Isis was an encyclopedic journal that focused on articles on natural science, medicine, technology, economics as well as art and history. It also published important articles on science policy and the organization of science. Edited by Lorenz Oken and published by Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus, Isis was the first interdisciplinary journal in the German-speaking world.
The 41 volumes of the journal named after the Egyptian goddess Isis were nominally published from 1817 to 1848. However, the first issue appeared on August 1, 1816, while the printing of the last issue was delayed until February 1850. Until 1832, Isis bore the title Encyclopädische Zeitung. After the focus of the articles published in it had changed, Oken changed the title to Encyclopädische Zeitschrift, vorzüglich für Naturgeschichte, vergleichende Anatomie und Physiologie in 1833. Initially printed in Jena, the journal was banned in the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and from the summer of 1819 was produced in nearby Rudolstadt in the court printing works of the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. The magazine's original print run of 1,500 copies fell rapidly in the first few years of its existence and amounted to around 200 copies in the last few years.
Originally conceived as a non-political journal, Oken was forced to vehemently defend the freedom of the press in the first years of Isis' existence. This resulted in numerous lawsuits against Oken, some of which overlapped in time, which led to temporary bans on Isis in the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. In the run-up to the Carlsbad Decrees, this led to Oken's dismissal as a professor at the University of Jena at the end of June 1819 under pressure from the states of the Holy Alliance.
From 2006 to 2013, a project funded by the German Research Foundation at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena studied the significance of Isis for scientific communication and the popularization of the natural sciences in the first half of the 19th century.
Origin In a letter dated April 11, 1814, Lorenz Oken contacted the publisher Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus for the first time and offered him his publication Neue Bewaffnung, neues Frankreich, neues Theutschland for printing.Taszus, Claudia (2009).Lorenz Okens Isis (1816–1848). Zur konzeptionellen, organisatorischen und technischen Realisierung der Zeitschrift. p. 88–89. Brockhaus did not print it, but Oken subsequently contributed to Brockhaus' Conversations-Lexikon and, from June 1815 at the latest, was a contributor to the Deutsche Blätter, which Brockhaus had been publishing since October 1813 following the Battle of Leipzig and which became the most important journal in central Germany in 1813/1814.Taszus, Claudia (2009).Lorenz Okens Isis (1816–1848). Zur konzeptionellen, organisatorischen und technischen Realisierung der Zeitschrift. p. 93. Presumably at the end of June/beginning of July 1815, Oken took over the editorship of the Tagesgeschichte, a supplement to the Deutsche Blätter, which was dedicated to daily politics and for which he wrote and edited numbers 1 to 16.Taszus, Claudia (2009).Lorenz Okens Isis (1816–1848). Zur konzeptionellen, organisatorischen und technischen Realisierung der Zeitschrift. p. 97–98. With the end of the Wars of Liberation, the focus of the Deutsche Blätter shifted from war reporting to general daily politics, which was associated with a considerable decline in circulation from an initial 4000 to 1100Taszus, Claudia (2009).Lorenz Okens Isis (1816–1848). Zur konzeptionellen, organisatorischen und technischen Realisierung der Zeitschrift. p. 99. copies. On February 22, 1816, Brockhaus announced that he would discontinue the Deutsche Blätter.Brockhaus, Friedrich Arnold (1816).Vorläufige Anzeige. In: Deutsche Blätter. Leipzig/Altenburg: Neue Folge. Volume 3. Number 33. p. 528. Oken regretted this decision and repeatedly urged Brockhaus to continue the Deutsche Blätter in another form.Brockhaus, Heinrich Eduard, ed. (1876). Oken’s „Isis“. Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus. Sein Leben und Wirken nach Briefen und anderen Aufzeichnungen. Leipzig: Brockhaus. p. 166. He presented Brockhaus with his encyclopedic concept of a new journal, which would not focus on current politics, but on the natural sciences, critique, history and political science. Brockhaus was only to bear the printing and postage costs. The first publishing contract for the Encyclopädische Blätter was signed with Brockhaus on March 31, 1816.Taszus, Claudia (2009). Lorenz Okens Isis (1816–1848). Zur konzeptionellen, organisatorischen und technischen Realisierung der Zeitschrift. p. 102-103 Oken presented his concept to readers in the last issue of Deutsche Blätter.Oken, Lorenz (1816). Ankündigung der Encyclopädischen Blätter. In: Deutsche Blätter. Leipzig/Altenburg: Neue Folge. Volume 3. Number 40. pp. 633–636.
Conception The design concept for Isis was delayed until July 1816, as Oken was still working on the zoological section of his textbook on natural history. Oken reached an agreement with Brockhaus that a copper plate should appear in each booklet, and he worked towards a low sales price. They were at odds over the arrangement of the information in the title head and the text and image design. Oken had a woodcut made for the title head, in the middle of which the goddess Isis is depicted on an ancient Egyptian throne. On the left, she is flanked by her husband Osiris, who carries a vulture's head and a staff. To her right is Anubis with a jackal's head, palm branch and snake sceptre. Oken commissioned the rector of the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig, Veit Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1764–1841), to create the frontispiece and later copper plates. There were differences of opinion as to whether foreign-language contributions should be translated into German. Oken spoke out against it due to the difficulty of translating certain technical terms. Brockhaus was in favour of a translation for reasons of popularization.Taszus, Claudia (2009). Lorenz Okens Isis (1816–1848). Zur konzeptionellen, organisatorischen und technischen Realisierung der Zeitschrift. p. 104-110
The title Isis first appeared in correspondence between Oken and Brockhaus at the end of July, shortly before the first issue went to press. The two agreed on Encyclopädische Zeitung as the additional title, in line with the originally intended title of the journal.Taszus, Claudia (2009). Lorenz Okens Isis (1816–1848). Zur konzeptionellen, organisatorischen und technischen Realisierung der Zeitschrift. p. 106. Oken sent the draft of the first edition, produced by the printer Johann Georg Schreiber in Jena, to Brockhaus' publishing house in Altenburg on July 13, 1816, with the remark that it was to be published in a new edition.Taszus, Claudia (2009). Lorenz Okens Isis (1816–1848). Zur konzeptionellen, organisatorischen und technischen Realisierung der Zeitschrift. p. 111. Oken introduced this first issue of Isis, which appeared on August 1, 1816,Brockhaus, Heinrich Eduard, ed. (1876). Oken’s „Isis“. Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus. Sein Leben und Wirken nach Briefen und anderen Aufzeichnungen. Leipzig: Brockhaus. p. 167. with an excerpt from the Basic Law on the State Constitution of the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. In it, he presented the programmatic orientation of his new journal. Isis was to cover natural sciences, medicine, mathematics, technology, economics, art and history. Law and theology were expressly excluded. Oken wrote "That is why history is the mirror of this journal, nature its floor, art its pillar wall. We leave the sky open."In: Isis. Vol. 1, Issue I, Number 1, 1816, Sp. 5–6 (online) Anyone could send articles to Isis for publication. Oken did not pay a fee for published articles.
Oken's fight for freedom of expression and the press
Legal dispute with Eichstädt
Even before Isis was published, the classical philologist Abraham Eichstädt from Jena learned of the planned new journal. Eichstädt, who published the Jenaische allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung, had held an exclusive right to publish reviews in Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach since 1803. As he feared for the financial security of his paper, Eichstädt turned to the President of the State Ministry in Weimar, Christian Gottlob Voigt, and obtained a renewal of this privilege on July 17, 1816.An die Gesammtakademie zu Jena. Die Herausgabe eine kritisch literarischen Tagesblatt zu Jena betreffend. Weimar, July 17, 1816, reprinted in: Alexander Ecker: Lorenz Oken. Eine biographische Skizze. E. Schweizerbart, Stuttgart 1880, p. 62. Oken saw this as a violation of the freedom of the press guaranteed in the Weimar Constitution of May 15, 1816 and sneered in the second issue of Isis: "Whether we really have freedom of the press, or whether it is to be mocked as a grimace through literary privileges and arbitrary interpretation and extension of the same, will be taught by the progress of Isis."In: Isis. Vol.1, Issue I, Number 2, 1816 (online). Eichstädt filed a lawsuit against Oken and Isis on August 1, 1816. In a judgment dated August 23, Oken was ordered to refrain from publishing reviews and political articles. In the event of non-compliance, he was threatened with a fine of 50 thalers and a ban on Isis. Oken, who became aware of the verdict eight days later, protested against it to the Weimar government on September 2 and attached the first five issues of Isis to his letter in support of his position. In the course of September 1816, the verdict against Oken and Isis was finally withdrawn.Schweizer, Claudia (2004). Johann Wolfgang von Goethe und Kaspar Maria von Sternberg. Naturforscher und Gleichgesinnte. p. 185.Ecker, Alexander (1880): Lorenz Oken. Eine biographische Skizze. Stuttgart: E. Schweizerbart. p. 61–70 and p. 73. Looking ahead, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe commented on the events in his diary on July 30, 1816, with the remark: "Isis as Hydra."[Entry from July 30, 1816]. In: Goethes Werke. Tagebücher. III. section, vol. 5, Herman Böhlau, Weimar 1893, p. 259 (online).
Goethe's recommendation for a ban In order not to exacerbate the disputes with Eichstädt, Oken had filled the first four issues exclusively with scientific topics and suggested to Brockhaus that he initially refrain from including controversial political articles, as political newspapers in the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach were still subject to censorship. However, Brockhaus did not agree to this and delayed the delivery of the first four issues.Taszus, Claudia (2009).Lorenz Okens Isis (1816–1848). Zur konzeptionellen, organisatorischen und technischen Realisierung der Zeitschrift. p. 113. As the dispute with Eichstädt progressed, Oken finally felt compelled to include political topics in Isis. In the sixth issue of Isis, he placed a prize issue in which he questioned the legitimacy of literary privileges.Preisaufgabe an alle Juristenfacultäten der ganzen Welt. In: Isis. Vol.1, Issue I, Number 6, 1816, Sp. 43–44 (online). In the ninth issue and the two following issues, Oken criticized the Basic Law on the Landständische Verfassung des Großherzogthums Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach, which came into force on 5 May 1816.Über das Grundgesetz über die Landständische Verfassung des Großherzogtums Sachsen – Weimar – Eisenach. In: Isis. Vol. 1, Issue I, Number 9–11, 1816, Sp. 65–84 (online). In the third issue of Isis, Oken also printed a letter dated December 5, 1811, from the Rostock professors Samuel Gottlieb Vogel, Wilhelm Josephi, Georg Heinrich Masius (1771–1823) and Karl Ernst Theodor Brandenburg (1772–1827), in which they rejected Oken's appointment to the vacant chair of natural history at the University of Rostock due to his pompous natural philosophy. Oken illustrated the print with a vignette depicting donkey heads.In: Isis. Vol. 1, Issue I, Number 3, 1816, Sp. 22 (online)