemporaries of the 18th and 19th century read Lavater, who told them why their preconceived ideas were justified.

De Mulieribus Claris
The First Book Written Exclusively About Women
If there is one man responsible for shaping how women were viewed by educated men for centuries, it’s Giovanni Boccaccio. His book ‘On Famous Women’ inspired artists of both sexes.

Letters patent of nobility for Leopold Spitzl von Peitzenstein
Handwritten letters patent of nobility for Leopold Spitzl von Peitzenstein from 1783
Every now and then, you will still find beautifully embellished letters patent for people who did not make it into any history book. They are a wonderful record of the society of the Ancien Régime – a society in which every commoner sought personal nobility, even under the enlightened ruler Joseph II.

Around the World in Eighty Days
Around the World in Eighty Days: Racing for the Record
The 19th century saw dramatic technological progress. Thanks to the railway, steam boats, and the expansion of transport networks, man could travel the world faster than ever before. In his novel, Jules Verne writes about the fascination with this progress.

The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Picture of Dorian Gray: Forever Young?
In 1984 Alphaville want to be forever young, wanna be forever young… In 2013, Lana del Rey wonders, “Will you still love me when I’m no longer young and beautiful?” But is eternal youth really the answer? Oscar Wilde’s novel raises serious doubts.

The Death Ship
The Death Ship: A Horror Story about Capitalism
When the American deck-hand Gale, while on shore leave in Antwerp, misses the departure of his freighter, he does not know what catastrophic events he has just set in motion: the extinction of his existence …

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre: Gold Rush
It’s the most sought-after metal in the world: In the Middle Ages, alchemists tried to produce it from scratch in vain, in the Early Modern world people persistently searched for it in rivers and mountains. A novel about the power of gold.

Walden or Life in the Woods
Walden: Minimalism Was Already Cool 200 Years Ago
We tend to believe we’re constantly reinventing the wheel. We’re not. Take any contemporary trend, from “tiny houses” to “minimalism” to “tidying up with Marie Kondo” – Henry David Thoreau was already living them 200 years ago.

Treasure Island
Treasure Island: The Mother of All Pirate Stories
What do you associate with the word “pirate”? Far-away treasure islands, buried treasure chests, peg legs, and parrots on the shoulder? That is thanks to the Scottish author R. L. Stevenson, who with his novel created the mother of all pirate stories.

Frankenstein
Frankenstein: Maybe the World’s Most Well-Known Bet Outcome
One fateful night Viktor Frankenstein creates his monster – that much most of us know. But who created Frankenstein, the book that is, and why?

Sonnets
Sonnets, by William Shakespeare: The All-rounder of Poems
As a lyrical form, the sonnet is relatively simple and at the same time extremely versatile, the all-rounder of poems, so to speak. That made it so popular at times that practically everyone wrote them. Including, of course, William Shakespeare.

Reminiscences
Reminiscences by Carl Schurz: A Career on Two Continents
How many US-American ministers from German descent do you know? There is Henry Kissinger, of course, known for the role during the Cold War. If you can’t think of anyone else, keep on reading. Because he wasn’t the only one.

Clarissa Harlowe
Clarissa Harlowe: Abuse, Ethics, and Empathy
Samuel Johnson said about this novel you would have to hang yourself if you read it for the plot. Why Richardson’s work, to this day, triggers head shaking and moral outrage but also empathy.

The Golden Calf
The Golden Calf: The Worth Money in Communism
Can real Socialism overcome man’s greed for money? If you read the book “The Golden Calf” authored by the two Soviet writers Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov, you have to answer the question clearly with a “no”.

Max Havelaar
Max Havelaar: Coffee, But Make It Fair-trade
As early as 1860 the author of “Max Havelaar” called attention to the exploitative and inhuman conditions under which colonial goods were produced and traded. Unfortunately, most of the products we consume today are still not “fair trade.”

Moby Dick
Moby Dick: Of Holding on to Ideals
Being obsessed with an idea is perhaps a problem in real life but it does make for good literature. Viktor Frankenstein is obsessed with bringing a dead back to life. Jay Gatsby with the American Dream. And Captain Ahab with hunting the white whale.

Über den Umgang mit Menschen
The Art of Conversing with Men: What the “Knigge” Really Says
The “Knigge” has suffered the same fate as many other famous books: It says something completely different than what we think it says. The real Knigge, after all, was not interested in prescribing stiff rules of behavior but in creating respectful interpersonal relations.

The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw: An Uncanny Reading Experience
Do you know psycho thrillers which feature uncanny children or children possessed by demons as protagonists? The innocence we associate with the child in combination with its apparent corruption always makes for a particularly spine-chilling experience. Henry James wrote an early precursor of such modern thrillers.

Les Misérables
Les Misérables: A Lot of Misery and a Little Bit of Kitsch
In the 19th came the industrialization, and with it the pauperization of workers everywhere. Victor Hugo wrote so heart-wrenchingly about their misery in his social novel Les Misérables that the story still lures millions of musical-goers to the theaters today.

Jugend ohne Gott
Youth without God: Of Morals within a Totalitarian System
A society which knows no god is a brutal society. At least that is what von Horváth’s novel claims. Alluding to Nazi Germany, it shows how one’s own survival trumps humanity, and cowardice wins against civic courage.

Steppenwolf
Steppenwolf: Born to be Wild
The novel did not make much of an impact after its publication in the late 1920s. Until it was rediscovered in the 1960s and became the Bible of the hippie movement. How Hesse distilled the spirit of an entire generation into one book.

Grimms’ Children’s and Household’s Tales
Grimms’ Children’s and Household’s Tales: How the Fathers of German Philology invented the German Fairytale
Once upon a time, there lived two brothers by the name of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. They set out to collect all the fairytales the people up and down the country would tell them. After all, it would be a shame if they were lost because no one had bothered to write them down…

The Golden Age
The Golden Age: What Grown-ups Dream of
As a child, you can hardly wait to be a grown-up. Owning your own money, eating as many sweets as you want and staying up late! And what do grown-ups dream of? Their childhood of course. To escape from their boring everyday lives, back to a childish fantasy world, without work or duties…

The Counterfeiters
The Counterfeiters: Money as Complex Metaphor
Good literature can create new mental images in your mind and connect things that you have never seen in connection before. Imagine this, for instance: Money is like language. And language is like money. Intrigued? Then read on…

I’m Not Stiller
I’m Not Stiller: How to Live with the Past
Can we really ever start over in life? Invent ourselves anew? Or will our past, our mistakes, our failure always be with us? These are the questions Max Frisch asks in „I’m Not Stiller”- a novel that will make him world famous.

Frau Jenny Treibel
Frau Jenny Treibel: Wealth or Wit?
Many factors play a role in choosing a partner: looks, status, education, money. Of course ideally your other half has it all. But what if you have to choose? This novel zooms in on the family and marriage politics of the bourgeoisie in Berlin around 1900.

Madame Bovary
Madame Bovary: People Like You and Me
Flaubert’s novel tells the story of common folks, just like you and me, and their common struggles: unhappy marriage, extramarital affair, shopping addiction. Nothing that would shock readers – at least not readers in the 21st century, that is.

The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby: Of Real and Fake Gold
„Diamonds are a girl’s best friends,” Marilyn Monroe sang in 1949, but the idea that women want to be impressed by money is much older. The tragic story of Jay Gatsby, which glitters with real and fake gold, shows that this strategy doesn’t always succeed.

Middlemarch
Middlemarch: Honoring the Ordinary
Literary history is populated by extraordinary heroes, odysseys, and battles. George Eliot, by contrast, pays homage to ordinary, average people, their worries and problems. Because it is these ordinary, small people, after all, who together make up the big wide world.

Die Physiker
The Physicists: From Great Knowledge Comes Great Responsibility
It’s the time of the Cold War. The cultural imaginary is populated by mad scientists, nuclear physicists, and villains, from James Bond’s Dr. No to Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove. Friedrich Dürrenmatt brings the question of the responsibility of science in these times to the theater stage.

The Visit
“The Visit”: The Uncanny Billionaire
It’s the high school reunion of your worst nightmares. A newly rich billionaire returns to the small town of her childhood and presents the townsfolk with an ultimatum: Either they kill one of their own or the old lady will financially ruin the town.

Collected Tales
Collected Tales by Joseph Conrad: Adventures on the High Seas
Two things Joseph Conrad equally loved equally were being at sea and writing. Based on his own experiences, he tells stories of far-away islands, typhoons, the impenetrable African jungle, steamship expeditions on the Congo river, and mutinies at sea.

Canterbury Tales
Canterbury Tales: A Nun, a Knight, and a Doctor Go on Pilgrimage…
Going on pilgrimage is a pious enterprise but, let’s be honest, also a boring one. To combat the boredom, the travelers in Geoffrey Chaucer’s monumental work launch a storytelling competition. Who tells the most entertaining story? Nun, knight, or doctor?

Der arme Mann im Tockenburg
“Der arme Mann im Tockenburg”: The Precarity of War
What’s the price for a human life? How much would it take for you to go to war? The biography of the Swiss farmer Ulrich Bräker shows: Human life was cheap during the Seven Years’ War – just like the mercenaries’ pay.

Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights: Two Tortured Souls
The opposite of love is not hate but indifference – as Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights shows. Because their love cannot be, two lovers destroy each other until the bitter end, in this depressing but beautifully atmospheric novel.

Old Goriot
Old Goriot: Money Is Life
Ungrateful daughters and betrayed fathers: an old topos in world literature. Just like Shakespeare’s King Lear, Balzac’s Old Goriot has to learn the hard way what it means when his daughters take away everything you own. Until you end up emptyhanded.

Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice: “Sentimental” in the Best Way
Jane Austen is sometimes devalued as “women’s literature”: sentimental, touchy-feely love stories, you know. In Victorian England, however, critics thought her not feminine enough. Why such categorizations are silly and Jane Austen’s novels sentimental only in the best way.

Collected Fairy Tales
Collected Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen: More than Just Ariel
We know Andersen above all as the creator of the little mermaid. Yet he wrote a plethora of other fairytales for children, full of magic and grace. Why reading the Danish poet today is still worth it.

The Decameron
The Decameron: How to Survive the Plague
How do you survive a plague? Right, by fleeing the locus of the epidemic outbreak as fast as you can. Which is exactly what the rich and beautiful in Boccaccio’s Decameron do. And to pass the time, the take turns telling each other stories.

Allgemeines helvetisches, eydgenössisches, oder schweitzerisches Lexicon
Knowledge is Power: The Swiss Federal Lexicon
In the age of Wikipedia, with thousands of people contributing from all over the world, it is hard to imagine how someone could single-handedly compile 20-volume lexicons. Leus Swiss Lexicon is just that: a giant effort to write the biggest, most comprehensive lexicon of its time.

Die Kunst sinnreich zu quälen in practischen Regeln. Zum Unterricht aller derjenigen, welche die Neigung haben, diese ökonomische Wissenschaft im menschlichen Umgang zum weiteren Aufnehmen zu bringen
How to Best Torment People
How can you teach people to good and kind to each other? Perhaps best by showing negative examples for a deterrent effect. That’s exactly what an 18th-century satirical etiquette book did presenting rules on how (not!) to treat other people.

Genealogiae Diplomaticae Augustae Gentis Habsburgicae
Between Myth and History: The Genealogy of the Habsburgs
If you’ve read 1984, you know how easy it is to falsify the past. But this knowledge is nothing new. For centuries, rulers paid historians (and some still do) to create an embellished version of the past and the relevant sources, until the Maurists got wise to them.

Operum
Zwingli: Zurich’s Reformer
In 1581, the Froschauer publishing house in Zurich created a complete edition of all works written by Huldrych Zwingli. And there was a good reason for it – which was directly linked to the circumstances of the death of the Zurich reformer in 1531.

Table talk
What Martin Luther Must Have Certainly Wanted to Say
Already during his lifetime Luther was the Protestant equivalent of a saint. All the words of wisdom he is said to have shared on all sorts of events have been written down for posterity by his followers. Johannes Aurifaber published all of it as “Luther’s Table talk, with his very own agenda.

Opera quae exstant, a Iusto Lipsio postremum recensita
How Tacitus Became a Bestseller
Only a few books have such a spectacular transmission history as the works of Tacitus. Their story begins with thefts in German monasteries. However, the author only became truly appealing when the Reformation had created a new national German identity.

Les Baisers: Précédés du Mois de Mai Poème. Compositions Originales de Brunelleschi
Only a Mild Spring Fever
A mediocre French author writes mediocre poems about spring and love. But even though his beloved is a prostitute, his literary kisses are rather chaste.

Anatome animalium, Terrestrium variorum, Volatilium, Aquatilium, Serpentum, Insectorum, Ovorumque, structuram naturalem etc.
Science That Gets Under The Skin
In the 17th century, Amsterdam was Europe’s number-one city for scientific research. One of the city’s great minds was the brilliant physician Gerhard Blasius, one of the co-founders of comparative anatomy. And, typically enough, his last book was a handbook of animal anatomy.

Instrumentum Pacis
How to Make Peace
There is no war that shaped Germany more than the conflict between the emperor and the empire that went down in history as the Thirty Years’ War. The fact that Germany is a federal republic now can be traced back to this war – and to the peace that put an end to it.

Der afrikanische Sklavenhandel und seine Abhülfe (The African Slave Trade and its Remedy)
How to Defeat the Evil of Slavery
Sometimes the world changes for the better, at least a little bit. This happens whenever brave people realise that only because something has been done for centuries doesn’t make it right. But how is it possible to make a lasting change?

L’Alcoran de Mahomet traduit d’Arabe en François, par le Sieur du Ryer, Sieur de la Garde Malezair
How Europe Learned about the Quran
Centuries-old prejudices against Islam were softened when a French diplomat translated the Quran into his native language in 1647. Soon, many European intellectuals were studying the text. They learned that the faith that had been demonized for so long was on a par with Christianity – a revelation that was a milestone for the Enlightenment. But why was a French diplomat, of all people, the first to translate the Quran into a modern language?

Staats-Frag, wo man untersucht, ob die Ordensgeistliche[n], welche Einkünften haben, dem Staat nützlich oder schädlich sind
How Do You Feel About Religion?
Voltaire used the judicial murder of the French Protestant Jean Calas in order to persuade intellectuals throughout Europe to follow his line of uncompromising tolerance. However, some fell victim to this campaign. We present the book of one of those victims.

De quatuor summis imperiis libri tres
World History in Four Empires
World history is the succession of four great empires. This view was widely accepted until the 18th century and is based on a vision of the prophet Daniel. Nobody canonized this worldview as effectively as the Reformation scholar Johannes Sleidanus did.

Gründliches mythologisches Lexicon
Who With Whom and What With Where: Hederich’s “Mythologisches Lexicon”
In the world of ancient mythology it’s easy to get confused – with all the divine epithets and family relationships. Even Goethe and Schiller had that problem. To find out what they needed to know, they consulted the “Hederich”, the go-to reference work for ancient mythology of the 18th century.

Architectura Von Vestungen (= Architecture of Fortifications)
When walls alone aren’t enough anymore...
Nowadays, building walls has once again become the political method of choice. But in the early modern period, the introduction of cannons made walls completely obsolete. In books like this one by Daniel Specklin, we can find out how people managed to protect their cities back then.

A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol: Why Being a Miser Doesn’t Pay Off
He is the prototypical old miser, his name synonymous with the expression itself: Ebenezer Scrooge. But what is so terribly wrong with the old man from Dickens’ Christmas Carol anyway?

Über die Gefahr des politischen Gleichgewichts in Europa (The danger of the political balance of Europe)
Prior to the Masked Ball
A concerned author urges the European powers to be wary of the supremacy of Russia. The mind behind this work was Gustav III, King of Sweden, who pursued completely different interests: By expressing concerns about the European balance, he wanted to shake the balance of power in his country.

Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe
What’s Written All Over Our Faces
The Zurich scholar Johann Caspar Lavater argued in his four-volume work “Physiognomic fragments” that it is possible to reveal a person’s character by reading what’s “written all over his face”, as the saying goes. Some scholars mocked him, but he had many followers.

Der in der Buchdruckerei wohl unterrichtete Lehr-Junge oder: Bey der löblichen Buchdruckerkunst nöthige und nüzliche Anfangsgründe
Everything There Is to Know About Letterpress Printing
Do you like bibliophile books? Then you have to browse through this work! It shows how complicated printing was before offset printing made publishing books a piece of cake. Gessner’s compendium tells you everything one had to know about creating books in the age of movable type printing.

Sense and Sensibility
Sense and Sensibility: No money is no solution either
In the 21st century, marriages result from love matches in large parts of the world. Jane Austen’s popular novels show that this is a relatively recent historical development. After all, their heroines marry not just for love, but usually also for money.

Catechismus ex Decreto Concilii Tridentini ad Parochos Pii V. Pont. Max. Ivssu Editvs
What One Is Supposed to Believe
The Reformation had far-reaching implications, also regarding the Catholic Church. The competition of the Protestants pushed the Catholic clergy to do something no saint had ever been able to do before: purifying the Church. In 1566, this reformed Church presented in its catechism what “new believers” were supposed to believe.

Reflexiones supra modernam causae Sinensis constitutionem juxta exemplar in Italia impressum in latinum translatae
What One Wants to Believe
Can you imagine the Emperor of China sending Jesuits to the Papal Court to ensure the Catholic mission of China? This happened in the years after 1708. However, the arguments of the Emperor of China were far too reasonable to convince a Pope.

Tractatus Mago-Cabbalistico Chymicus et Theosophicus
What holds the world together at its core ...
What role does God play in the human conception of the world? Are the natural sciences enough to explain the world’s miracles? That is no new question but a very old one, and also the people of the 18th century were confronted with it. They sought their solution in alchemy.

Tristan und Isolde
Wagner’s Tristan: From the Celts to the Romantics
It’s one of the world’s most performed operas: Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. An artist’s edition draws inspiration from insular illumination, illustrating the text with Celtic motifs.

Friendship’s Offering; and Winter’s Wreath: A Christmas and New Year’s Present for MDCCCXLII
Why Books Have Always Sold Well Before Christmas
You could find them everywhere under Christmas trees in Victorian England, even under the Queen’s: ‘gift books,’ published annually in November. On the history of an early book market phenomenon.

Works (Tutte le opere di Nicolo Machiavelli cittadino et secretario fiorentino divise in V parti …)
Of Power and Ethics in Torn Apart Florence
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) fell victim to his modernity. Why do contemporary philosophers hardly ever talk about his works on political philosophy today? Not because his ideas aren’t good, but, on the contrary, because they are widely accepted! The matter was quite different in his lifetime though.

Erwin
Of World Fame and World-Weariness
Hermann Hesse’s biography shows: fame alone does not make you happy. Neither successful books nor the Nobel Prize for Literature saved him from mental illness and broken marriages. But it also demonstrates that the dark sides of our lives can be the greatest source of creativity.

Theatrum Ceremoniale Historico-Politicum, Oder Historisch- und Politischer Schau-Platz
On Court Ceremonial
People need rules, written ones and unwritten ones. The latter are of particular importance when it comes to demonstrating whether one is a member of a certain community or not. But how is it possible for newcomers to know these rules? By reading about them. That is to say, someone simply needs to write them down, just as Johann Christian Lünig did in his book on court ceremonial.

Die menschliche Sterblichkeit unter dem Titel Todten-Tanz in LXI Original-Kupfer
The Right Approach to Money and Life - What the Dances of Death Can Still Teach Us Today
A skeleton, as the personification of death, takes people from all the different social classes as dance partners and leads them in a round dance: For centuries, the “Dance of Death” was seen as a reminder that every life must end sometime. In the end, could the ancient Dances of Death still teach us how to lead a good life?

Historische Erzählungen die Denkungsart und Sitten der Alten zu entdecken(= Historic stories in order to find out more about the way of thinking and the morals of our ancestors)
Of the Savages in the Swiss Mountains
Our image of the Swiss is still strongly influenced by what Friedrich Schiller wrote about William Tell. But how did the German poet know that a noble people lived in the Swiss mountains?

Publii Vergili Maronis Opera
Virgil, Epitome of a Poet
In the past, he was simply called “the” poet: Virgil. But how could someone whose style was so elitist become a figure of folk tales and influence Europe’s literary history like hardly anyone else? In the end, it was all the result of a naive misunderstanding ...

Versailles et la cour de france: Versailles, résidence de Louis XIV
Versailles in Its Former Glory
Pierre de Nolhac made Versailles his life’s work. As a conservator, he did everything in his power to thoroughly restore the castle of the French kings. He also wrote numerous books about Versailles. A fine edition of one of these works can be found in our library.

Old London Street Cries, And the Cries of To-day, with Heaps of Quaint Cuts Including Hand-coloured Frontispiece
Tiddy Diddy Doll, or: The History of London Street Cries
What do cabbages, turnips, strawberries, songbirds and knife grinders have in common? All these things were offered for sale in the streets of London. By singing about them. Today we present to you a collection of the popular verses of 19th century street cries.

The Trial at large of Her Majesty, Caroline Amelia Elizabeth, Queen of Great Britain; in the House of Lords, on charges of adulterous intercourse
Scandal in London – King Takes Queen to Court?
Even long before Diana and “Megxit”, scandals and affairs involving the monarchy were a favourite topic of the British. One particularly spectacular case occurred in 1820. A book reports on a trial that was about much more than tabloid gossip.

Annales compendiarii regum et rerum Syriae: numis veteris illustrat
The Bible as History
Jesuit Erasmus Froelich wasn’t just mathematician and curator of the emperor’s coin collection. He also wrote a book, which was way more than a coin catalogue. It was supposed to prove the historical authenticity of one part of the Bible.

Opera philosophica quae Latine scripsit omnia
Thomas Hobbes: England’s Most Bothersome Pessimist
There is hardly any other philosopher that is as controversial among the English as Thomas Hobbes. Born as a child prodigy into the chaos of the English Civil War in the 17th century, he fell out with everybody – without disappearing from the picture. Without him, we probably wouldn’t think of ourselves as individuals.

Utopia
Utopia: A World Without Money?
In his monumental work „Utopia,” Thomas More imagines a world which functions entirely without money. If you think that this utopia is presented as an ideal world-to-wish-for and want to protest loudly, don’t worry. “Utopia,” is not meant to represent to an ideal world – rather, it is meant to make us think critically about the world we live in now.

Graecorum Respublicae descriptae
Ubbo Emmo or When Historiography Becomes Political
When Ubbo Emmo wrote his now little-known work on Greek constitutions in 1600, it was pure dynamite. It was all about freedom – East Frisia’s authorities groaned, the freedom-loving classes rejoiced.

Acten-mäßige Relation Von Denen beyden Schloß-Dieben zu Berlin Valentin Runcken, ehemaligen Castellan, Und Daniel Stieffen, gewesenen Hoff-Schlösser, ... Auf Sr. Königl. Majestät in Preußen allergnädigsten Special-Befehl herausgegeben. [Documentary records of the theft at the City Palace Berlin carried out by the two thieves Valentin Runcken, former castellan, and Daniel Stieffen, former court locksmith... Published on the most merciful special orders of His Royal Majesty in Prussia.]
Crime and Punishment
Beheaded, broken on the wheel, pinched with burning irons – these punishments seem to us inhumane. And yet, they had a purpose at their time. A book from 1720 published on the orders of the Prussian King gives us some hints as to why he believed these brutal punishments were necessary: Two officials had stolen from the royal coin cabinet.

C. Julii Caesaris Quae Extant
Scaliger – the Intolerant Genius
Joseph Scaliger was considered one of the greatest scholars of the 16th century. The committed Protestant was a fierce opponent of the Jesuits. While fighting dissidents on paper and on the field, he became the founder of modern textual criticism.

Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe: An Experiment in Microeconomics
You end up on a lonely island all by yourself. What do you do? An endlessly fascinating question, which Daniel Defoe’s world famous novel puts to its readers and which has also sparked the interest of economists over time. Learn why in this article.

Für und Wider den Tabak. Aussprüche deutscher Zeitgenossen über den Tabakgenuss. Geschrieben für die Deutsche Tabak-Zeitung
Ode to Nicotiana
The tobacco industry is a unique example of the triumph of modern marketing. Thanks to effective advertising, millions of people don’t want to give up nicotine despite being fully aware of the consequences. An early example of such advertising is this book.

Ausführliche Historie derer Emigranten oder vertriebenen Lutheraner aus dem Erz-Bisthum Salzburg (Detailed History of the Emigrants and Expelled Lutherans from the Arch-Bishopric of Salzburg)
Refugees Welcome!
When Protestants from Salzburg had to leave their home, a king revealed his keen perception and a pastor saw the opportunity for a bestseller.

Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
Popular Delusions, Or: The Stupidity of Others
Charles Mackay’s book about the greatest errors in human history has been a bestseller since the 19th century. Back then, it was thanks to a clever marketing strategy. Now, it’s because we’re hoping to gain insights into modern financial crises.

Les Étrangers à Paris
Political Tourism and Non-Political Satire
In the middle of the 19th c., there were more tourists than residents in Paris – says writer Louis Desnoyers. He and his colleagues portrayed foreigners in Paris with sharp words. The supposedly non-political text is an image of Paris society shortly before the revolution.

Esatta notitia del Peloponneso volgarmente penisola della Morea
The Peloponnese: Kingdom and Colony
In the middle of the Ottoman Wars of the 17th century, Venice conquered the Peloponnese in a swift attack. A Venetian book by publisher Girolamo Albrizzi detailed the peninsula’s military and economic state at the time – and did so very much in the interest of the political regime.

Phaedon oder über die Unsterblichkeit der Seele in drey Gesprächen.
Phaedo or Does Man Have an Immortal Soul?
What is a human being? A finely tuned machine that perishes once the heart stops beating? Or is there a divine spark in mankind? Will our soul still be there when our bodies fall dead to the ground? In 1767, a book dealt with this very question – and it became the most widely-read book in Germany at that time.

Gesprächsbüchlein (Conversation Book)
A Mighty Flame From Sparks Oft Came
Luther wasn’t the only German critic of the church. Ulrich von Hutten also voiced criticism, however not in the form of academic papers, but with a sharp quill and in form of elegant Latin poetry that no one had mastered like he did.

Kurzer Unterricht für die Hebammen auf dem platten Lande (Royal Prussian Collegium Medicum, Short lessons for midwives in the flat country)
Only for Readers with Strong Nerves: A Manual for Midwives
At the end of the 18th century, the German states increasingly took over the organisation of the education of midwives with the help of doctors. A manual published with the intention of helping women in case there was no doctor present bears witness to this development.

Gotha numaria, sistens thesauri Fridericiani numismata antiqua aurea, argentea, aerea ea ratione descripta
Rich-in-Coins Arnstadt, Rich-in-Coins Gotha
When princes collected coins, they mostly did this for one of two reasons: to enhance prestige or because they were passionate collectors. Anton Günther II, Count of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen-Arnstadt, did it for both reasons. Nevertheless, he sold his spectacular collection to Gotha.

Philosophische Schriften
Moses Mendelssohn: the Model for Nathan the Wise
When Lessing brought his Nathan the Wise to the stage, the public immediately knew who the model for his main character was: the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, the most famous German Jew at the time. A Karlsruhe publisher seized the opportunity and printed a pirated edition of his works.

Vollkommene Unterweisung, wie Raketen, Feuer-, Wasser-, Sturm-Kugeln, Granaten, Pech-Sturm-Kräntze und allerhand Lust und Ernsthaffte Feuerwercke zubereiten. Samt gründlicher Anleitung zur Artillerie
A War Profiteer and Artillery Expert
The author of this book wasn’t just anyone: Sylvius Nimrod went to the Thirty Years’ War as a landless nobleman. When the war was over, he had become Duke of Württemberg-Oels. He wrote down everything he learned during the terrifying sieges of the war in this manual of artillery.

Meistererzählungen
Mark Twain, Meistererzählungen [Stories]: Money makes the world go round
Investing money wasn’t exactly his forte. Writing about it was. In his short stories, Mark Twain masterfully pictures American capitalism in the 20th century.

The Works of the famous Nicholas Machiavel, Citizen and Secretary of Florence
Machiavelli the English Way
Machiavelli’s works on political philosophy like “The Prince” are still popular and frequently quoted today. Also in late 17th century England his works were in demand – for political considerations.

I Cesari in Metallo Grande da Giulio Cesare sino a L. Elio, raccolti nel Farnese Museo. Volume 6
Power, Impotence and a Coin Collection
Whoever published a coin collection used to do so not only for scholarly reasons. Quite the opposite: an extensive coin collection made its owner gain prestige, which could be used for political purposes – that’s what the last members of the Farnese family did.

Pharsalia sive De Bello Civili Caesaris, & Pompeji Libri X
Lucan’s “Civil War”: A Massacre Without God
The almost forgotten civil war epos by Roman prodigy Lucan experienced a renaissance during the Thirty Years’ War. There’s a good reason why Dutchman Hugo Grotius, a pioneer of international law, published an edition of this work.

Ein Spanisches Bettelmädchen/ Sommerlicht in Madrid
Light, Color, Shadow
Our work changes the way we see the world. This essay by Swiss art critic Gotthard Jedlicka is proof of that. When living in Madrid, he did not fall in love with wine and tapas, but with the summer light which set the city ablaze with colors – almost like a painting.

Two Treatises of Government: In the former, The false Principles, and Foundation of Sir Robert Filmer, and his Followers, Are Detected and Overthrown. The latter is an Essay Concerning the True Original, Extent, and End of Civil Government
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
He’s often called the “father of liberalism”: John Locke. His idea about protecting the freedom of the individual as the main duty of the state made its way into the American Declaration of Independence in the form of the famous demand for “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Alter und Neuer großer Staats-Kriegs und Friedens Appenzeller Calender, auf das Jahr 1797
Infotainment in the Age of Enlightenment
The Appenzell calendar of the 18th century was something like a cross between BBC Culture and the Daily Mail: an engaging form of mass media to educate peasant communities. It gave readers easy access to the contemporary events of what was, even back then, an increasingly complicated world.

Histoire des Juifs (‘History of the Jews’, original title: ‘Antiquities of the Jews’)
‘Antiquities of the Jews’: The Illustrated Alternative Bible From the 17th Century
From a Jewish guerrilla fighter to a propaganda writer for the Romans: Flavius Josephus was a fascinating figure of the Roman imperial period. But his ‘Antiquities of the Jews’ became extremely popular in the modern era, as attested by this careful translation of the work into French.

Goethes Italienische Reise
Goethe’s ‘Italian Journey’: A Guide to Beating Burnout
Goethe’s ‘Italienische Reise’ (‘Italian Journey’) is regarded as the work that sparked Germany’s love of Italy, Tuscany, red wine and the Italians’ zest for life. However, this book was no travel guide, but rather a work of self-expression by the ‘Prince of Poets’, as he was known, and the testimony of a burnout-sufferer in search of himself.

Das Buch von guten Jüdischen Lehren
Judaism, Christianity and What It All Has To Do With Berlin
Why would a Protestant scholar translate and publish, at his own expense, a work by a Jewish scholar containing all the most important teachings of the Jewish faith? It’s quite simple: to advance his own career. By doing so, Friedrich Wilhelm Bock hoped to secure a professorship.

Gemeiner loblicher Eydgnoschafft Stetten, Landen und Völckeren Chronick wirdiger Thaaten Beschreybung
Johannes Stumpf, Gemeiner loblicher Eydgnoschafft Stetten, Landen und Völckeren Chronick wirdiger Thaaten Beschreybung
The title of Johannes Stumpf’s account would translate to “A chronicle of all cities, cantons, and people of the commendable Confederacy and a description of its impressive deeds“ in today’s English. With this work, Christoph Froschauer gave Protestant Switzerland its own history.

ThurnierBuch. Von Anfang, Vrsachen, vrsprung, vnd herkommen der Thurnier im heyligen Römischen Reich Teutscher Nation
In Days of Old When Knights Were Bold...
Chivalrousness was fashionable at tournaments – those who wrote about these events, on the other hand, often lacked this virtue. Georg Rüxner for example, a herald of the 16th century, showed a very lax approach to the truth in his famous tournament book. But what is a tournament book in the first place?

Neuzugerichtetes Buß-Beicht- und Communion-Büchlein
Johann Kißling, Neuzugerichtetes Buß-Beicht- und Communion-Büchlein
They have fallen out of fashion - those old prayer books that accompanied the life of their owners just a few generations ago the way smartphones do today. Even though the word “selfie” was not yet known at the time, some prayer books were, in fact, used to immortalize the most important moments in their owners’ lives.

Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair: The Seductive Power of Money
Throughout cultural history money was often associated with vice: gambling addiction, greed, fraud, vanity, hedonism. In his satirical novel, Thackeray brings these ideas to life.

Great Expectations
Great Expectations: Money and Morals
Would you accept money from a generous donor if you knew it came from a criminal source? Maybe you’d have qualms about it – just like Pip, the protagonist in Dickens’ great novel.

Catalogus Gloriae Mundi
The Order of the World
Can you imagine a world where every human being has a specific place in the system assigned to one by God that one cannot and must not leave? In his book, Barthélemy de Chasseneuz describes such a rigid wold order. Even though he was anything but a compulsive person...

Germinal
Germinal: Revolting Against Exploitation
Even hard work is not always enough to make a living. In their fight for better wages, the coal miners in Zola’s novel go on strike – not without consequences…

Codex Theodosianus in two volumes
Peace Through Law
The Swiss lawyer Jacques Godefroy studied the Codex Theodosianus for decades. His edition of this compilation of laws from the late Antiquity was only published in 1665. Our edition of this epoch-making book passed through many illustrious hands, as it tells us itself.

Opusculum de Potestate et Vtilitate Monetarium
Fair Money in Unfair Times
In 1516 Johannes Adler published his book on the legal problems arising from the constant debasement of coins for the understanding of law in early modern times. It might be the case that he indirectly criticised the monetary policies of his sovereign by doing so.

De augmentis scientiarum lib IX
Francis Bacon, the Father of Experiments
Francis Bacon wanted to control nature by means of scientific experiments and knowledge. In 1605, the visionary compiled all kinds of knowledge and outlined new fields of research. However, he should have refrained from experimenting himself …

Des Capitain Jacob Cook’s dritte Entdeckungs-Reise
Georg Forster, Captain James Cook’s Third Voyage of Discovery
Did you know that many members of the 19th century European nobility were tattoo enthusiasts? And did you know that books like Forster's contributed significantly to this? We will tell you why.

De remediis utriusque fortunae (Remedies against Fortune)
Fortuna is Constantly Turning the Wheel of Fortune
You know the trendy so-called “help-yourself” literature on the subject of “happiness” – in just five minutes, without any effort, with money-back guarantee. Fortunately, Italian Renaissance poet Petrarch does not offer superficial light fare such as this. But in 1366, he also wrote a guide to happiness.

La fortificatione gvardia, difesa et espugnatione delle fortesse
Quill Instead of Sword
Around 1600, war was raging throughout Europe. Happy were those who were blessed with modern fortifications. In 1624 Italian military engineer Francesco Tesini wrote a manual on fortifications and sieges because he knew perfectly what really mattered.

L'Ambassade de la Compagnie Orientale des Provinces Unies vers l'Empereur de la Chine, ou Grand Cam de Tartarie, faite par les sieurs Pierre de Goyer et Jacob de Keyser illustrée d'une très-exacte description des villes, bourgs, villages, ports de mer et autres lieux plus considérables de la Chine
Fascinating China
For a long time, Europeans thought that foreign and distant China was absolutely fascinating. Dutchman Joan Nieuhoff was one of the few who actually travelled there. His richly illustrated report about the country became a huge success.

Historia von Ursprung, Gebrauch und Gestalt der Perruquen, Worinnen Sonderlich der Mißbrauch, Irregularität und Ubelstand derjenigen Perruquen, deren sich die Geistliche bedienen, gezeiget wird [History of the origin, usage and form of wigs in the course of which especially the misuse, the irregularity and the evil of the wigs used by clergymen is shown]
A Venereal Disease Determines a Fashion Trend
Have you ever wondered why the noble ladies and gentlemen of the Baroque period, who are usually arrogantly staring at us from paintings in castles and museums, are wearing huge wigs? It was fashionable, of course. But why did it come into fashion? The disgusting answer is: syphilis.

Tagebuch einer im Jahr 1814 gemachten Reise über Paris nach London und einigen Fabrikstädten Englands vorzüglich in technologischer Hinsicht.[Diary of a journey made in 1814 via Paris to London and factory towns in England of technological excellence.]
A Business Card Made of Steel
Schaffhausen entrepreneur Johann Conrad Fischer travelled to England in 1814. He wanted to know how far the British competition had come during the Napoleonic Wars. His diary illustrates vividly how things were going in the centres of industrialisation.

Wie die Duelle, diese Schande unseres Zeitalters, auf unsern Universitäten so leicht wieder abgeschafft werden könnten [How duels, this disgrace of our age, could easily be abolished at our universities]
A Question of Honour?
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.

Meine Flucht nach Paris im Winter 1790. Für bekannte und unbekannte Freunde geschrieben (My escape to Paris in the winter of 1790. Written for known and unknown friends)
A Mourning Dramatist in Revolutionary Paris
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.

Der Kaufmann von Venedig
Risky Business
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.

Theatrum Machinarium, Oder: Schau-Platz der Heb-Zeuge
An Uplifting Textbook
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.

Satirical copper engraving on the financial crisis of 1720
A Lesson in Greed: The South Sea Company
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.

Schweitzerischer Ehrentempel
A look at the Top Ten: Herrliberger‘s Schweitzerischer Ehrentempel
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?

De vita et obitu reverendi, nobilis & clariss. viri Dn. Ioh. Guilielmi Stuckii
A glance at Zurich’s Facebook of 1608: Über Leben und Werk des Johann Wilhelm Stucki (About the life and the work of Johann Wilhelm Stucki)
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...

Shakespeare l’Ancien
Three Geniuses
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.

Le Roman de Tristan et Iseut. Renouvelé par Joseph Bédier de l’Académie Française. Ouvrage couronné par l’Académie Française
The (Second) Most Famous Love Affair of the Middle Ages
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...

Histoire de l’Admirable Don Quichotte de la Manche
Don Quixote: Reading Is Dangerous
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.

Organum Aristotelis
The Toolbox of Thinkers
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.

Die Illustrirte Welt-Ausstellung Chicago, 1893
Chicago World’s Fair of 1893
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 Anno MDCCXVI
The Negotiations of Scholars
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.

Ein sehr Nothwendige Trewhertzige vnd Wolgemeinte warnung vnnd Vermanungs Schrifft: Darinne der Spanier Tyranney List Anschlege vnnd Praticken wider die Christen entdecket vnd by zeite ihre Gewalt zu brechen sey
The Black Legend
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.

The Beautiful and Damned
The Beautiful and Damned: How to Squander Money
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…

Newer Bäpstischer Ablaß
Pensions Are Secure!
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.

Asia, the first part, being an accurate description of Persia, and the several provinces thereof. The vast Empire of the Great Mogol, and other parts of India: and their several Kingdoms and Regions
The Treasures of India
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.

Africae Descriptio IX lib. absoluta
The Treasures of Africa
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.

De Mulieribus Claris
Popess Joan – A Medieval Legend and its Afterlife
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?

Émile, ou de l’Éducation
The Perfect Childhood
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.

Complete collection of the 114 Neujahrsblätter of the Zurich Feuerwerker-Gesellschaft from the years between 1689 and 1758
The Single-Leaf Prints of the Zurich Feuerwerker-Gesellschaft
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.

Amtlicher Bericht über die Industrie-Ausstellung aller Völker zu London im Jahre 1851 von der Berichterstattungs-Kommission der Deutschen Zollvereins-Regierungen
The Great Exhibition of 1851
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.

Carmen
Love Is a Rebellious Bird
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.

Voyages en Zigzag ou Excursion d’un Pensionnat en Vacances
The Comic Books of the Enlightenment
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.

Der Suezkanal
The Suez Canal – A Worthwhile Undertaking or Just a Bottomless Pit?
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.

Opera Philosophica (Principia philosophiae und Specimina philosophiae)
Descartes – the Doubting Founder of Modern Philosophy
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.

Tentamina Theodicae de Bonitate dei Libertate Hominis et Origine Mali
The Best of All Possible Worlds
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...

Die Baumeisterin Pallas, Oder Der in Teutschland entstandene Palladius, translated by Georg Andreas Böckler
The North Star of Architecture
“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.

Zwey Briefe über die neuesten Veränderungen in Rußland seit der Thronbesteigung Pauls des Ersten
The Revolutionary Flâneur
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.

Alsatia illustrata – Germanica / Gallica
Goethe’s Teacher and His Love for Alsace
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.

Musen-Almanach für das Jahr 1796 [Muses’ Almanac for the year 1796]
The Literature Blog of Weimar Classicism
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.

Der deutsche Barreme oder vollständiges Rechenbuch
The Long Way to the Decimal System
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...

Discorso al Serenissimo Don Cosimo II … intorno alle cose, che stanno sù l’Acqua, ò che in quella si muovono …
Senses Vs. Paper
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.

Du contrat social ou Principes du droit politique
The Social Contract: Forced to be Free
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.

Neuer Atlas bestehend aus einig curieusen Astronomischen Mappen und vielen auserlesenen allerneuesten Land-Charten über die Gantze Welt
The Cartographer (or the Copier?) of Nuremberg
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.

De monetis et re numaria, libri duo
The Educated Mint Master: Reiner Budel
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.

My Attainment of the Pole. Being the Record of the expedition that first reached the boreal center 1907-1909, with a final summary of the polar controversy
The First Man to the North Pole, Part II: Fake Peak or the Heated Battle for the Cold Pole
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?

Dem Nordpol am nächsten. (original English title: Nearest the Pole.) Featuring 96 illustrations based on photographic images taken by the author, as well as a colour map of the polar region covered by Peary’s expedition (1892-1906)
The First Man to the North Pole, Part I: Race to the North
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.