Johann Samuel Heinsius
| Company type | Publishing house |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing, Bookselling |
| Founded | 1725 |
| Founder | Johann Samuel Heinsius |
| Headquarters | Leipzig , Germany |
| Products | Books, magazines, lexicons, atlases |
Johann Samuel Heinsius (1686–1750) was a prominent German publisher and bookseller operating out of Leipzig, recognized for his professional association with Johann Heinrich Zedler.
In 1725, Heinsius established his publishing house, also called Heinsius, in Leipzig. Around 1735, after Johann Heinrich Wolf assumed control of Zedler’s company, Zedler formed a partnership with Heinsius to embark on new ventures. By 1740, several publications originally linked to Zedler were released under the Heinsius imprint, starting with a revival of Zedler’s Cabinet magazine under a modified title. The exact commercial impact and strategic reasoning behind this move remain uncertain, especially since Heinsius had already been issuing a comparable monthly periodical since 1739 entitled Genealogical and historical messages of the principal events of the European courts.
In 1741, the collaborators brought out the initial volume of the General Treasure Chamber, a comprehensive four-volume commercial lexicon translated by Carl Günther Ludovici based on Jacques Savary des Brûlons' Dictionnaire Universel de Commerce. Their subsequent publication was the Corpus Juris Cambialis (Stock Exchange Laws) authored by Johann Gottlieb Siegel, which was promoted for advance orders in April 1742 and made available in time for the Leipzig Michaelmas Fair.
Following these achievements, Zedler and Heinsius undertook an extensive endeavor: the Historical and Political-Geographic Atlas of the whole world, a 13-volume German rendition of Antoine-Augustin Bruzen de La Martinière's Grand Dictionnaire Géographique Et Critique, issued between 1744 and 1749. By 1748, Heinsius’s catalog featured approximately 14,000 titles covering fields such as science, philosophy, biography, and literature. The collection predominantly comprised 18th-century works in German or Latin, alongside translations from English and French.
Heinsius passed away in December 1750; thereafter, the business operated under the name "Johann Samuel Heinsius heirs." The enterprise was subsequently managed by his son Johann Samuel Heinsius the Younger (1734–1807), followed by his grandson Johann Wilhelm Heinsius (1768–1817).