The Kürschners Deutscher Literatur-Kalender is a reference work that currently contains around 12,000 bio-bibliographic articles and addresses of writers of German literature, as well as translators, publishers, agencies, radio stations, writers' associations, academies, literary magazines and feuilletons, literary prizes and awards in the German-speaking countries.
The compendium, constituted in 1879 by Heinrich and Julius Hart, was resumed in 1883 by Joseph Kürschner, who, with strategic and economic foresight, expanded it by introducing a questionnaire for authors, expanded the content from a list of 1260 writers to around 16,000 entries (in the 10th year) and made it a popular and comprehensive reference work.
After Kürschner’s death in 1902 the calendar was continued by numerous editors, among them in the beginning Hermann Hillger, Heinrich Klenz, Gerhard Lüdtke, Erich Neuner or Hans Strodel, in the spirit of its origins.
Due to the abundance of material, Kürschners Deutscher Gelehrten-Kalender was published as a separate work from 1925 and soon outreached the extent of its older counterpart.
During the National Socialist regime the editor had to bow to the requirement of publishing only entries about members of the Reichsschrifttumkammer (Reich literature chamber).
"When the specialist in German studies, magazine editor and theatre critic Joseph Kürschner, a very ambitious personality, took over the Literaturkalender from its founders Heinrich and Julius Hart in its fifth year in 1883, it was a slim duodecimo book without any economical success.