The handbook was founded in 1953 by
Wilhelm Kosch and was continued from the third volume by
Hanspeter Bennwitz and Ingrid Bigler-Marschall. From 1953 to 2012, seven volumes were published (from Vol. 1:
A-Hurk to Vol. 7:
Wolbring-Zysset), plus three supplementary volumes since 2012 (as of November 2015). Until the second volume, the work was published by Kleinmayr (Klagenfurt and Vienna). The following volumes were published by Verlag Francke in Bern and Verlag Saur in Zurich and Munich. == Published volumes ==