Johann Gottfried Dyck

Dyck was born on 24 April 1750 in Leipzig, the son of a publisher.

During his studies, he became friends with the poet, Johann Benjamin Michaelis.

He himself wrote a number of plays, made stage arrangements and translated various works from French and Italian that appeared in his bookshop, for example, his Sammlungen Komisches Theater der Franzosen für die Deutschen ("Collections of the French Comic Theatre for the Germans", 10 volumes 1777–1785) and Nebentheater.

Around 1783, he took over the editing of the literary newspaper Neue Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften und freyen Künste ("New Library of the Beautiful Sciences and Free Arts"), which had been published by his own publishing house since 1757.

Since he also headed the Wendlerische Freischule, he also published educational and historical treatises.