Background
Joachim Heinrich Campe was born at Deensen in Brunswick on June 29, 1746.
Joachim Heinrich Campe was born at Deensen in Brunswick on June 29, 1746.
Joachim Heinrich Campe studied theology at the university of Halle, and after acting for some time as chaplain at Potsdam, he accepted a post as director of studies in the Philanthropin at Dessau.
Joachim Heinrich Campe soon after set up an educational establishment of his own at Trittow, near Hamburg, which he was obliged to give up to one of his assistants within a few years, in consequence of feeble health. In 1787 he proceeded to Brunswick as counsellor of education, and purchased the Schulbuchhandlung, which under his direction became a most prosperous business. He died in 1818.
Campe's numerous educational works were widely used throughout Germany. Among the most popular were the Kleine Kinderbibliothek (nth ed. , 1815); Robinson der Jiingere (59th ed. , 1861), translated into English and into nearly every European language; and Sammtliche Kinder- undjugendschriften, 37 vols.