German philologist; born Dec. 14, 1807, at Hamburg; died there Aug. 19, 1888; studied philology at the universities of Bonn and Berlin (Ph.D. 1830). Appointed registrar of the city library of Hamburg in 1832, he thenceforward remained identified with that institution, being appointed secretary in 1851, superintendent in 1873, and director in 1878. The last-named post he held until his retirement in 1883. He was actively interested in Jewish matters, and was one of the first to advocate (in the "Allg. Zeit. des Jud.") the establishment of rabbinical seminaries.
Isler was the author of "Qu�stionum Hesiodiarum Specimen," Berlin, 1830; and he edited the following works: B. G. Niebuhr's "Vortr�ge �ber R�mische Gesch." ib. 1846-48; the same author's "Vortr�ge �ber Alte L�nder-und V�lkerkunde," ib. 1851; "Excerpta ex P. Ovidii Nasonis Carminibus," Edinburgh, 1851; "Eclog� Ovidian�," Hamburg, 1853; "Verhandlungen der F�nfzehnten Versammlung Deutscher Philologen, Schulm�nner, und Orientalisten zu Hamburg, 1-4 Oct., 1855," Hamburg, 1856; Gabriel Riesser's "Gesammelte Schriften," 4 vols., Frankfort-on-the-Main and Leipsic, 1867-68.