Figure 1. 1888-1892 advertisements from Merker and Ebeling.
Ludwig Merker, 1856-1920
by Brian Stevenson
last updated August, 2018
Ludwig Merker was considered by contemporaries to be one of his era’s premier microscope manufacturers of Vienna, Austria, along with Carl Reichert.
Little is known of Merker’s personal life. He was reportedly born in Hanover, Saxony (Germany), in 1856. He served an optical manufacturing apprenticeship in Wetzlar, Hesse (Germany), after which he moved to Vienna to work for Reichert.
In 1886, Merker and another Reichert employee, Fritz Ebeling, left that company to establish their own microscope-making business. The pair split in 1892-93, each forming his own optical business. Ebeling retained the shop at Hernalser Gürtel, while Merker moved about 1 km away, to Buchfeldgasse. Shortly after the turn of the twentieth century, Merker relocated to Czermakgasse.
Merker died in 1920, but his microscope-making company persisted under other ownership until well into that century.
Figure 1.
1888-1892 advertisements from Merker and Ebeling.
Figure 2.
1893 advertisements from Ludwig Merker, after the breakup of the partnership. The left ad states that he was formerly of “L. Merker & Ebeling”. Merker’s shop was then located at Buchfeldgasse 19, on the corner with Florianigasse
Figure 3.
1894, advertisements from Ludwig Merker and Fritz Ebeling, that appeared on the same page of an issue of “Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift”. Note that the illustrated microscopes are identical, and are the same as shown in the partnership’s 1892 advertisement (see Figure 1).
Figure 4.
Later advertisements, indicating the move from Buchfeldgasse to Czermakgasse. The 1900 advertisement states that Merker’s products had been awarded three Diplomas of Honor and three Gold Medals.
Figure 5.
Illustrations of Merker’s microscopes from Wilhelm Kaiser’s “Die Technik des Modernen Mikroskopes” (1906 edition)
Figure 6.
A surviving Merker microscope, of the same pattern as illustrated in Figures 1-5. It is engraved with serial number 3187. The address of Buchfeldgasse 19 dates its production to between 1893 and ca. 1900. Adapted for nonprofit, educational purposes from an internet sale site.
Figure 7.
A Merker microscope with drawtube coarse focus and micrometer screw-parallel linkage fine focus. It is not marked with a serial number.
Figure 8.
Another Merker microscope with parallel-linkage fine focus, but with rack-and-pinion coarse focus. Adapted for nonprofit, educational purposes from an internet sale site.
Figure 9.
A Merker compound microscope, probably early 1900s. Adapted for nonprofit, educational purposes from an internet sale site.
Figure 10.
A mid-1900s Merker microscope, manufactured by Ludwig’s business heirs.
Resources
Baumgartner’s Jahresbericht (1893) Advertisement from Ludwig Merker
Deutsch, Harri (2009) Geschichte der Mikroskopie
Economic Survey of Germany: Foreign Office and Ministry of Economic Warfare, Economic Advisory Branch (1944) “Ludwig Merker Vienna Microscopes”, United Kingdom Foreign Office
Internationaler Congress für Hygiene und Demographie (1887) Description of entry of Merker and Ebeling, page 44
Journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club (1901) Review of Kaiser’s Die Technik des Moderne Mikroskopes, “The special feature of the work is the large amount of attention paid to the microscopes and accessories produced by the Viennese firms of Reichert, Merker, and Ebeling. It is, in fact, one of the principal objects of the book to lay stress upon the progress which has been made in the last twenty years in the manufacture of microscopes and lenses in Austria - that is, in Vienna, for no firms producing microscopes of any repute exist outside the capital”, Second series, Vol. 8, pages 82-83
Kaiser, Wilhelm (1906) Die Technik des Modernen Mikroskopes, third edition, Moritz Perles, Vienna, pages 85-95
Kelly's Manufacturers and Merchants Directory (1868) page 2844
Österreichische Wochenschrift für Tierheilkunde und Revue (1902) Advertisements from Ludwig Merker, Vol. 26
Schmitz, Emil-Heinz (1983) Handbuch zur Geschichte der Optik, page 181
Wiener Medizinische Blätter (1900) Advertisements from Ludwig Merker, Vol. 23
Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift (1893) Advertisements from Ludwig Merker, Vol. 6, numerous issues
Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift (1896) Advertisements from Ludwig Merker, Vol. 9, numerous issues
Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift (1892) Advertisements from Merker and Ebeling, Vol. 42
Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift (1894) Advertisements from Ludwig Merker and from Fritz Ebeling, Vol. 44, numerous issues
Zeitschrift des Allgemeinen Oesterreichischen Apotheker-Vereines (1888) Advertisement from Merker and Ebeling, Vol. 26
Zeitschrift des Allgemeinen Oesterreichischen Apotheker-Vereines (1890) Advertisement from Merker and Ebeling, Vol. 28
Zeitschrift des Allgemeinen Oesterreichischen Apotheker-Vereines (1900) Advertisements from Ludwig Merker, Vol. 38
Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Mikroskopie und für Mikroskopische Technik (1892) Advertisement from Merker and Ebeling, Vol. 9
Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Mikroskopie und für Mikroskopische Technik (1899) Advertisements from Ludwig Merker, Vol. 16, numerous issues