„Useful gift for young people“

220-year-old agricultural children's non-fiction book in the collection of the Westphalian Library of Agriculture

Rare book in the Westphalian Library of Agriculture in Münster-Hiltrup: The „Oeconomischen Bilderbuch“ by Johann Gottlieb Fritzsche (1779-1813) is one of the oldest German-language non-fiction books for children

„I have found children who knew many a foreign plant and were unable to distinguish between wheat and barley, oak and beech, parsley and pasternack. Isn't that a disgrace?“ These sentences come from Johann Gottlieb Fritzsche, the author of the „Oeconomischen Bilderbuch“ and are already 220 years old. Since then, they have lost none of their relevance.

Johann Gottlieb Fritzsche (1779-1813) from Dresden was so annoyed by the ignorance of children that he took up his pen more than 200 years ago and wrote a children's book about plants, horticulture and agriculture. It bore the title „Oeconomisches Bilderbuch - or: historical-pictorial representation of agriculture“. Fritzsche thus wrote one of the first children's non-fiction books in the German language, and one that dealt with botany, agriculture and animal husbandry. There was nothing like it before - and must have been about as surprising around 1800 as the launch of the „Show with the mouse“.

A contemporary praised Fritzsche's idea: „It makes a very pleasant and useful gift for young people aged 8 to 12.“ Despite this praise, the picture book series was not particularly successful - Fritzsche was probably too far ahead of his time. In addition, the first installments of his multi-part book series were published under a title that did not exactly reveal their content: „The companion for young people on rural walks“.

Only individual copies have survived in German libraries. The largest collection is kept in the „Westphalian Library of Agriculture“ in Münster-Hiltrup. It comprises five volumes on agriculture, animal husbandry, horticulture and „Flower culture“. Plants, flowers and tools are depicted in great detail in fascinating, hand-painted pictures. Work in the forest, in the barn or in the garden is also depicted. Fritzsche also took a look abroad for the children and presented the crops and agricultural culture in Holland, England and France, among others.

A word about the author: Johann Gottlieb Fritzsche, born in Dresden in 1779, studied pharmacy and medicine in Jena, Wittenberg and Dresden and worked as a practicing doctor in Radeberg until his early death in 1813.

The „Westphalian Library of Agriculture“ (WBL) in Münster-Hiltrup contains around 6500 volumes of practice-oriented agricultural literature from five centuries. There is a regional focus on titles from Westphalia-Lippe and Northwest Germany. The collection is owned by the Stiftung Landwirtschaftsverlag in Münster and is organized as a reference library. Those interested in agricultural history can search the collection digitally (WBL inventory) and use the books after prior registration on site.

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