own works, the Schulbuchhandlung became economically very successful, and in 1808 he handed it over to his son-in-law, Friedrich Vieweg. Intrigued by the political movements in France in 1789, Campe and his former pupil Wilhelm von Humboldt travelled to Paris. Campe witnessed the session of the assemblée nationale during which a majority verdict withdrew the privileges from the aristocratic and clerical estates. However, his sympathy for the French Revolution and his being granted honorary French citizenship in 1792 — along with, among others, George Washington and Friedrich Schiller — was not welcomed by many at home. In his last years, Campe devoted his time to the German language. His language purism is evident in for instance finding German terms for loanwords and the compilation of a German dictionary. For some this linguistic enterprise relates to Campe’s wish to enlighten the people and change society by focusing on words that the common people would understand; other biographers see the focus on the German language as a patriotic endeavour. He died, aged 72, in Braunschweig on 22 October 1818. Children's writer Campe is counted among the founding fathers of the modern genre of intentional or specific children’s and youth literature, along with the writers Christian Felix Weiße and Christian Gotthilf Salzmann. He created a series of works for children and adolescents that were each supposed to be educational, pleasant and directed at a specific age group. His publications ranged from alphabet books to a collection of translated and own travelogues, and to guidance or conduct books for boys and girls. Probably his best-known work is his Robinson der Jüngere (1779/80), a free adaptation of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) based on Rousseau's suggestions in his Émile. For Reinhard Stach, Robinson was Campe's fate, while for Winfred Kaminski it presents the peak of philanthropinist pedagogy. The book became very popular and was published more than a hundred times in the 19th century. It was translated into English as Robinson the Younger in 1781/82 and into many other European and non European languages. In many languages, it was the first published children's book. After Robinson, Campe published Die Entdeckung von Amerika (1781/82), which both marked the transition from children's to youth literature, while helping to define youth literature as a genre. Language purism Campe developed approx. 11,500 translations for foreign words, of which about 300 survived. They include: altertümlich (for antik) Erdgeschoss (Parterre) Esslust