Edition Leipzig

The edition Leipzig was a publisher in the GDR , which books in foreign markets placed in large part (Export publisher). This was intended to serve a representative purpose as well as procure foreign currency. Today the publishing house is part of the publishing group Seemann Henschel GmbH & Co. KG, which was taken over by Zweiausendeins in October 2017 . with the program area regional and cultural history .

From 1960 to 1984 over 1,000 book titles were published, of which over 500 book titles were published in foreign languages ​​and around 60 even in multilingual versions.

In the first publishing phase until 1965 the publication of scientific and technical books predominated. Later, more cultural and art history as well as popular science works were added. The publisher has made a name for itself with the printing of high-quality facsimiles and historical reprints. Fiction titles remained the exception. Marketing this genre was rejected as not being profitable enough due to a lack of market presence as a publisher in the relevant target country.

Founding time

The publishing house was founded in Leipzig in 1960 after the idea was first formulated in 1956 to create a book publisher that would be directly connected to the foreign trade company.

Under the publisher's name “Edition Leipzig”, books from GDR publishers could also be sold in western countries, but above all in the old Federal Republic , which were created as a result of expropriations of traditional old publishers and to those of the same name in the Federal Republic as a continuation of the in traditional companies expropriated from the GDR, such as Brockhaus , Reclam or Meyer . The West German publishers in question boycotted the appearance of the GDR publishers so that they could not appear with their publishing program, especially in the West German market. As a rule, these publishers were also denied participation in the Frankfurt Book Fair .

The concrete elaborations that should lead to the founding of the publishing house began in the headquarters of EA Seemann in Leipzig. The publishing house then initially received guest rights in the Academic Publishing Company Geest & Portig . It was not until June 20, 1960 that the publishing house moved into its own permanent premises at Karlstrasse 20.

Initially, books were taken over from other GDR specialist publishers. Standard works, which could easily be placed on the market, were the first choice. Until 1965, scientific and technical titles from the GDR predominated. The first book that was published by Edition Leipzig was the paperback of mathematics by Ilja Nikolajewitsch Bronstein and Konstantin Adolfowitsch Semendjajew from the Teubner publishing house . 10 editions had been published by 1970. One of the first titles developed by the publisher itself was the book Schlag nach: Facts about the German Democratic Republic , which was launched in 1961 in 17 languages ​​at the same time. Art prints on monuments, picture galleries and state museums of the GDR followed. The series “Technical Basics”, which appeared in several languages, was specially designed for third world countries.

Co-production with foreign publishers was sought early on in order to give the works better sales opportunities at the respective local level.

New edition of rare old books

Since the production was not subject to normal capitalist conditions and was also supposed to represent the GDR, some high-quality books came onto the market that are still of value today. Above all, through the facsimile processing of old library holdings with the help of collotype printing , a broader readership was given access to rare books. Particularly elaborate works in terms of print and binding were published in limited editions. A high point of these editions was the " Book of Hours " Ludwig von Orléans , 800 copies published in 1980 at a price of 2,850 marks.

Earlier individual reprints were from the 3rd / 4th. Century “Proverbial Codex ”, an “ancient Egyptian afterlife guide for Amun-em-uja” from the papyrus collection of the State Museums in Berlin , the Hebrew manuscript “ Machsor Lipsiae ” from the Leipzig University Library, the “Astronomicum Caesareum” by Peter Apian and “Africa from Maps from the 12th to 18th Centuries”. The "Atlas of the Great Elector ", from the Berlin State Library , was sold at 4,140 marks as a splendid edition, and was published in 1971 as the most expensive undertaking to date. At 85 × 125 cm, the facsimile is only half the size of the original.

Further works were a selection from "The birds of America", the "Leningrad watercolors ", the "Leningrad study book - butterflies, beetles, insects", "America in Maps", the "picture book for children" or the poor bible " Biblia pauperum " . After 1980 works such as the “Lorraine Apocalypse ”, a Bible print or the “Fest- Epistolar Friedrichs the Wise ” appeared, which even with the price of 5,950 marks could not cover the production costs.

Examples from the 1980s are the book “Berlin Architecture Drawings 1870–1890”, published in 1987, and the work “Asia on Maps from the 12th Century to the Middle of the 19th Century”, published in 1989.

The “Library of Ancient Culinary Works” series was created a little more simply. But it is still a valuable source for lovers of old cookbooks .

The "Historical Children's Books " series achieved particular popularity under the title historical reprints. These were not directly facsimiles, as the book was only re-set similar to the original . Details such as mold stains or minor damage caused by users are not shown. Other titles are the oldest version of the “First Novgorod Chronicle ” (1016–1352) with the first German translation or the “ Sonneberg Toy Sample Book ” from 1831. The series “Historical Card Games ”, which has been published since 1967, is also included in this edition type.

Phase of exclusive in-house production in the GDR era

Around 1970/71 the publishing house had established itself on the market. He only produced his own productions, whereby thematically related items were grouped into series. This is how the series “The Image of Women” came about with works such as “The Woman in Ancient Egypt ”, “The Woman in Islam ” or “The Woman in Socialism ”.

Works such as the “History of Natural Sciences” were edited under the “Scientific Collection” series.

The animal book series contained works such as "The Big Cat Book". The series “World Cities of Art” appeared in several languages ​​from 1965 to 1981. The series “ Art Monuments in Socialist Countries ” also contains many titles.

A sales problem arose partly from the high sales prices. Since the internal market was not served, no more profitable high editions could be produced. The method of producing high-quality works, successfully used in other areas, was not always successful in this area due to the high competitive pressure. Some rows were therefore quickly discontinued. Works such as “The artist and his workshop” or “Animal pictures” came under the heading “Art books for children”. Overall, a less successful concept, despite the initial enthusiasm, which did not sell successfully on the foreign market.

A series with the topic of porcelain art was brought into being through the facsimile of the “ Meißner pattern book for Höroldt chinoiseries” . It contains works that, for example, have Meißen porcelain in the Art Nouveau style . Books such as “Historical Targets” and “Seafarers Souvenirs” were published with the series “Cultural History Miniatures ”. Popular scientific non-fiction books such as “Mythical creatures and demons, a cultural history of hybrid beings” or “Beakers, tankards and goblets, a cultural history of drinking and drinking vessels” were published in this second period under the heading of cultural history. In addition, works such as the “Battles of World History” or “The Hanseatic League and the Grand Empire ” can be classified here. The aim was formulated to promote the understanding of connections and thus to promote judgment through a selection of topics from different scientific areas. Not every word has to become an information carrier, but episodic explanations, with the help of plastic metaphors, should keep the narrative strand flowing. - This typically socialist formulation may serve as an example of how far apart ideas formulated in words compared to practice. On the one hand, the GDR policy tried to force citizens to act as uncritically as possible with regard to its own system, on the other hand it allowed such beautiful-sounding statements to be formulated.

Archives of the publisher are now in the Saxon State Archives - State Archives Leipzig.

The publisher after the fall of the Wall

In 1992, Silvius Dornier united the art publishers EA Seemann , Edition Leipzig and Henschel Verlag with other publishers in a publishing group, so that a program was delimited. Seemann took over the visual arts , Edition Leipzig took over the regional and cultural history and the Henschelverlag took over the performing arts .

Since April 2003 the three art publishers have been sold by Dornier to new shareholders and now operate with the fourth publisher, Koehler & Amelang , under the publishing group name Seemann Henschel GmbH & Co. KG .

In terms of content, Edition Leipzig is still closely linked to the main editions established in the GDR. Subjects such as Meissen porcelain , glass painting or Saxony's palaces, castles and gardens are dealt with in entire series of books. In addition, selected older successful titles are made available again.

literature

• Sylvia Kretzschmar: VEB Edition Leipzig - an export publisher in the field of tension between ideology and economy . Master's thesis, Leipzig 2001, University of Leipzig (Institute for Communication and Media Studies)

[above work is mentioned in:]

• Links, Christoph, The fate of the GDR publishers - privatization and its consequences, Berlin: Links, 2009, ISBN 3861535238 , pp. 66–73

• Elmar Faber (Ed.): Edition Leipzig. Views on a publishing history. Edition Leipzig, Leipzig 1985. (A book that was published in the GDR's own publishing house and therefore has an East German perspective)
• Neumann, Helga: Natural science non-fiction books at Edition Leipzig, in: "Book of Time" [magazine from book export], issue 11/1981
• Böttcher, Angelika (add.): Twenty years of "Edition Leipzig" (1960–1979) - a bibliography (me Vorw. Von Elmar Faber), Leipzig: Edition, 1980/1983
• Ten Years "Edition Leipzig" / Ten Years "Edition Leipzig" 1960–1969, Leipzig: Edition, 1970
• Five years "Edition Leipzig", 1964/65 [portfolio, published on the occasion of the Leipzig Book Fair (iba) and was only given to publishers from "non-socialist foreign countries"]

Web links

• Publisher Seemann Henschel
• Finding aid for inventory 21108 Edition Leipzig, Verlag für Kunst und Wissenschaft , in the Leipzig State Archives

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Annual review 2017: Topics in October at www.buchreport.de