The firm was founded by Carl Friedrich Meusel in 1837 in Weissenfels (Sachsen-Anhalt). Meusel sold the company to Carl Wilelm Merseburger (1816-85) in 1849 and the firm was relocated to Leipzig. Otto Merseburger, Carl's brother took over in 1888, then on his death in 1898 two cousins Georg and Max were in charge. Max retired in 1918, leaving Georg as the director. A dispute in 1936-38 led to two firms continuing: Carl Merseburger led by Feilix Meinem and Georg Merseburger led by Georg.
The large catalog (HMB lists over 1000 works between 1840 and 1900) included solo and male voice chorus songs, but was mainly of short domestic works: for piano by Chwatal, Klauwell, Kohler and Oesten, flute- Schwedler, Goepfart, Tillmetz, viola- Ritter, violin- R. Hofmann, cello- Radecki and harp- Schuëcker, Snoer and Nadermann.
During World War II the company's plant, equipment, and archives were destroyed. After the war the firm was reborn in Berlin as Edition Merseburger focusing on music for the church. In 1955 Adolf Strube acquired the company. In 1972 Wolfgang Matthei took over control of the firm and moved the company to Kassel in 1974. The company has published educational music, Protestant church music, and periodicals (Euterpe 1851-1894, Der Kirchenmusiker 1950-).
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Merseburger's plate numbers are in the format of C.M. #### (or C. #### M.) although some imprints below 1000 do appear without the prefix. Dates in italics are estimated. The failure for plate numbers to adhere to a proper chronology appears to result from Merseburger's use of two different engravers (Benicke and Brandstetter).
