Samuel Orgelbrand

Samuel Orgelbrand (1810 – 16 November 1868) was a Polish-Jewish printer, bookseller, and publisher. He is best known as the initiator, organizer, and publisher of the Encyklopedia Powszechna (Universal Encyclopedia), or "Orgelbrand's Encyclopedia", the first modern Polish encyclopedia.

Biography

Samuel Orgelbrand was born in 1810 in Warsaw. He attended the State Rabbinical School (Rządowa Szkoła Rabinów) in the years 1826–1830. It is regarded as the first modern Polish encyclopedia. The work on the encyclopedia was continued by his sons, Hipolit Orgelbrand and Mieczysław Hipolit, who published two abridged editions in 1872-1876 and 1879. He reaped significant profits by publishing Jewish titles in Congress Poland, which had fewer restrictions than the Russian Empire yet maintained favorable trade agreements with the latter.

Other activities Orgelbrand was a member of the board of executives for both the Jewish community administration and the Jewish hospital of Warsaw.

He died in 1868 in Warsaw.