Editing Justus Perthes

{{Short description|German publisher (1749–1816)}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix   = 
| name               = Justus Perthes
| image              = Justus Perthes.jpg
| caption            = Justus Perthes
| birth_name         = Johann Georg Justus Perthes
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1749|09|11|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Rudolstadt]], [[Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt]], [[Holy Roman Empire]]
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1816|05|02|1749|09|11|df=y}}
| death_place        = [[Gotha]], [[Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg]], Holy Roman Empire
| occupation         = Publisher
| known_for          = Founding the publishing house [[Justus Perthes (publishing company)|''Justus Perthes Geographische Anstalt Gotha'']]
| children           = Wilhelm Perthes
| relatives          = [[Friedrich Christoph Perthes]] (nephew)
}}

'''Johann Georg Justus Perthes''' (11 September 1749 – 2 May 1816) was a [[Germans|German]] [[publisher]] and founder of [[Justus Perthes (publishing company)|the publishing house]] that bears his name.

==Life==
He was born in the [[Thuringia]]n town of [[Rudolstadt]], the son of a [[Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt|Schwarzburg]] court physician. From 1778 he worked as a bookseller in nearby [[Gotha (town)|Gotha]], where he founded the [[Cartography|cartographic]] publishing firm ''Justus Perthes Geographische Anstalt Gotha'' in 1785. In this, he was joined in 1814 by his son Wilhelm Perthes (1793&ndash;1853), who had been in the publishing house of Justus's nephew [[Friedrich Christoph Perthes]] at [[Hamburg]]. On Justus' death in Gotha, Wilhelm took over the firm and laid the foundation of the geographical branch of the business for which it is chiefly famous, by the first publishing of the ''[[Stielers Handatlas|Hand-Atlas]]'' from  1817&ndash;1823 after [[Adolf Stieler]] (1775&ndash;1836).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=261}}

Wilhelm Perthes engaged the collaboration of the most eminent German geographers of the time, including Stieler, [[Heinrich Berghaus]] (1797&ndash;1884),<ref>{{cite web |title=Cover: Physikalischer Atlas v. 1. / Berghaus, Heinrich / 1849 |url=https://www.davidrumsey.com/maps2858.html |website=www.davidrumsey.com |access-date=29 May 2023}}</ref> [[Christian Gottlieb Reichard]] (1758&ndash;1837), who was associated with Stieler in the compilation of the atlas, [[Karl Spruner von Merz|Karl Spruner]] (1803–1892), and [[Emil von Sydow]] (1812&ndash;1873).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=261}}

The business passed to his grandson Bernhardt Wilhelm Perthes (1821&ndash;1857),<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ormeling |first1=F. J. |title=Tribute to Justus Perthes |journal=GeoJournal |date=1986 |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=413–416 |doi=10.1007/BF00224596 |jstor=41143746 |bibcode=1986GeoJo..13..413O |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41143746 |access-date=29 May 2023 |issn=0343-2521|url-access=subscription }}</ref> who was associated with [[August Heinrich Petermann]] under whose direction the well-known periodical ''Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen'' was first edited in 1855, and [[Bruno Hassenstein]] (1839&ndash;1902);{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=261}} and in the next generation to his son Bernhard Perthes (1858&ndash;1919), who was born after his father Bernhardt Wilhelm had died.

Since 1785 the firm also issued the [[Almanach de Gotha]], a statistical, historical and genealogical annual (in [[German language|German]] and [[French language|French]]) of the various countries of the world (first published by Carl Wilhelm Ettinger, Gotha, in 1763); and in 1866 the elaborate ''Geographisches Jahrbuch'' was produced under the editorship of [[Ernst Behm]] (1830&ndash;1884), on whose death it was continued under that of Professor [[Hermann Wagner (geographer)|Hermann Wagner]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|pp=261–262}}

==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{EB1911|wstitle = Perthes, Johan Georg Justus|volume=21|pages=261–262}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*See an 1872 map by August Petermann, published by Justus Perthes, [https://archive.today/20121215040630/http://texashistory.unt.edu/permalink/meta-pth-2469 ''[Map of Texas, Indian Territory, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas&#93; / bearbeitet v. H. Habenicht.''] hosted by the [http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20021008225402/http://www.co.hidalgo.tx.us/ Portal to Texas History].
*The 1875 Stieler Hand-Atlas, and many other maps and atlases, are viewable online at [http://www.davidrumsey.com/worldatlases.html DavidRumsey.com]
*More information about the history and the current situation of the huge archive ([[map collection|map archive]], bibliothèque) of 'Justus Perthes Geographische Anstalt Gotha' (including 'VEB Hermann Haack Geographisch-Kartographische Anstalt Gotha', publishing firm in the [[German Democratic Republic]] ([[GDR]]) from 1955 to 1991, and 'Justus Perthes Geographische Verlagsanstalt Darmstadt', publishing firm in Darmstadt from 1953 to 1994), as well as about the current publishing house 'Ernst Klett Verlag GmbH, Zweigniederlassung Gotha, Programmbereich Klett-Perthes' available online at [http://www.perthes.de/geschichte_justus_perthes/ perthes.de] (German language)
*More information about 'Almanach de Gotha' (English) online at [http://www.perthes.de/geschichte_justus_perthes/almanach_de_gotha/almanach_de_gotha_english.html perthes.de] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080803154356/http://www.perthes.de/geschichte_justus_perthes/almanach_de_gotha/almanach_de_gotha_english.html |date=2008-08-03 }}

{{Authority control}}

{{EB1911 article with no significant updates}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perthes, Justus}}
[[Category:1749 births]]
[[Category:1816 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century German publishers (people)]]
[[Category:Map publishing companies]]
[[Category:People from Rudolstadt]]
[[Category:People from Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt]]