Abafi-Aigner, Lajos (Ludwig Aigner)

Ludwig Aigner was born on the 11 February 1840 at Nagyjécsa, Torontál Shire, Transylvania, Hungary, now Romania. His family moved to Temesvár, a large town in Transylvania, where he received a formal education in commerce and begun his career as a book merchant. His family was of ethnic German stock and young Ludwig only learned Hungarian when, in 1858, they moved to Pozsony (now Bratislava and in the Slovak Republic), a large town with predominantly Hungarian inhabitants. From here he soon moved on to Pest (now Budapest) and in 1863, as it was the custom in those years, he wandered all over Austria and Germany. He completed his studies in Köln and Stuttgart before returning to Pest. He always had an interest in entomology and he became a keen amateur lepidopterologist. However, besides entomology, he had a great variety of other interests too, especially in the field of publishing, writing, historical research as well as aspirations in business. He found success in publishing and in...