Bibliotheca Mundi
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Horace: Opera (1921), half leather binding and title page
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The Bibliotheca Mundi ( World Library ) series is a book series with 14 titles published by Leipziger Insel Verlag from 1920 to 1924 , which formed part of the multilingual “Orbis Literarum” (world literature). It was suggested and edited by Stefan Zweig and, with the exception of an exclusively German and a multilingual text, only contained foreign-language titles.
Issue occasion
The idea for the edition of foreign-language literature in the original languages in Insel Verlag came from the cosmopolitan publisher Stefan Zweig . Immediately after the First World War, he assumed that the import of foreign books to Germany for reading in the original version would be more difficult in the long term due to the increasingly unfavorable exchange rates between the mark and foreign currencies. On January 31, 1918 , the paper mark had lost half of its value against the international reserve currency, the US dollar , and three quarters of its value on January 31 of the following year. Their further decline was in sight. Under this impression, Zweig developed his idea of a book production with foreign original works in Insel Verlag in a letter dated February 27, 1919 to the publisher Anton Kippenberg , with which he also wanted to forestall competing companies from other publishers. After initial hesitation, Kippenberg joined in with this project, as he was particularly impressed by the economic argument. So he put it in a later advertising to justify this project that it
"For the educated German who has never, even in the hours of war, lost the intellectual connection with the cultures of Europe, has become almost impossible to obtain books from abroad."
At a meeting in Leipzig in October 1919, the details of the project, which was to consist of three book series complementing each other to form the “Orbis Literarum”, were worked out. The series character for Zweig and Kippenberg lay in its classicism, which is reflected in the correspondence between the two of them to develop the series program. The necessary advertising measures were also decided at the meeting. A first advertisement in the Börsenblatt für den Deutschen Buchhandel in 1919 was intended to draw the book market's attention to the planned book series, and another from February 17, 1920 to mark the business area against any publishers competing with similar ideas. Zweig also pointed to the advantages of leaflet supplements in the series, which refer to all series programs. Well-known authors, such as Thomas Mann , and other public figures were also asked to use review copies for the series project in corresponding publications. Thomas Mann then announced a public statement that appeared in the Münchner Neuesten Nachrichten for the Christmas business in 1920 . On February 15, 1921, Hugo von Hofmannsthal's essay followed in the Neue Freie Presse .
In detail: The “ Libri Librorum ” (books of books) series would bring great works in the handy format of the “Grand Duke Wilhelm Ernst Edition”, which was also used successfully in the publisher's German classics. The texts printed on thin printing paper would be available in linen and leather covers. Medium-sized works and anthologies of poetry should be the focus of the second series described here, the “Bibliotheca Mundi”. And finally, in the case of the " Pandora " series, which was supposed to present shorter texts of around 6 sheets , such as novellas, stories, pieces or compilations of poems, the equipment and conception should be sent directly to the island, which has been successfully on the market since 1912 with excellent sales figures. Library to be linked. It would supplement the two series with books of a larger size and, with its own sample papers, special title plates and its own signet, also have its own face vis-à-vis the IB. Ultimately, she only reached 52 titles.
In the aftermath, of course, it can be stated that the audience response hoped for by Zweig and Kippenberg largely failed to materialize in all three book series, which was not only due to the currency stabilization that had already been successfully initiated in November 1923 with the introduction of the Rentenmark . Rather, the buyers did not want to pay the relatively high prices of the entire series and the selected texts were probably not attractive enough for the audience or too demanding.
expenditure
Announcement 1919 and 1920
The first Börsenblatt advertisement for the “Orbis Literarum” was dated December 1919. In a seven-page second advertisement from February 17, 1920, “Detailed announcement about BIBLIOTHECA MUNDI. LIBRI LIBRORUM. PANDORA. three complementary collections of masterpieces of world literature in the original languages ”, 20 titles were initially planned for this series, in addition to the then published fourteen works by Balzac, Byron, Goethe ( selected poems ) and Schopenhauer ( aphorisms ).
André Jolles was hired as a permanent research assistant to supervise the series in Leipzig . The Romanist Heinrich Wengler and Fritz Adolf Hünich also worked on the three foreign language projects .
languages
This series of books from the "Orbis Literarum" shows the greatest variety in the use of original languages. Of the ancient languages, only Latin is represented, so there is no ancient Greek text. For that texts are available in most of the then popular world languages, such as English, French, which dominates with five volumes, Russian - this poem book was still in the old orthography set - and Spanish before. In addition, there are poetry and prose, mostly in anthologies , in Hebrew, Italian, Hungarian and even Romansh, which is only spoken by a small part of the population in Switzerland. A German volume with stories is also not missing. Since the “Anthologia Helvetica” is multilingual, a total of 10 languages are represented despite the many French-language volumes. There were only subsequent editions of 3 titles: Baudelaire's successful title "Les fleurs du mal", the "Russian Parnassus" and the "Anthologia Hebraica". The “Russian Parnassus” may have found its customers not least in the rather large group of emigrants who settled in Germany, especially Berlin , after the October Revolution in 1917 . At first glance, the 9,000 copies of the “Anthologia Hebraica” appear astonishing after the second edition. But perhaps the title could also have been used for liturgical purposes by rabbis who could read and recite the religious texts provided here in dotted form . According to Buchinger, the volume is even " reprinted in Israel to this day".
Zweig had also planned a volume with a hundred selected Goethe poems, the selection of which Kippenberg wanted the publishers Hofmannsthal, Rilke and Ricarda Huch to make. But although Hofmannsthal forwarded his proposals to Zweig in June 1920, the volume never appeared.
Format and number of copies, retail price
The “Bibliotheca Mundi” in octave format ( 8 ° ) appeared in first editions of 5000 copies. Only the “Anthologia Hungarica” started with only 3,000 volumes, which is probably due to the comparatively small number of Hungarian native speakers. For the availability of the editions, see the comments on publisher advertising below .
In 1920 the first cardboard volumes were offered for 25 marks , which corresponded to around US $ 1 or CHF 6.50 . Half-leather editions were also offered in 1921; According to the information in the advertising material “Orbis literarum” (IV 439), they cost M 70, whereas M 35 had to be spent on the cardboard volumes. After the inflation had been overcome, the serial volumes in cardboard in 1924 cost 7 Reichsmarks and in half leather 10 Reichsmarks .
Furnishing
- Front page
The books printed by the Leipzig companies W. Drugulin, Breitkopf & Härtel and Spamer have a red / black title page. The half-title bears the serial name and the general publisher's signet of Insel Verlag, which was designed by Eric Gill in 1907 .
- Cardboard volumes
The brown cardboard volumes have a green head cut and a black cover. On the front cover, in addition to the title, which is repeated on the spine along with the series designation, a publisher's signature specially designed for this series by Walter Tiemann with the publisher's island ship and the words “BIBLIOTHECA MUNDI”. Their capitals were reinforced with parchment . They received green dust jackets with the title, serial signet and work information on the front. The available titles of this series and of "Libri Librorum" as well as on the blurb of "Pandora" are listed on the back.
- Linen cover
Only in the case of the “Anthologie de la poésie lyrique française”, which was published as the last volume, was there an additional cover variant with a blue linen cover with gold-stamped cover and spine and a yellow head cut. This equipment variant was also delivered in a cardboard slipcase as in the "Libri Librorum" series and a newly designed protective cover.
- Half leather volumes
The brown half leather bindings were provided with blue marbled paper and a top gold cut. The covers are reinforced with leather, and the spine has 5 fake frets with details of the author and title in gold embossed printing . There were no dust jackets here.
- Special bindings of the Kleist edition
There is a residual binding rate of Kleist's stories, which cannot be determined more precisely, with a gold-decorated half-leather back and - in contrast to the serial edition - marbled book covers and a surrounding yellow color cut. Some specimens were also bound in half parchment with an identical pattern, but here only a yellow head color section is available. Only the half-title with the series designation shows in both cases that the book block comes from this series. There is no separate edition of the Kleist volume out of series from the publisher's directory.
Series title table
| author | title | language | pads | printing house | pages |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heinrich Brody , Meir Wiener (Editor) | Anthologia Hebraica. Poemata selecta a libris divinis confectis usque ad Judaeorum ex Hispania expulsionem (A. MCCCCXCII [1492]) quae digesta atque disposita tractavit H. Brody, adjuvant M. Wiener (Hebrew anthology) |
Hebrew | MDCCCCXXII: 1st - 5th [1922] MDCCCCXXIII: 6-9 [1923], reviewed |
W. Drugulin | 311 |
| Robert Faesi (selection / epilogue) | Anthologia Helvetica. German, French, Italian, Rhaeto-Romanic and Latin poems and folk songs | German, French, Italian, Romansh , Latin |
1921: 1st - 5th | Spamer | 352 |
| Róbert Gragger (Editor) | Anthologia Hungarica [Magyar Anthologia. Kiadta Gragger Róbert] (Hungarian anthology, edited by Róbert Gragger) |
Hungarian | 1922: 1st - 3rd | Spamer | 323 |
|
Georges Duhamel (Editor / Foreword) |
Anthologie de la poésie lyrique française de la fin du XVe siècle à la fin du XIXe siècle (anthology of French poetry from the end of the 15th to the end of the 19th century) |
French | 1923 [recte: 1924]: 1. – 5. | W. Drugulin | 531 Foreword: XXXVIII |
| Charles Baudelaire |
Les fleurs du mal (the flowers of evil) |
French | [1920]: 1-5. | W. Drugulin | 293 portrait |
| Charles Baudelaire | Les fleurs du mal | French | 1923: 6-10 (Extended by table of contents) |
W. Drugulin | 310 portrait |
| Lord Byron |
Poems (poems) |
English | 1921: 1st - 5th | W. Drugulin | 328 |
|
Horace (Curavit Editionem R. Heinze ) |
Q. Horatii Flacci Opera (Horace's works) |
Latin | MCMXXI: 1st - 5th [1921] | Breitkopf & Härtel | 288 |
| Heinrich von Kleist | stories | German | [1920]: 1-5. | Spamer | 358 (2) |
| Alfred de Musset | Trois Drames / André del Sarto. Lorenzaccio . La Coupe et les lèvres (Three dramas: André del Sarto. Lorenzaccio. La Coupe et les lèvres) |
French | 1920: 1st – 5th | Spamer | 333 |
|
Napoléon [Bonaparte] (Curavit editionem Paul Amann ) |
Documents / Discours / Lettres (documents / speeches / letters) |
French | 1921: 1st - 5th | Spamer | 320 |
| [Various authors] (Curaverunt editionem Joseph Gregor et Carl Roretz) | Il Rinascimento . Anthologia Italica ab saecolo decimo tertio usque ad saeculum decimum sextum (The Renaissance. Italian anthology from the 13th to the 16th century) |
Italian | 1923: 1st - 5th | Spamer | 311 |
| Alexander Eliasberg , David Eliasberg (Editor) | Русскiй Пapнaccъ. Cоставили Александръ и Давидъ Элiйaсъбергъ (Russian Parnassus ) |
Russian | [1920]: 1-5. | Spamer | 328 (2) |
| Alexander Eliasberg, David Eliasberg (Editor) | Русскiй Пapнaccъ. Cоставили Александръ и Давидъ Элiйaсъбергъ | Russian | [1922]: 6-9. (revised) | Spamer | 328 (2) |
|
Frédéric de Stendhal (Henry Beyle) (Emendavit Arthur Schurig ) |
De l'Amour (Of love) |
French | MCMXX: 1st - 5th | Spamer | 393 |
| Santa Madre Teresa de Jésus | Libro de su vida (Book of my life) |
Spanish | 1921: 1st - 5th | Breitkopf & Härtel | 309 |
Publishing advertising for the series
The long-term purchase restriction for foreign literature feared by Kippenberg due to a lack of foreign currency was lifted with the end of inflation in November 1923. Even a medium-term continuation of the series was thus deprived of its economic basis; it was sold out. The publication of the volumes can be read off quite well from the advertising material used by the publisher, in which the appearance of new titles and the availability of already published titles is indicated.
The prospectus “Editiones Insulae” from 1920 (IV 41?) Listed the 40 Pandora titles as well as the first 7 volumes of the “Bibliotheca Mundi”. The brochures "Editiones Insulae" (IV 438) and "Orbis Literarum" (IV 439) published in the following year already show 11 works from the "Bibliotheca Mundi" in addition to the now complete Pandora series of 52 volumes and the five Libri Librorum. One more title can be found in the later “Orbis Literarum” (IV 449) for this series. Only Duhamel's anthology de la poésie lyrique française and “Il Risorgimento”, which appeared after the prospectus went to press in 1923 and have therefore not yet been advertised, are missing . But even in the “Christmas Directory 1924”, which now brings together almost all 14 BM under the heading “Foreign Language Editions”, Duhamel's volume is missing, although its official year of publication 1923 had long passed. Finally it still appears in 1924 - in the "Directory of all publications by Insel-Verlag 1899-1924" (p. 108 f.), Which was completed on October 1, 1924, but with the year of publication 1924. At Christmas 1927 (IV 536) are missing the already out of print titles “Anthologia Hungarica” and Kleist's “Stories” in the overall program. At Christmas 1928 the inventory was drastically reduced to just two volumes: Duhamel's Anthology and Anthologia Hebraica . They were no longer grouped under their series name, but found themselves in the alphabetical list of authors without any series. In the spring of 1930, no more titles in this series were available, as the corresponding general directory of the publisher shows.
- Advertisement by Insel Verlag for the "Bibliotheca Mundi" from 1920 to 1924
"Editiones Insulae", first delivery with 7 serial titles (IV 41 ?, 1920)
"Editiones Insulae" with 11 serial titles (IV 438, 1920)
Brochure for the "Russkij Parnass" (1920)
Brochure for the "Russkij Parnass", back
"Orbis Literarum" with 11 serial titles (IV 439, 1921)
"Christmas Directory 1924" with 13 serial titles
Two special brochures have been published in Russian for the “Russian Parnassus” and all original Russian titles; these are not known from other language editions.
literature
- Susanne Buchinger: Stefan Zweig - writer and literary agent. Relations with his German-language publishers (1901 - 1942) . Booksellers Association, Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 3-7657-2132-8
- Heinz Sarkowski: The island publishing house. A bibliography 1899–1969 . 2nd Edition. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig 1999, ISBN 3-458-15611-9
- Christian Wegner (arrangement): Directory of all publications by Insel-Verlag 1899-1924 , Leipzig [1924], p. 108 f.
Web links
- Cataloging of the "Bibliotheca Mundi" in the German National Library in Leipzig
Footnotes
- ↑ a b Sarkowski gives in Der Insel Verlag. A bibliography 1899–1969 , p. 8, at the Anthologia Helvetica for 1923 a second, revised edition (6–9). This can neither be found in the directory of all publications by Insel-Verlag 1899-1924 , nor is it listed by the DNB. Logically, he deleted it in the second edition of 1999 (Bibliography No. 37, p. 36).
- ↑ The Latin is juxtaposed with a Hebrew title page ( ... מבחר השירה העברי lat ).
- ↑ It is a "collection of spiritual poems by the Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 ". There were u. a. an announcement in the Prager Tagblatt dated July 25, 1922 with a reference to the publishing chief rabbi Heinrich Brody ( digitized )
- ↑ There are poems in Romontsch and Ladin .
- ↑ In the book itself, the year of publication “1923” is given on the title page. In the “Directory of all publications of Insel-Verlag 1899-1924” (p. 108 f.), However, the publisher states “1924”, and the title is also cataloged by DNB Leipzig under that year (“1924 A 7206”).
- ↑ The volume contains a dedication for Théophile Gautier .
- ↑ In the list of all publications of Insel-Verlag 1899-1924 , p. 109, a second edition is given for “1923” as “6. – 10.”. This is not to be found in Heinz Sarkowski (edit / ed.): Der Insel Verlag. A bibliography. 1899 - 1869 , Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig 1999, p. 266, margin no. 1648, this is still recorded in the relevant library catalogs. Dealer offers have not yet been found either. She must not have appeared.
- ↑ When the brochure number was printed, the third digit was accidentally not set.
- ^ The complete directories from 1925 and 1926 were not available for the autopsy.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Link to the exhibition in the German Literature Archive Marbach (DLA) from June 29 to October 16, 2011 Stefan Zweig's World Library ( text and pictures ).
- ^ Neue Freie Presse of February 15, 1921 (No. 20283), Vienna, pp. 1 f. (ANNO online ).
- ^ Susanne Buchinger: Stefan Zweig - writer and literary agent. Relations with his German-speaking publishers (1901–1942). Buchhändlervereinigung, Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 164.
- ^ Susanne Buchinger: Stefan Zweig - writer and literary agent. Relations with his German-speaking publishers (1901–1942). Buchhändlervereinigung, Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 152 ff.
- ^ Susanne Buchinger: Stefan Zweig - writer and literary agent. Relations with his German-speaking publishers (1901–1942). Buchhändlervereinigung, Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 161.
- ^ Susanne Buchinger: Stefan Zweig - writer and literary agent. Relations with his German-speaking publishers (1901–1942). Buchhändlervereinigung, Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 158.