Druckerei J. J. Augustin

Druckerei J. J. Augustin is a traditional printing house located in central Glückstadt that operated as a working print shop for centuries. The building contains original printing equipment and machinery from different periods, displaying the craftsmanship that characterized this historical workshop.

The printing house was founded in 1632 by Andreas Koch with royal approval from King Christian IV of Denmark. The operation passed to the Augustin family in 1775, who took over its management and gave it their name.

The printing house became known for producing texts in Asian scripts and Egyptian hieroglyphs through its partnership with the Hamburg Colonial Institute in the early 20th century. This specialized work made it a notable place for handling rare and non-European writing systems in the region.

The printing house is centrally located in Glückstadt and easily accessible on foot, making it straightforward to explore the historical equipment and workshop layout. Visitors can take time to examine the different machines and their functions arranged throughout the workspace.

The printing house developed the Chinese Circle system, an innovative method for reorganizing Chinese characters to enable efficient typesetting. This system made complex multilingual printing projects technically possible that would have been otherwise unachievable.

Location: Glückstadt

Inception: 1632

Founders: J.J. Augustin

Address: Am Fleth 36 – 36a

GPS coordinates: 53.78937,9.42037

Latest update: December 14, 2025 12:22