author
J. (Jakob) Schipper
1842–1915
A pioneering scholar of English language and literature in Vienna, he helped shape the study of Old and Middle English and became especially known for his work on English verse and meter. His career linked German and Austrian scholarship with the wider world of English philology.
1 Audiobook
A History of English Versification
by J. (Jakob) Schipper
About the author
Born on July 19, 1842, in Friedrich-Augustengroden in Oldenburg, Jakob Schipper became a German-Austrian philologist and one of the early major figures in English studies in Central Europe. He studied in Heidelberg, Bonn, and Oxford, an international education that helped steer him toward the close study of English language history and literature.
Schipper spent most of his academic career at the University of Vienna, where he became the first professor of English philology. He also served in leading university roles, including dean and later rector, showing how important he had become in Vienna's intellectual life.
His scholarship focused on Old and Middle English, English metrics, and the history of English poetry. He is especially remembered for foundational work on English versification and for contributing to the revision of Joseph Bosworth's Anglo-Saxon dictionary. Schipper died in Vienna on January 20, 1915.