Wilhelm Scherer practiced philology and literary criticism as two successive occupations. He was extremely successful, respected, and influential in his pursuit of linguistic interests; when he left Vienna for Strasbourg in 1872, literary criticism emerged as his primary concern and remained the center of his professional life until his death in 1886. Scherer's lasting influence is based on two important works, one from each field: Zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache (On the History of the German Language, 1868) and Geschichte der deutschen Literatur (1883; translated as A History of German Literature, 1886).

Scherer was born on 26 April 1841 in Schönborn, Austria, near Vienna, to Wilhelm and Anna Scherer, née Rieck. His father, who was an administrator in the employ of the count of Schönborn, died when Scherer was four. Hardship for the family was avoided by his mother's marriage to an economist, A. Stadler, a friend of her...