Johann Friedrich Hartknoch

The first editions of Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason (1781) and Johann Gottfried Herder's Ideas upon Philosophy and the History of Mankind [de] (1784–1791) were published by Hartknoch, in addition to works by several other German-language authors.

[2] Tradition claims that it was philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder, a fellow student, who recommended Hartknoch to take up the book trade.

[3] In 1767 Hartknoch moved his business to Riga (at the time part of the Russian Empire), which was then the largest city of the Baltic region.

[3] His book trading and publishing business there developed into a centre for the publication of regional literature; he has been called "the first real bookseller in Livonia".

[2][4] It also served as an important intellectual bridge, providing German-language books Hartknoch brought from German cities like Leipzig and Berlin to the region and the wider Russian Empire.

[3] A catalogue of books sold by Hartknoch's firm published three years after his death (when his son was running the business) lists works not only in German but also in French, English and Spanish.

[1] Hartknoch also developed a network of representatives selling books from his firm in Tartu (Dorpat), Tallinn (Reval), Saaremaa (Ösel), Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

[2] Among the important German works published by Hartknoch can be noted the first editions of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason (1781) and Herder's Ideas upon Philosophy and the History of Mankind [de] (1784–1791).