Damen Conversations Lexikon

The Damen Conversations Lexikon is a 10-volume Konversationslexikon (de; a type of dictionary, with encyclopedic explanations) from the 19th century, which at the time of publication was aimed primarily at German women of the bourgeoisie who were interested in education.

At the beginning of the 1830s, the German book market offered around 50 encyclopaedic works that dealt with a wide range of special subjects and were aimed at different target groups.

For example, there was the Große Conversations-Lexikon by Joseph Meyer, which was aimed at the educated classes and was distributed in individual volumes.

The writer Carl Herloßsohn, who came from a poor background, relied on a similar concept by starting to publish the Damen Conversations Lexikon in 1834.

[3] In 1856, the work Neuestes Damen-Conversations-Lexikon: ein Inbegriff des Gesammtwissens für die Frauenwelt appeared, which was also printed in Leipzig and aimed at the same target group.