Christoph Friedrich Nicolai
A pugnacious German bookseller and writer whose satirical pen made him a central and controversial figure of the Berlin Enlightenment.
1733–1811 (age 78)·German writer·Birthday: March 18
Biography
Christoph Friedrich Nicolai was less a solitary genius than a cultural engine. Taking over his father's Berlin bookshop, he turned it into the bustling headquarters of the German Enlightenment, publishing the works of friends like Lessing and Mendelssohn. He co-founded the influential 'Briefe, die neueste Literatur betreffend' (Letters Concerning the Newest Literature), shaping literary taste. Nicolai was a rationalist to his core, and his witty, often biting satires targeted what he saw as superstition and philosophical fog. This put him on a collision course with the rising Sturm und Drang movement; his feud with Goethe became the stuff of literary legend. In later years, he produced detailed travelogues that serve as snapshots of German life. He died as he lived: a steadfast, sometimes stubborn defender of reason in an age of shifting romantic sensibilities.
#1 When Christoph Was Born
The biggest hits of 1733
Christoph's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1733Born
1738Started school
1746Became a teenager
1749Could drive
1751Could vote
1754Turned 21
1763Turned 30
1773Turned 40
1783Turned 50
1793Turned 60
1803Turned 70
1811Died at 78
Key Achievements
- Co-founded and published the influential literary periodical 'Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek', reviewing over 80,000 books.
- Authored the popular satirical novel 'The Life and Opinions of Master Sebaldus Nothanker', critiquing religious orthodoxy.
- Published extensive 'Descriptions of a Journey through Germany and Switzerland', a valuable historical record of late 18th-century Europe.
- Was a central member of the Berlin Enlightenment circle alongside Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Moses Mendelssohn.
- Successfully ran the Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung, one of Germany's most important publishing houses for decades.
Did You Know?
He was famously parodied by Goethe in the play 'Faust' as the pedantic 'Proktophantasmist'.
Nicolai claimed to have cured his own depression by applying leeches to his anus, a story Goethe mocked mercilessly.
He engaged in a long and bitter public dispute with Immanuel Kant over philosophical methodology.
His publishing house survived into the 20th century and was only dissolved in 1972.
“True progress is made by printing books and fostering rational debate.”
