Walter de Gruyter Publishers present this book on the occasion of their 250th anniversary. It is a chronological account of how five publishers became a one company. The publisher Georg Reimer had close connections with Berlin University and the Prussian Academy of Sciences. G.J. Goschen'sche Verlagshandlung was one of the great publishers of classics, issuing the first complete authorized edition of Goethe's works and also publishing the scholarly paperback series "Sammlung Goschen". Veit & Comp. issued scientific-medical books, such as "Dornbluth", precursor of the famous "Pschyrembel". I. Guttentag was one of the leading law publishers, whose name is still remembered in the series "Sammlung Guttentag". The publisher Karl I. Trubner's strengths were linguistics and the classics. "Kluges Etymologisches Worterbuch" is still one of Walter de Gruyter's flagships. In accordance with the 20th century entrepreneurial spirit Walter de Gruyter merged these publishers in 1919.

This collection is published on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of Walter de Gruyter Publishers. The de Gruyter archives of letters, a collection of valuable correspondence with authors, was arranged and enlarged by Otto Neuendorff, who died in 1989. Anne-Katrin Ziesak revised the work and Maria Berger compiled the index. The documents and their contents are described, together with biographical information on each author. The work is in alphabetical order, according to the names of the letter writers. Institutions were treated according to the rules of alphabetic cataloguing. Additional biographical information on the authors - as far as they could be identified - is given. In cases where the dating was unclear, the assumed dates are in brackets, followed by the number and dates of documents as well as their contents. Information about the dates and the recipients is also provided, followed by a short description of the contents. In conclusion, the signature and source of each documents is given. The index includes a list of the persons and the institutions involved and the works, all this material being cross-referenced.