In general, a publication is a publication which is compiled for a festive occasion. In particular, however, the term means, above all, an opportunity letter, which is handed over to an ancient scholar as a stipulation for a particular event, such as a jubilee or a birthday. Such a memorandum contains essays by friends, colleagues and pupils, who at best deal with and devote themselves to specific questions and problems of the subject area of the accused. Furthermore, the memorandum offers an appreciation of the work of life and of scientific work, as well as a list of writings of the scholar, which is as complete as possible, which is why the memorandum is an important source of the history of science.
commemorative
In general, a publication is a publication which is compiled for a festive occasion. In particular, however, the term means, above all, an opportunity letter, which is handed over to an ancient scholar as a stipulation for a particular event, such as a jubilee or a birthday. Such a memorandum contains essays by friends, colleagues and pupils, who at best deal with and devote themselves to special questions and problems of the subject area of the accused. Furthermore, the memorandum offers an appreciation of the work of life and of scientific work, as well as a list of writings of the scholar as complete as possible, which is why the memorandum is an important source of the history of science.
The first known memorandum was dated to 1640 and appeared in Leipzig. This book appeared on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the invention of book printing, which had triggered a kind of media revolution since the Renaissance, and contained numerous contributions by German poets. It was published by the church poet and book printer Gregor Ritzsch under the title “Jubilaeum Typographorum” or two-hundred-year book-printing jubilee test (→ full text of the memorandum in the DTA).
Outside the scientific circles, however, the term is also used for publications that appear for a specific event or anniversary, such as the company or club anniversary. In terms of content, there are hardly any restrictions in this regard, whereby they address a broader audience and not only appeal to a scientific reading circle. Such general writings have only in common with scientific writings that they appear to be an event / anniversary.
When / For whom are there signatures?
Originally, it was customary to publish a fable to the 50th anniversary of the doctor’s thesis in recognition of a scholar. However, this habit became more and more forgotten, and the appearance of such writings is more closely connected with the birthday of the esteemed.
Rarely is the writing before the 60th birthday and the Association of the German State Law Teachers as a recommendation to publish their writings only from the 70th birthday. This recommendation, however, is not a firm guideline and has therefore not been applied uniformly, which is why it is quite common to select arbitrary – but mostly round – life data for publication.
A script which appears only after the death of the scholar and otherwise pursues a similar concept is commonly referred to as a memorial or memorial. There are also examples, though rare, in which the memorandum only contains essays and excerpts from the scholar’s essays.
As already indicated in the above example from the year 1640, however, not only can people be honored by such a script. Indeed, it is also common to publish official documents for institutions, special events or public institutions. For example, on the 225th anniversary of publishing house C.H. Beck published a publication, and published a publication on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Federal Court of Justice, which was even quite extensive and contained four volumes (→ table of contents of the “Festschrift on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary”).
Short overview: The most important part of the term at a glance
A publication is generally designated as a publication, which is compiled for a festive occasion. In particular, the term means an occasional inscription which is handed over to a scholar as a stipulation to a particular event. Moreover, the writing may also appear in jubilees which are not bound to a person.
In this way the scientific work of the scholar is honored, with the individual contributions of the pupils, colleagues or even friends of the acknowledged circling around his research center. In addition, it is not customary to publish such a book before the 60th birthday of the respective scholar. In the past, the 50th anniversary of the doctoral jubilee was a good time and occasion for such a publication.