BROCKHAUS, FRIEDRICH Amcom, the founder of the well-known firm of B. in Leipsic, and publisher of the Conversations-Lexicon, was b. at Dortmund, .May 4, 1772. In 1802, circumstances led him to Holland, where, however, his business schemes did not prosper. He returned to Germany in 1810, and in the following year commenced business In Altenburg. Before this, however (in 1808), B. had purchased the copyright of the Conversations-Lexicon, which had been commenced in 1796, and he completed the first edition, with the addition of two supplementary volumes, in 1809-10. In 1812, a. second improved edition of the work was commenced under the supervision of B. as editor. The peace of 1815 enabled B. to pursue prosperously his peaceful and civilizing career. In 1817, his business had so increased, that he found it necessary to leave Alten burg for Leipsic, where, in the following year, he commenced book-printing iu addition to book-publishing. In the course of a few years, the Lexicon passed through six editions; it has now arrived at the eleventh edition. Through all the enterprises of B. as a publisher, a zealous devotion to the cause of liberty and general enlightment may be traced. He died Aug. 20, 1823. B. was not only an able and assiduous man of business, but distinguished for his literary culture, his knowledge of the world, and his numer ous social accomplishments. He was also eminently patriotic, and furthered many literary undertakings, simply through a pure love of " fatherland."
The business was afterwards carried on by IlEnciticll B., second son of the former (b. 1804, d. 1874), and now by Heinrich's sons, Rudolf and Edward. Among the numer ous publications issued by the house, may be mentioned the later editions of the Con versutions-I,exicon, with an Atlas; the Universal Encyclopedia, by Ersch and Gruber; and the German Penny Magazine, founded in 1833.
131tocatrAus, HERMANN, third son of F. A. Brockhaus, was b. at Amsterdam, Jan. 28, 1806; studied at Leipsic, G6ttingen, and Bonn, and lived successively in Copen hagen, Paris, London, and Oxford. From 1848 till his death in 1877, he held at Leipsic the chair of ordinary professor of the Sanscrit language and literature. Among his several works on oriental literature may be mentioned the First Five Books of the Large Collection of Fables, Kalldi &frit Stigara, in. Sanscrit and German (1839); an edition of the drama Prabodha Candrodaya, by Krishna Misra. with Hindu scholia (1845); Nach seliebi's Persian version of the Seven Wise Masters (1845); and (in 1854) the Persian text of the Songs of Hafiz. After 1856, lie was editor of the Universal Encyclopedia. B.'s method of printingSanserit in .Roman types is now generally adopted in Germany.