Books from Leipzig publishers 1850–1920
The city of Leipzig had a diverse and influential publishing landscape in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The digitization of books from the University Library’s collection between 1851 and 1920 marks the importance of Leipzig as a book city by making numerous books from Leipzig publishers freely accessible online.
In the project funded by the Free State of Saxony, around 8,000 books published by Leipzig publishers were digitized, structured, and cataloged between 2015 and 2018. The digitized books cover a broad range of content: from humanities and natural science treatises from publishers like Duncker & Humblot and Reclam to contemporary literature and classics of world literature from publishers like Rowohlt, Wolff, and the Insel-Verlag to contemporary political pamphlets.
The digitization of these books aims to highlight the significance of Leipzig as a book city with its diverse and influential publishing landscape in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries and to make the books from Leipzig publishers digitally accessible to research and the public worldwide.
A highlight of the collection is the around 70 historical travel guides from the Baedecker publishing house, which allow readers to stroll through 1920s Leipzig, Dresden, or Paris.