Schellenberg, Ernst Ludwig (Louis) Theodor

Bookseller, printer, publisher

born: 23.03.1772 in Usingen

died: 23.02.1834 in Wiesbaden

After a six-year apprenticeship as a bookseller in Frankfurt, the 20-year-old son of the Bierstadt pastor Jacob Ludwig Schellenberg took up a position in Marburg in 1792 and then expanded his knowledge in a bookshop in Bern. In 1803, Prince Friedrich August von Nassau-Usingen granted him the long-coveted privilege to run Wiesbaden's first retail bookshop with an attached lending library, which was set up in the house of the farmer Andreas Faust on the corner of Langgasse and Webergasse.

Soon a "reading museum" was added in the "Zum Schützenhof" bathhouse, where newspapers, magazines and journals could be viewed. When the principalities of Nassau-Usingen and Nassau-Weilburg were merged to form the Duchy of Nassau in 1806, it became apparent that Heinrich Frey's print shop could no longer cope with the increased work for the government on its own.

In 1809, Ludwig Schellenberg, now a "court bookseller", was granted the privilege of setting up Wiesbaden's second printing works. Schellenberg's print shop, which moved into the Bürgerhaus, which stood in Langgasse where the Pressehaus stands today, was Nassau's largest print shop from the very beginning, with three and soon four presses.

Schellenberg produced books in various fields of knowledge at his own risk, which were sold at trade fairs, in order to keep the business running at full capacity; he was also Nassau's first publisher. In 1819, Schellenberg was awarded the prestigious title of "Court Book Printer". Nassau's first assortment bookseller and publisher was buried opposite his print shop in the "Alter Friedhof am Römertor" cemetery. His son August Emil Schellenberg successfully continued the business and founded the Wiesbadener Tagblatt in 1852.