Johann Heinrich Rother and Johann Christoph Gottsched have also been suggested as possible collaborators, though both denied it. The "Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon" is sometimes considered the first modern encyclopedia in the German language. At the time, it was the largest printed encyclopedia in the Western world, and it remains one of the largest. It was originally supposed to be printed in about 12 volumes, an estimate later extended to 24, but it was finally printed in 64 volumes plus four supplements, with about 284,000 articles on 63,000 two-column pages. Ludovici had even intended to write a further four supplements. Initial production was funded through subscription, where buyers paid in advance and received a discount on the volume that was later delivered. The pressrun of the "Universal Lexicon" was undoubtedly small. Scholars have estimated that only around 1500 sets were printed. Zedler arranged to have the encyclopedia printed in the Halle Waisenhaus ("orphanage"), not far from Leipzig. This printshop belonged to August Hermann Francke's Francke Foundations. Later, between 1961 and 1964, the book was republished in Graz, Austria. The Bavarian State Library's digitisation center in Munich ("Münchener Digitalisierungszentrum", MDZ) has digitized the encyclopedia completely, including the four supplements, in the form of images and PDF files. The 68 volumes have an index and readers can browse through the pages.  • (de) Werner Raupp: Zedler, Johann Heinrich, in: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon, vol. 26, Nordhausen 2006, col. 1576–1588 (with detailed bibliography).