# Carl Otto Reventlow (1817-1873) and the history of the Major System
**URL:** https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/carl-otto-reventlow-1817-1873-and-the-history-of-the-major-system/75681
**Category:** General Memory Chat
**Tags:** major-system, history
**Created:** [August 5, 2022, 6:52pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/carl-otto-reventlow-1817-1873-and-the-history-of-the-major-system/75681 "2022-08-05T18:52:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@chrisaldrich](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/chrisaldrich)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2022, 6:52pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/carl-otto-reventlow-1817-1873-and-the-history-of-the-major-system/75681/1 "2022-08-05T18:52:33Z")
I was delving into the history of mnemonic techniques earlier hunting down some of the origins of the major system and ran across a reference to Reventlow from the late-1800s. He apparently borrowed much of his work from Aime Paris, but helped to popularize a variation of the method in Germany and Prague.
A sketch with some great references (in German) was already hiding on Wikipedia:
> **[Carl Otto Reventlow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Otto_Reventlow)**
>
> Carl Otto Reventlow (actually Karl \[Carl\] Christian Otto; 10 December 1817 in Store Heddinge – 19 April 1873) became notable as the developer of a mnemonic system. He took the nom de plume Reventlow to distinguish himself from journalists with the same family name. There is, despite a personal acquaintance to some members to the Reventlow family of old Holstein-Mecklenburg nobility through his studies at university of Kiel, no family relation.
> Otto took up studies in philology at the University...
Bonus points for anyone who can track down a digital edition of his 1843 textbook.
---
### Author:  [@Readerly](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Readerly)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2022, 7:03pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/carl-otto-reventlow-1817-1873-and-the-history-of-the-major-system/75681/2 "2022-08-05T19:03:31Z")
Like many old mnemonic books, it seems to be provided for free: [Lehrbuch der Mnemotechnik: nach einem durchaus neuen auf das Positive aller ... - Carl Otto - Google Books](https://books.google.com/books/about/Lehrbuch_der_Mnemotechnik_nach_einem_dur.html?id=pBpQAAAAcAAJ&hl=en&output=html_text)
---
### Author:  [@bjoern.gumboldt](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/bjoern.gumboldt)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2022, 9:48am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/carl-otto-reventlow-1817-1873-and-the-history-of-the-major-system/75681/3 "2022-08-06T09:48:43Z")
> [@chrisaldrich](#):
>
> helped to popularize a variation of the method in **Germany** and **Prague**.
Isn’t that a bit redundant? It’s like saying in the **US** and **Los Angeles** …
---
### Author:  [@Mikester](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Mikester)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2022, 1:36pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/carl-otto-reventlow-1817-1873-and-the-history-of-the-major-system/75681/4 "2022-08-12T13:36:41Z")
Thank you for the information.