Christian Ludwig Brehm

Christian Ludwig Brehm (24 January 1787 – 23 June 1864) was a German pastor and ornithologist. He was the father of the zoologist Alfred Brehm.^[1]

Christian Ludwig Brehm
Born	24 January 1787 Schönau, Margraviate of Baden, Holy Roman Empire
Died	23 June 1864 (1864-06-24) (aged 77) Renthendorf, Saxe-Altenburg
Education	University of Jena
Known for	Handbuch der Naturgeschichte aller Vögel Deutschlands
Children	Alfred Brehm
Scientific career
Fields	Ornithology
Author abbrev. (zoology)	C.L. Brehm

Stamps from the German Democratic Republic, 1989

Life

Brehm was born in Schönau near Gotha on 24 January 1787. He was educated at University of Jena to be ordained as minister at Renthendorf in 1813 where he remained until his death on 23 June 1864.^[2] He wrote Beiträge zur Vogelkunde (1820–22), which described 104 species of German birds in minute detail,^[3] and Handbuch der Naturgeschichte aller Vögel Deutschlands (1831) which described 900 bird species.^[2]

Brehm accumulated a collection of 15,000 birds until his death, which included samples from his son, Alfred Brehm. Alfred collected these birds from Sudan, Egypt, and throughout Europe.^[3] He offered these to the Berlin Zoological Museum in March 1835 because he feared that a storm would destroy his house, but the sale fell through.^[4] After his death, they remained in the attic of his house, where Otto Kleinschmidt discovered them some years later. Kleinschmidt persuaded Lord Rothschild to buy them in 1897; they consisted of 9,000 skins, and the collection arrived at his Natural History Museum at Tring in 1932. However, the collection returned to Germany, where it was moved to Museum Koenig, located in Bonn.^[5]

Works

• Beiträge zur Vogelkunde 3 Bde, ab Bd. 3 in collaboration with W. Schilling. Neustadt a. Orla 1820–1822.
• Lehrbuch der Naturgeschichte aller europäischen Vögel, 2 Bde. Jena 1823–1824
• Ornis oder das Neueste und Wichtigste der Vogelkunde. Jena 1824–1827, first ornithologic journal.
• Handbuch der Naturgeschichte aller Vögel Deutschlands. Ilmenau 1831.
• Handbuch für den Liebhaber der Stuben-, Haus- und aller der Zähmung werthen Vögel. Ilmenau 1832.
• Der Vogelfang. Leipzig 1836.
• Der vollständige Vogelfang.Weimar 1855.
• Die Kunst, Vögel als Bälge zu bereiten. Weimar 1842.
• Die Wartung, Pflege und Fortpflanzung der Canarienvögel. Weimar 1855, 2. ed. Weimar 1865, 3. ed. Weimar 1872, 4. ed. Weimar 1883, 5. ed.. Weimar 1893.
• Die Naturgeschichte und Zucht der Tauben. Weimar 1857.
• (with E. Baldamus, John Wilhelm von Müller & J. F. Naumann) Verzeichnis der Vögel Europa's. als Tausch-Catalog eingerichtet. Stuttgart 1852
• Monographie der Papageien oder vollständige Naturgeschichte aller bis jetzt bekannten Papageien mit getreuen und ausgemalten Abbildungen, im Vereine mit anderen Naturforscher herausgegeben von C.L. Brehm. Jena & Paris 1842–1855

See also

• Academy of Sciences Leopoldina

References

1. Troelstra, Anne S. (2017). Bibliography of Natural History Travel Narratives. BRILL. p. 79. ISBN 978-90-04-34378-8.
2. The English Cyclopaedia: Division. Biography. 6v. and Suppl. Bradbury, Evans. 1872. p. 312.
3. Bargheer, Stefan (2018). Moral Entanglements: Conserving Birds in Britain and Germany. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-226-54396-3.
4. The Ibis. British Ornithologists' Union. 1932. p. 315.
5. Stresemann, Erwin (1975). Ornithology from Aristotle to the Present. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. p. 258. ISBN 978-0-674-64485-4.

External links

• Website advertising the Brehm Memorial Center in Renthendorf, a museum in Brehm's home, and that of his family, including his son Alfred Brehm