Maximilianus Hell (1720-1792) - Munin

was in any case insufficient to finance the entire Academy. It was the second and probably
most substantial source of income, the calendars, that in the end toppled the entire project.
Throughout the early modern period, calendars (almanacs) were ‘big business’. You needed a
privilegium to be allowed to publish them. In Vienna, these privilegia were bought from the
state and issued at ten-year intervals. But from now on, the court astronomer proposed, no
new privilegia should be issued without the consent of the Calendar Commision, whose
director was to remain none other than Maximilianus Hell. Better control with the contents of
the calendars was to be one positive outcome of this arrangement – considerable income for
the Academy, another. This deal would not be unique in eighteenth-century Europe. In
Sweden, Hell’s colleagues had secured income for the Academy of Sciences in Stockholm in
exactly the same manner. 275 However, given the large sums involved in the trade of calendars,
Hell was soon up against mighty forces. The publisher of the Ephemerides Astronomicae of
Hell, Joannes Thomas de Trattner (1719-1798), was also the publisher of several other
calendars throughout the Habsburg lands. Arguably, he was the most successful book dealer
in this period of Austrian history. 276 His intervention in Hell’s academy plans is described in
various sources. In a letter to Weiss in Tyrnavia, dated Vienna 27 January 1775, Hell
apologises that the Ephemerides for that year had been delayed. The cause for the delay,
however, was not his responsibility: 277
The Ephemerides, which were finished at the end of the year, I have not yet
been able to acquire from Trattner despite repeated requests. I suspect that he
has deliberately chosen to cause me this bother because he has learnt of the
Imperial decree, by which all the calendars that used to be printed throughout
the hereditary lands have now been earmarked to finance the Academy of
Sciences that is to be established here in Vienna. In this way, he has been
bereaved of an income of thousands of florints. As soon as I receive these
Ephemerides, I will send a copy to my Highly Honourable Mister Colleague
[i.e., Weiss] in Tyrnavia.
275 Lindroth 1967, vol. I:1, pp. 102-110.
276 See for example Frank & Frimmel 2008, pp. 198-200.
277 Hell to Weiss in Tyrnavia, dated Vienna 27 January 1775 (Vargha priv.): “Ephemerides, quæ in fine anni
paratæ erant, ipse à Trattnero ad iteratas petitiones nondum obtinere potui; suspicor hanc mihi molestiam creare
velle, cum intellexerit Decreto Cæsareo calendaria per omnes Ditiones hæreditarias imprimi solita, Academiæ
scientiarum hic Viennæ erigendæ pro fundo assignata esse, atque hac de Causa aliquot millium florenorum
proventum, sibi ademptum esse; ut primum autem Ephemerides has obtinuero, Exemplar pro more Adm. R. D.
Collegæ Tyrnaviam mittam.”
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