Gaedertz, Karl Theodor, 1855-1912

Karl Theodor Gaedertz (8 January 1855 in Lübeck – 8 July 1912 in Berlin) was a German librarian and literary historian, best known for his writings on the Low German author Fritz Reuter. From 1876 to 1879 he studied at the universities of Leipzig and Berlin, then later worked as a librarian at the Königliche Bibliothek in Berlin. In 1888 he found a notebook copied from Shakespearian times, showing the layout of an Elizabethan playhouse in London. This represents the only known depiction of the internal layout of a London theatre and is much prized by the Globe. From 1900 to 1905 he was head librarian at the Greifswald University Library. In 1909 he returned to Berlin, where he died on 8 July 1912.