Carl Künzli-Tobler

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Carl Künzli-Tobler (born December 31, 1862 ; † January 8, 1925 in Zurich ) was a Swiss merchant and publisher of postcards .

Postcard from the publishing house of Carl Künzli, Zurich (ca.1897)

Companies

The businessman Carl Künzli came to Zurich in 1889 and initially ran a stationery shop. He soon recognized the opportunities in the still young business with postcards. He began to issue cards himself with the name Carl Künzli, Zurich (often CKZ for short ), which he had drawn and printed at the Emil Pinkau Lithographic Art Institute in Leipzig. He was also very successful internationally with his products, and so in 1896 he had his company registered in the commercial register as an art publisher and luxury papers in bulk . In 1899 he gave up self-employment and became director of A.-G. Postkartenverlag Künzli , the company founded by his uncles Anton and Joseph Künzli (known as Gebr. Künzli ). In 1903, however, he gave up the job again. Two months after leaving, Carl Künzli's wife Bertha b. Tobler (1865–1934) founded a new company, Künzli-Tobler & Cie. enter in the commercial register. First as managing director, then from 1907 as owner, he continued to run this company successfully under the name Carl Künzli-Tobler until his death in 1925.

Bank check of the Künzli-Tobler company (detail), 1912

successor

Carl Künzli's son Max Joseph (1890–1966) took over the company, but in some cases continued to refer to the long-standing tradition of the publishing house with the note of Carl Künzli-Tobler's successor . Max Künzli was best known for his cat postcards, the drawings were by the Zurich artist Eugen Hartung (1897–1973).

The company Max Künzli is recorded in the commercial register until 1974, because son Raymond (1930–2012) continued to run it as an art publisher for congratulations, mourning and postcards under the name Max Künzli, owner Raymond Künzli .

Artist: Eugen Hartung, Verlag Max Künzli-Zurich, No. 4678

Archival material

Today numerous examples of Carl Künzli's work can be found in Swiss archives and collections as well as in the offers on online auction platforms. The company archive of Carl Künzli-Tobler and Max Künzli with around 9,000 photographs, the majority of which show subjects from Switzerland and were created between 1890 and 1910, is located in the graphics collection and photo archive of the Zurich Central Library .

literature

  • Ruth Freiburghaus: The Künzli publishers in Zurich - 85 years of Swiss postcard history . In: Collector's Display . November and December 2016, each p. 6, ISSN  1422-9358 .

Web links

Commons : Carl Künzli  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Künzli-Tobler, Carl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss merchant and publisher of postcards
DATE OF BIRTH December 31, 1862
DATE OF DEATH January 8, 1925
Place of death Zurich