He studied oriental philology at the University of Greifswald (1846–48, 1849–50) as a student of Johann Gottfried Ludwig Kosegarten and at the University of Göttingen (1848–49) under Heinrich Ewald.

After graduation, he spent several years studying Arab manuscripts in libraries at Gotha and Paris.

In 1856 he began work as an assistant librarian at Greifswald, obtaining his habilitation during the following year.

[1] His main work was the masterful Verzeichnis der arabischen Handschriften (1887–1899), a 10 volume catalogue of Arabic manuscripts kept at the Royal Library of Berlin.

[2] As a dedication to the 400 year jubilee of the university at Greifswald (1856), he published Über Poesie und Poetik der Araber ("On Poetry and Poetics of the Arabs").