Menke studied
theology and
philology at the
University of Bonn, and in 1842 received his doctorate at
Halle with a dissertation on ancient
Lydia. Afterwards, he worked as a school teacher in Bremen, but soon became dis-satisfied with this line of work, and undertook legal studies in
Berlin and
Heidelberg. After attaining his degree, he practiced law in
Bremen, and later
Vegesack. Throughout his life, Menke had an avid interest in
geography, and via contact with Wilhelm Perthes (1783–1853) of the
Justus Perthes Geographische Anstalt in
Gotha, in the centre of Germany, his primary vocational focus turned to editing and producing geographical atlases. In 1865, he published the third edition of
Karl Spruner von Merz'
Atlas Antiquus, and later produced the heavily revised third edition of Spruner's atlas of
medieval and modern history,
Hand-Atlas für die Geschichte des Mittelalters und der neueren Zeit (1871–1880). Menke, a corresponding member of the
Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities since 1877, died in Gotha on 14 May 1892. The island group
Menkeøyane in the
Svalbard archipelago is named in his honour. == References ==