Books in Germany

As of 2018, ten firms in Germany rank among the world's biggest publishers of books in terms of revenue: C.H. Beck, Bertelsmann, Cornelsen Verlag, Haufe-Gruppe, Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, Ernst Klett Verlag, Springer Nature, Thieme, WEKA Holding, and Westermann Druck- und Verlagsgruppe.[1][note 1] Overall, "Germany has some 2,000 publishing houses, and more than 90,000 titles reach the public each year, a production surpassed only by the United States."[4] Unlike many other countries, "book publishing is not centered in a single city but is concentrated fairly evenly in Berlin, Hamburg, and the regional metropolises of Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Munich."[4]

History

In the 1450s in Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg printed a Bible using movable metal type, a technique that quickly spread to other German towns and throughout Europe.[5]

In the 1930s Nazis conducted book burnings, over 25,000 books were burned in at least 34 cities. These books included works by Jewish authors, American authors, and other opponents of Nazism.[6][7][8]

German publishers issued around 61,000 book titles in 1990, and around 83,000 in 2000.[9]

Recent historians of the book in Germany include Bernhard Fabian and Paul Raabe.[10]

Fairs

The influential Frankfurt Book Fair began in 1454, and the Leipzig Book Fair in 1632.

Collections

Outside of Germany, collections of German books include those stored in the UK at the British Library[11] and London Library;[12] in the US at Harvard University[13] and Yale University.[14]

In 2006 a temporary sculpture about German book history was installed at Bebelplatz in Berlin as part of the Walk of Ideas.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Of these, several also topped the list in 2016 and 2017.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ "The World's 54 Largest Publishers, 2018", Publishers Weekly, vol. 265, no. 38, US, 14 September 2018
  2. ^ "World's 52 Largest Book Publishers, 2016", Publishers Weekly, US, 26 August 2016
  3. ^ "World's 54 Largest Publishers, 2017", Publishers Weekly, US, 25 August 2017
  4. ^ a b "Germany: Media and Publishing". Britannica.com. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  5. ^ Proctor 1898.
  6. ^ "Nazi Book Burnings | Holocaust Encyclopedia". Holocaust Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 2026-01-10. Retrieved 2026-02-01.
  7. ^ "Book Burnings Across Germany (1933)". German History in Documents and Images. Retrieved 2026-02-01.
  8. ^ "Book Burnings in Germany, 1933 | American Experience | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2026-02-01.
  9. ^ Euromedia 2004.
  10. ^ Raven, James (2018). What is the History of the Book?. Cambridge, England: Polity Press. ISBN 9780745641614.
  11. ^ "German Printed Collections, 1501-1850". Help for Researchers. UK: British Library. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  12. ^ "Guide to German Collections" (PDF). UK: London Library. Retrieved 8 December 2017. (Describes German-language holdings)
  13. ^ James Walsh (1985). "Twenty Years of German Collection Building, 1966-1986". Harvard Library Bulletin. 33. US. ISSN 0017-8136. + Wieck, Roger (1981). "Exhibition of German Illustrated Books from the Sixteenth Century". Harvard Library Bulletin. 29. Free access icon
  14. ^ "Collections: German Literature". US: Yale University Library. Retrieved 8 December 2017.

Bibliography

in English

in German

  • Allgemeines Bücher-Lexicon [General Book List] (in German), Heinsius, 1793–1798, OCLC 491343885
  • Verzeichniß neuer Bücher [Directory of New Books] (in German), Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1794–1822, OCLC 894883757
  • Christian Gottlob Kayser [in Italian] (1834–1911), Vollständiges Bücher-Lexicon [Complete Book List] (in German), OCLC 496011129
  • "Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens" [Archive for the History of the Book], Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens Agb (in German), ISSN 0066-6327 1958-
  • Reinhard Wittmann [in German] (1991). Geschichte des deutschen Buchhandels: ein Uberblick [History of the German Book Trade: an Overview] (in German). C.H. Beck. ISBN 3406354254.
  • Jäger, Georg (2013-02-07). Geschichte des deutschen Buchhandels im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert [History of the German book trade in the 19th and 20th centuries] (in German). Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-095617-7. Multiple volumes, 2001-

Filmography

  • How to Make a Book with Steidl, 2010; about Steidl publisher in Göttingen

Images