Das Pfennig-Magazin

The Pfennig-Magazin (Penny Magazine), produced jointly with the "Society for disseminating shared practical knowledge" ("Gesellschaft zur Verbreitung gemeinnütziger Kenntnisse") was the first weekly German-language journal for sharing popular scientific and other knowledge by combining text with images.

[1] Editorial control was under the book dealer (later also a publisher) Johann Jacob Weber [de] who after 1843 set up the Illustrirte Zeitung which took forward several of the ideas pioneered with the Pfennig-Magazin.

All publications up to twenty printed pages had to be submitted to the censor, and incurred a stamp tax which was calibrated so as to limit discussion of political matters as far as possible.

The journal carried beneath its main title the sub-title "für Belehrung und Unterhaltung" ("For instruction and entertainment").

("We believe it is axiomatic that the objective of our magazine, to disseminate shared practical knowledge, must be broadened, so that it no longer crudely didactic, but also enhances the entertainment side of things.")