F. A. Brockhaus (1772 – 1823) a German encyclopedia publisher and editor was born in Dortmund, Germany. After several years as a merchant, he moved on to establish his publishing business in 1805 in Amsterdam. After complications with the government of Holland, Brockhaus returned to Germany. In roughly 1808, he purchased the copyright of the Conversations-Lexikon, an encyclopedia, which had fallen into bankruptcy not long after its beginning in 1796.
In 1810-1811, he completed the first edition of this celebrated work. It was widely imitated as a model for encyclopedias, and is still published today, known as the Brockhaus Encyclopedia.
A second edition produced by Brockhaus was begun in 1812. It was received with universal acclaim causing his business to grow dramatically. In 1818, Brockhaus moved to Leipzig, where he established a large printing-house.
F. A. Brockhaus died in Leipzig. The business was carried on by his sons, Freidrich Brockhaus (1800–1865), who retired in 1850, and Heinrich Brockhaus(1804–1874). Heinrich had considerable success growing the business even further.
His firm continues under the name F.A. Brockhaus AG in his honor. He is also the namesake of 27765 Brockhaus, a main-belt asteroid discovered in 1991.
