AQ - Book Trade and Publishing

2006

AQ — Book Trade and Publishing

Wissenschaft und Markt um 1900: das Verlagsunternehmen Walter de Gruyters im literarischen Feld der Jahrhundertwende [Scholarship and the Market in 1900: The Walter de Gruyter Publishing Company in the Literary Landscape of the Turn of the Century]. Helen Müller. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 2004. 245 p. ill. 23 cm. (Studien und Texte zur Sozialgeschichte der Literatur, 104). ISBN 3-484-35104-7: EUR 58 [06-1-020]

Previously issued as Dr. Müller’s Ph.D. dissertation (Frankfurt/Oder, 2001), this important history of the publishing company Walter de Gruyter and its numerous predecessors is primarily a cultural and economic study of the relationship between the publishing industry and academic scholarship at the beginning of the 20th century; it is not a biographical study of Mr. de Gruyter. The reader is also referred to the catalog of the 250th jubilee exhibit, “Der Verlag Walter de Gruyter 1749-1999” [The Walter de Gruyter Publishing House] in the Berlin State Library, Haus Unter den Linden, 30. Sept.-20. Nov. 1999 (the exhibit catalog was reviewed in IFB 99-1/4-113).

The author has drawn on important archival material from this publishing company that was only made available in 1999. Brief studies of two other important publishing companies of the same period help to illustrate the unique role played by the publisher Walter de Gruyter. [rf/ldl]

Paul-Cassirer-Verlag: Berlin 1898-1933, eine kommentierte Bibliographie; Bruno- und Paul-Cassirer-Verlag 1898-1901; Paul-Cassirer-Verlag 1908-1933 [Paul-Cassirer-Publishing Company: Berlin 1898-1933, an Annotated Bibliography; Bruno-und Paul-Cassirer-Publishing Company 1898-1901; Paul-Cassirer-Publishing Company 1908-1933]. Rahel E. Feilchenfeldt and Markus Brandis. 2d rev. and corrected ed. München: Saur, 2005. 615 p. ill. 25 cm. ISBN 3-598-11711-6: EUR 128 [06-2-191]

Ein Fest der Künste—Paul Cassirer: Der Kunsthändler als Verleger [A Festival of the Arts—Paul Cassirer: The Art Dealer as Publisher]. Ed. Rahel E. Feilchenfeldt and Thomas Raff. 2d ed. München: Beck, 2006. 423 p. ill. 24 cm. ISBN 978-3-406-54086-8; ISBN 3-406-54086-4: EUR 29.90 [06-2-192]

Paul Cassirers Welt [Paul Cassirer’s World]. Antiquariat Abaton. München: Antiquariat Abaton, 2006. 215 p. ill. 24 cm. (Katalog. Antiquariat Abaton, 1). EUR 10 (E-mail: info@antiquariat-abaton.de) [06-2-193]

The art dealer, publisher, and patron Paul Cassirer (1891-1926) opened a gallery and publishing house with his cousin Bruno Cassirer in Berlin in 1898. At first they dealt in original graphics and graphic representations of art historical value but soon turned to contemporary and even controversial authors. In 1901 their partnership ended over an argument, and until 1908 Bruno ran the publishing house and Paul limited himself to his art dealership. In 1908 Paul established a publishing house together with the handpress called “Panpress.” In 1926 Paul committed suicide, leaving his publishing house to his partners Walther Feilchenfeldt and Grete Ring, who managed it until 1933. The authors in his house included names such as Ernst Barlach, Max Beckmann, and Heinrich Mann, among others. The press also published the writings of marxist theoreticians and socialist politicians such as Eduard Bernstein, Kurt Eisner, and Georg Lukács.

Paul-Cassirer-Verlag, the annotated bibliography, is a revised and corrected edition, in which one reads that the original consisted of 400 copies and went out of print within two years. The revised edition includes several hundred additions and corrections but does not, however, include the publications of Bruno’s publishing house. The appendix contains periodicals produced on commission, publishers’ catalogs, titles taken over from other publishers, and other publications of interest more to librarians than collectors. Notable is a chronological overview that makes it possible to follow the annals of the publisher’s history. The retrospective index of the publishing house’s production is aimed first of all at book collectors. Cassirer could afford to have his usually small printings of books designed and decorated artistically, sometimes differentiating editions by their distinctive appearance and different prices. In its scope, thoroughness, accuracy, and depth, this bibliography can be called a small sensation. Not only antiquarian rarities, but also important sources for contemporary history come alive. It is not just the reconstruction of a publisher’s lost production plan, but it offers an introduction to the intellectual streams of the first third of the 20th century in Germany. It is a cultural/political reader of the highest rank.

Ein Fest der Künste, which appeared as a companion volume at the exhibit of the same name in the Max-Liebermann-Haus in Berlin (from February 17 to May 21, 2006), contains 25 contributions by 27 authors and serves as a surrogate history of the publishing house. In a kaleidoscopic fashion it depicts the relationships of individual artists and authors with their publisher, one of the most fascinating figures of the cultural center of Berlin before the rise of the Nazis.

The art historian and antiquarian Markus Brandis has produced Paul Cassirers Welt, the first printed catalog of his bookshop, Antiquariat Abaton, which contains numerous additions and commentaries to the bibliography. It should stand beside the incomparable, though incomplete bibliography. [rf/mjc]

Bibliographie Klaus G. Saur 1963-2006 [Klaus G. Saur Bibliography 1963-2006]. Comp. Martin Hollender. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2006. vi, 26 p. 24 cm. Gratis [06-2-195]

Though the personal bibliography of Klaus G. Saur is associated here with the publishing house that has borne his name since 1966, it is also true that he has since become director over several much older publishing houses. Saur is the most important German publisher of library science works in the last four decades. His significance and dedication to research libraries is underscored by the fact that the foreword was written by the president of the “Foundation for Prussian Cultural Property,” of which one of the largest German research libraries—the State Library in Berlin—is part. The bibliography appeared on the occasion of the publisher’s 65th birthday, indexing over 250 titles chronologically into the following sections (with numbers of titles in parentheses): A. Books and Media (12); B. Book Publishing (47); C. Book Trade (29), C.1 Book Fairs (13); D. Librarianship (12); E. Recognitions and Obituaries (41); F. Published Works (4); G. Reviews (16); H. Treatment of Handbooks and Address Books (11); I. Other (12); J. Literature about Klaus G. Saur (57). A selective chronological list of appointments and honors from 1963-2006 makes it clear that Dr. Saur’s list of publications will continue to grow. [sh/rdh]

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