The selected texts are arranged systematically in order to show the new constitution of history in the Late Enlightenment made up of various traditions of reflecting on the theory of history. The introduction to the edition provides an overview of the historiography and the history of the German Enlightenment, thus giving a systematic introduction to the texts and attempting to explain the development and the structure of the history of the German Enlightenment. Two appendixes, lists of the professorships of history and of lectures on history document important source material which up to now has hardly been available. There are detailed annotations and a separate chapter on the life and work of each individual author along with the most important primary and secondary literature. There is a bibliography on the theory of history and the theory of historiography in the Late Enlightenment as well as a detailed index of persons at the end of the work.