Publicist Mihael Kunić slabo je poznat hrvatskoj kulturnoj javnosti. Podrijetlom Slovak, zanimanjem umirovljeni pedagog i školski nadzornik u zemljama Habsburške Monarhije, u Hrvatskoj je boravio u posljednjem dijelu svoga života te je, aktivno sudjelujući u društvenom životu Zagreba, Karlovca, Varaždina, ali i u ladanjskom životu hrvatskoga plemstva, osobito u Slavoniji, zabilježio brojne zanimljivosti, danas vrijedne za poznavanje građanske kulture u prvim desetljećima XIX. st. Iz razdoblja njegova života prije dolaska u hrvatske zemlje potječu brojni njegovi radovi na njemačkom jeziku s područja pedagogije, lingvistike, povijesti i hortikulture, a slijedeći i razrađujući vlastitu biografsku metodu, Kunić je i u europskim razmjerima ostvario velik leksikografski pothvat, objavivši višesveščani biografski leksikon znamenitih ljudi Habsburške Monarhije Biographien merkwürdiger Männer der Österreichischen Monarchi e (1805–12). U domaćoj literaturi uglavnom su poznate njegove povijesno-topografske studije i radovi o građanskim, plemićkim i javnim perivojima i parkovnoj arhitekturi, kojima je znatno pridonio poznavanju povijesti vrtne umjetnosti i kulturnih prilika u Hrvatskoj na početku XIX. st., a osim njih, u skladu s prosvjetiteljskim nastojanjima da se opišu životi osoba koje djeluju za opće dobro, objavio je i niz biografskih priloga o istaknutim osobama pretpreporodne Hrvatske i brojne prigodne pjesme kojima je obilježio razna javna i privatna događanja. U radu se, uz povijesni pregled razvoja hrvatske biografistike, razmatraju kriteriji odabira obrađenih osoba u Kunićevu opusu, motivi i okolnosti njegova djelovanja te njegov prinos razvoju ove discipline, s naglaskom na biografiju Josipa Sermagea, u kojoj opisuje svoje metodološke postupke, i krug osoba povezanih sa zagrebačkim Kaptolom kao dijela građanskoga sloja u nastajanju. Publicist Mihovil Kunić is little known to the Croatian cultural public. Of Slovak origin, by profession a retired educator and school supervisor in the countries of the Habsburg Monarchy, he resided in Croatia in the latter part of his life, actively participating in the social life of Zagreb, Karlovac, and Varaždin, as well as in the country life of the Croatian nobility, especially in Slavonia. He documented numerous interesting facts, now valuable for understanding bourgeois culture in the early decades of the 19th century. Many of his works in the German language on pedagogy, linguistics, history, and horticulture date back to the period before his arrival to the Croatian lands. Following and developing his own biographical method, Kunić achieved a significant lexicographic endeavour on a European scale by publishing a multi-volume biographical dictionary of notable individuals of the Habsburg Monarchy, Biographien merkwürdiger Männer der Österreichischen Monarchie (1805–1812). In Croatian literature, he is mostly known for his historical-topographical studies, along with his works on civic, noble, and public gardens and park architecture, which significantly contributed to the understanding of the history of garden art and cultural conditions in Croatia at the beginning of the 19th century. In line with the Enlightenment efforts to describe the lives of individuals working for the common good, he also published a series of biographical articles on prominent figures of pre-Illyrian Croatia and numerous occasional poems marking various public and private events. The paper provides a historical overview of the development of Croatian biographical studies, discusses the criteria for selecting individuals in Kunić’s opus, the motives and circumstances of his activities, and his contribution to the development of this discipline, with a focus on the biography of Josip Sermage, in which he described his methodological approaches, and the circle of individuals associated with the Zagreb Chapter as part of the emerging bourgeois class.