The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Hamann, Johann Georg

HAMANN, Johann Georg, a German author, born in Königsberg, Aug. 27, 1730, died in Münster, June 21, 1788. He was destined for the pulpit, but became a clerk in a mercantile house, and afterward held many small public offices, devoting his leisure to study. He wrote under the nom de plume of “the Magus of the North.” His works consist of small essays, and although his style was diffuse and obscure, their merits were recognized by Lessing, Mendelssohn, Herder, and Goethe. Fragments of his writings were published by Cramer, under the title of Sibyllinische Blätter des Magus aus Norden (1819), and a complete edition by Roth (7 vols., 1821-'5, with a volume of additions and explanations by Wiener, 1843). Hamann's des Magus in Norden Leben und Schriften, edited by Gildemeister, was published in 5 vols., 1857-'68, and a new edition of his Schriften und Briefen, edited by Petri, in 4 vols., 1872-'4.