Fontshift

Festshift 1895.

Festshrift ^[1] (from German Festschrift - “holiday composition”) is a collection written in honor of a person, most often in honor of a scientist.

The authors are usually students and colleagues of the addressee of the festival, and the editors are two or three of his best graduate students ^[2] . As noted by the American sociologist , fest fonts are not only a way to show recognition to the addressee, but also a way to distinguish oneself and sometimes publish what is not published elsewhere; due to this, fest fonts rarely turn out to be successful books ^[3] .

Initially, the fonts appeared in Germany , and at the beginning of the 20th century these were publications in recognition of the high merit of a person, usually in physics or the sciences of the language . In addition, German festival fonts served as a way to review achievements and make predictions in a certain field - more informally than what was usually published in peer-reviewed journals ^[2] .

During the time of Nazi Germany, many German Jewish scholars moved to the United States and brought along the tradition of issuing fest fonts. At the same time, fest fonts spread to other areas - for example, in the humanities and philosophy - and became somewhat less valuable - they were printed in honor of less honored scientists, at an earlier age, sometimes even several pieces per person ^[2] .