Hyperion Library

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The Hyperion library is a German book series that has existed since 1920 . It appears in small format .

publishing company

The Hyperion publishing house is the oldest publishing house in Germany for books in miniature. It was founded on September 22, 1906 in Munich under the name Hans von Weber, Verlag . In 1913, including the rights to all works, it was sold to Kurt Wolff and Dr. Julius Schröder was sold and the publishing program was completed by the authors and works of Julius Zeitler, which was also acquired by Wolff in 1912 . In 1914 and 1915, the young Ernst Rowohlt took over management of the new publishing location in Berlin, and from 1917 the publishing house was under the sole management of Kurt Wolff. From 1920 the first miniature volumes appeared in Sedez format , initially under the series title Kleine Jedermanns-Bücherei . In the mid-twenties, Kurt Wolff's hometown of Munich was once again the place of publication. In 1936 Hermann Luft bought the publisher's name with all author's rights and changed the name of the successful miniature book series to Hyperion-Bücherei . In 1942 the publishing house moved to Freiburg im Breisgau , where after Hermann Luft's death in 1980 it was continued by his daughter Jorinde until she died in 2000. In 2001 Martin Wartelsteiner acquired the publishing house and changed the series name again to Hyperion Library .

Hyperion Library

The miniature volumes in the Hyperion library have been published for decades in a format of around 6 × 9 centimeters. In the "Kleine Jedermanns-Bücherei" the volumes were boxed and issued in full leather . The publishing house advertising described the spectrum of the series as a " valuable collection of solid literature, entertaining, philosophical and instructive content ". In early sales brochures there is a numbering that was not listed in the volumes themselves. The first miniature book to appear on the sales lists was Vivant Denon's " One Night " (1920). In the same year, ballads by Goethe , fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm and Heinrich Heine's collection of poems "Die Nordsee" followed. During the Second World War , the volumes in the Hyperion library were distributed in paperboard field post issues; after 1945 they appeared in imitation leather bindings. A total of 272 titles were published in Freiburg, 40 of which had already been published in the Kleine Jedermanns-Bücherei . According to the publisher, over 600 titles have now been published. They form a mixture of world literature , German intellectual treasure, and edifying or exhilarating literature.

layout

The synthetic leather covers come in different colors - from white to yellow, gray, red, green, blue and brown to black. The backs of both the leather and imitation leather volumes always have a short title in embossed gold letters, the front covers are decorated with a typographically decorative title or a signet . Sometimes there are also combinations of typography and logo. Until the 1950s, the covers were designed by Emil Preetorius , later by Werner Bürger and Jürgen Stammler. Several volumes are illustrated, for example by Werner Bürger, Herbert Thiele, Ludwig Richter, Sigrid Stenzel and Elfriede Hauck-Lechner. The head cut is often colored. The sentence is meticulous throughout and varies vigorously depending on the subject, author and title.

Collector aspects

The year of issue is seldom noted in the volumes, and editions are mostly missing. They can only be found in the volumes in the first years after 1920. As an investment, the Hyperion wristbands are of little importance. However, they have been a classic gift book for everyone. The titles are also extremely popular among collectors of small-format books.

literature

  • Manfred Frankenstein: Hyperion library - bibliography. Self-published, Berlin 1993.
  • Heinz Fritsch: Miniature books of the Hyperion publishing house. Complete index based on the bibliographies of Manfred Frankenstein and Heinz Müller with additions. Poing 2006.