Joseph Meyer launched 'Meyers Universum' and his 'Conversations-Lexikon' in Hildburghausen, Germany. Meyer employed an innovative subscription model that allowed lower-income families to purchase encyclopedia volumes over an extended period. His editorial style was distinctively progressive, incorporating radical political commentary that supported democratic governance, freedom of the press, and social equality, which frequently drew the ire of conservative state censors.

Meyer's politically progressive encyclopedia provided an intellectual foundation for the radical German poets of the Vormärz movement. Writers like Georg Herwegh used its political entries to craft polemical verse calling for democratic reform during the Revolutions of 1848.