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Breitkopf, son of a publisher and printer, studied
history and languages at the university of Leipzig
from 1737 to 1740. 1745 he joined the company of
his father. His special interest in typography was
quite stimulating for the publishing house. About
1750 he created a new type, the Breitkopf Gothic
Type, which became the best and mostly used Gothic
type of his time.
1754 he introduced a new technique
to print notes with mobile types, which improved
the quality of printed music decisively. Through
this invention he was able to bind all important
composers of his time to his publishing house, which
he managed from 1762 until 1794 and which is today
the world-oldest music publishing house (Breitkopf
& Härtel, Leipzig).
From 1776 he intensively
worked on a new technique to make maps with mobile
printing types. 1777 he published the first map,
which was printed with the new technique - a map
of the surroundings of Leipzig. An accompaning text
gives a description how to make maps with this new
technique, which he later also used for the printing
of portraits and even Chinese characters. For a
second proof of the newly invented process he created
a highly imaginative and humorous map of the Kingdom
of Love ('Das Reich der Liebe').
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