Joseph William Zaehnsdorf

Joseph Zaehnsdorf (27 February 1816 – 7 November 1886), was a bookbinder. Zaehnsdorf was the son of Gottlieb Zaehnsdorf, of Pesth in Austria-Hungary, where he was born and educated. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to Herr Knipe, a bookbinder of Stuttgart, with whom he remained five years, afterwards proceeding to Vienna, where he worked in the shop of Herr Stephan, a bookbinder in a large way of business. He left Vienna about 1836, and successively visited Zürich, Freiburg, Baden-Baden, and Paris. In 1837 he came to London, and obtained employment in the establishment of Messrs Wesley & Co., Friar Street, Doctors' Commons, for whom he worked three years. He afterwards entered the shop of Mr Mackenzie, a binder of considerable eminence, and there he remained until 1844, when he commenced business on his own account at 2 Wilson Street, removing in 1856 to 30 Brydges Street, Covent Garden, afterwards called 36 Catherine Street. Zaehnsdorf became a naturalised British subject in 1855, and died at 14 York Street, Covent Garden, on 7 December 1886.