Editing Johann Heinrich Zedler (section)

==Early years==
[[File:Zedler - Bethesda Portuosa (Titel).jpg|195px|thumb|Early works published by Zedler]]

Johann Heinrich Zedler was born in 1706 in [[Breslau]], the son of a shoemaker, and presumably did not have higher secondary education – if he attended school at all.{{sfn|Quedenbaum|1977|p=13}}
He was an apprentice with the Breslau booksellers Brachvogel, then moved to the company of the [[Hamburg]] bookseller and publisher Theodor Christoph Felginer.  In 1726 he moved to the [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxon]] town of Freiberg, and in September that year married Christiana Dorothea Richter (1695–1755), sister of publisher David Richter and daughter of a reputable merchant in the city, who was eleven years his elder.  He used his wife's dowry to open a bookshop in Freiberg.{{sfn|Gross Lexicon - Zedler|1749|pp=309-311}}  Zedler only stayed in Freiberg for a short time since the mining town did not provide a sufficient market for books.{{sfn|Quedenbaum|1977|p=15}}