Martin Bodmer
Swiss academic (1899-1971)
Martin Bodmer (13 November 1899 – 22 March 1971) was a Swiss bibliophile, scholar and book collector who was most prominent for his vast collection of world literature which is currently housed at Bodmer Library in Cologny, Switzerland.
Early life and education
Bodmer was born 13 November 1899 in Zurich, Switzerland, the youngest of five children, to Hans Conrad Bodmer (1851–1916), an industrialist, and Mathilde Wilhelmine "Tilly" Bodmer (née Zoelly; 1866–1926), into an affluent family. His siblings were; Helene Bertha Elisabeth von Schulthess-Rechberg (née Bodmer; 1888–1970), Henry Bodmer (1889–1947), Anna Barbara Elisabeth Bodmer (1890–1897) and Hans Conrad Ferdinand Bodmer (1891–1956).
His father belonged to a well established bourgeois family from Zurich. He was an industrialist, businessman, philanthropist and most notably Belgian consul, who left a large fortune upon his death. His mother ran a literary salon which was frequented by Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Paul Valéry, a friend of the family.
In 1918, Bodmer began studying German language at the University of Zurich and spent a semester at the University of Heidelberg where he took a course from Friedrich Gundolf. Eventually, he gave up his studies and took a trip to United States and Paris. He studied a few semesters of philosophy and in 1921 he founded the Gottfried Keller Prize, a renowned Swiss literary award.
Career
In 1930 he founded the bimonthly "Corona," which was published until 1943 in Munich.
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