KARL FRIEDRICH BECKER’S GESCHICHTE DER ALTEN WELT, 7 VOLUMES, 1844

Inventory #: 25-723 - $450.00

1844. Berlin, Germany. Verlag Von Duncker und Humblot, Publisher. Complete in 7 volumes. There are 14 sections in 7 volumes. All volumes are in Very Good+ to Very Good condition. Written entirely in German. All volumes are bound in half, brown leather hard covers with marbled boards. The spines are embossed in red and gold for the title, and are intricately tooled. The spines are hubbed. The bindings are tight, with no pages missing. There is some light foxing on some of the pages. The title translates to Karl Friedrich Becker’s History of the Ancient World. There are owner markings that say “E. Riggs Jr., Heidelberg University, June 1846”. There is a book plate for Elisha Riggs, Jr. (1826-1881), a prominent figure in the Riggs family, known for their contributions to banking and finance in Washington D.C.. Elisha Riggs, Jr. was a partner in the influential banking firm Corcoran and Riggs, which later became Riggs & Co., and eventually Riggs National Bank. Elisha Riggs Jr. attended Heidelberg University in Germany in the late 1840s. This book set was acquired from a Metro Washington DC estate. 

Karl Friedrich Becker (1777-1806) was a German educator and historian. His most noted work was World History for Children and Teachers of Children, which was widely used and much edited and revised by other noted historians after Becker's death. Becker was a native of Berlin. He studied history and philosophy at the University of Halle, and after finishing his studies, worked as a tutor in Cottbus. From 1798 to 1800 he was a schoolteacher in Berlin, but due to poor health had to resign from teaching and devote his time to literary and historical work. Becker died in 1806 at the age of 29. His grave is preserved in the Protestant Friedhof I der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirchengemeinde in Berlin-Kreuzberg, south of Hallesches Tor. Becker is remembered today as author of the nine-volume Weltgeschichte für Kinder und Kinderlehrer. This work was published in Berlin between 1801 and 1805, and after his death was continued, edited and revised by numerous authors. Karl Ludwig Woltmann added a tenth volume, and Karl Adolf Menzel two more. Wilhelm Adolf Schmidt's edition of 1860-67 contains 20 volumes, including Karl Eduard Arnd's Geschichte der letzten vierzig Jahre and its continuations to 1867. The same author's Geschichte der Jahre 1867-1871(1st vol., 1872) also served as a supplement. Johann Wilhelm Löbell was an editor. Though gaining in fullness and accuracy, the revisions lost something of the charm of Becker's original presentation.