Island Library

IB 1, Rilke: The way of love and death of the cornet Christoph Rilke , first edition from 1912, cover and title page

The Insel-Bücherei is a series of books published by Insel Verlag since 1912 . In the series, smaller works from poetry, prose and essay writing by classical authors and contemporary publishers were initially edited. Art and nature representations, texts from the world of fairy tales and legends as well as licensed editions by authors from other publishers were added later. The typography and equipment of the cardboard volumes should always meet high aesthetic demands at a moderate sales price. Thanks to its well-thought-out publishing concept, the series, which is largely uniform thanks to its colored sample papers and its title and spine label, survived all economic and political perils, particularly as a result of the two world wars of the 20th century, as well as inflation , the National Socialist dictatorship and the division of Germany , so that volumes up to number 1484 have been published by spring 2020.

From the beginning of 1912 to 1913

As early as 1908, Insel Verlag, which had been under the sole management of Anton Kippenberg since 1906 , published the first so-called “2-mark books”. In 1911 the "Library of Novels " followed, which was sold at a book price of 3 marks . Both rows were furnished by Emil Rudolf Weiß .

Prospectus of the first twelve issues of the Insel-Bücherei 1912

Announcement of the first twelve volumes in the official part of Börsenblatt No. 118 of May 23, 1912

On May 23, 1912, the publishing house went public with the announcement of its carefully prepared island library . It was announced to the book trade by a circular and in an envelope attached to number 118 of the Börsenblatt für den Deutschen Buchhandel dated May 23, 1912 as follows: “It is supposed to be called Insel-Bücherei and to include nicely decorated ribbons that cost 50 pfennigs each . […] It should contain smaller works - novellas, groups of poems, essays […] […] which have been wrongly forgotten or to which we intend to give a particularly topical effect, and occasionally also illustrated books. ”Kippenberg wanted with this Concept, for which Stefan Zweig is considered a spiritual co-creator (in his memoirs “ Die Welt von Gestern ”, Zweig writes: “ ..., created on a suggestion from me. ”), Not to compete with Reclam's universal library or Meyer's folk books . Carefully edited literary gems with comments and explanations were intended to form a mosaic-like overall picture for the reader.

On July 2, 1912, the hand-set 12 volumes of the first delivery were delivered to the bookstores. Volume number 1 contained Rainer Maria Rilke's prose poem (first version) Die Weise von Liebe und Tod by Cornet Christoph Rilke , whose publishing rights Kippenberg had shortly before been able to acquire from the publisher Axel Juncker for 400 Marks because the latter did not have sufficient sales he was able to achieve a title printed in 300 copies. In the Insel-Bücherei, Rilke's Cornet was published in an initial print run of 10,000 copies, had to be reprinted immediately, and by 2006 had 54 editions of over 1.147 million copies. In 1987 the publishing house published one of Max Schwimmer in World War II during a front activating private illustrated edition as a bibliophile edition. In 2012, for the 100th anniversary of the Insel-Bücherei, an illustrated normal series edition of the cornet with mezzotints by Karl-Georg Hirsch appeared for the first time (anniversary program, number 1350).

Since the book series was very well received by the readers, Kippenberg quickly expanded the range of available titles; At the end of 1913, the number 92 was already on sale.

The island library from 1914 to 1932

The book series in the First World War

In 1914 the total circulation of all Insel ribbons already exceeded 1 million. This year the publisher had the book Ruth (IB 152) produced for the series in a print run of 10,000 copies as a two-color press print in the Ernst-Ludwig-Presse Darmstadt. Such editions otherwise only appear in small editions for bibliophiles .

IB 158/1 Songs of the Landsknechte, woodcut by Hans Burgkmair

After the outbreak of the First World War , Kippenberg was also infected by the enthusiasm for war that was initially prevalent in Germany and published an extensive series of titles with war-related topics, such as German Fatherland Songs (IB 154/1), German War Songs (IB 153/1), Arndts : Catechism for the German warrior and military man . The German military team (IB 157/1), Kaiser Wilhelm I : Letters from the war years 1870-71 (IB 168/1), Letters of Field-Marshal Blucher (IB 170/1) or songs of mercenaries with woodcuts (IB 158/1 ). In addition, there were volumes that appealed to the German national feeling , such as Die deutsche Lande im Gedicht (IB 174/1) and German Chorale (IB 155). The latter title, which had been published by Katharina Kippenberg , was able to assert itself in the publishing program for a long time and was last edited in 1953 in a revised compilation in the Wiesbaden publishing house.

Christmas gift from German ministries (sticker in IB 25/1 from 1917)

Several institutions and associations used the popularity of the young book series to strengthen the perseverance of the German soldiers at the front. To do this, they sent gift ribbons with appropriate stickers or stamps to the front.

In the middle of the war, Ferruccio Busoni's draft of a new aesthetic of music art from 1907 appeared in an extended version in the series and only now caused a sensation in music circles , but it also sparked controversy among conservative composers (see Hans Pfitzner : Futuristengefahr ).

With the expiry of the then only thirty-year copyright protection period , Kippenberg wanted to take advantage of the still existing Wagner enthusiasm and in 1914 published a series of 20 volumes, mainly with his opera libretti , such as Siegfried (IB 95/1), Lohengrin (IB 101/1) or Tristan und Isolde (IB 102/1). Due to the cheaper alternative due to the Reclam texts available at the same time, this was not a resounding economic success - only IB 107/1: Five poems by Mathilde Wesendonk was in the publisher's range until 1961. Also the series with Flemish authors, such as Jan van Ruysbroek (IB 206/1: The Book of the Twelve Beghines ), Guido Gezelle (IB 213/1: Poems ) or Herman Teirlinck (IB 217: Johann Doxa. Scenes from the life of a Brabant Gothic ), to which the publisher was encouraged because of his military service in the stage of the Belgian western front , did not find the desired response from the audience. From this series of authors, only Stijn Streuvels managed to be present in the series program with the two titles The Harvest (IB 214/1) and The Worker (IB 215/1 - from 1935: IB 468) until after the Second World War. While Charles de Coster and Mr. Halewijn (IB 212) reached the 28th thousand in 1941, it was already in 1922 in the 16th – 20th. Thousands of the third and last edition of the old Flemish play Lanzelot und Sanderein (IB 208) were listed in the publisher's lists without interruption until Christmas 1939, which proves their low sales success in the two decades after the First World War.

At the end of 1918 - the band price had risen to 1.10 marks in August of the same year - there was a complete series of 241 titles (IB 241, Beethoven's personal notes ).

Interwar period

Spending policy

The German literature of the 19th century was represented quite strongly after 1918 in the series with Lenau , Novalis and Platen . After the term of protection had expired, Theodor Storm , Gottfried Keller , CF Meyer and Theodor Fontane took over several titles in a row. After the end of the war, Russian authors increased again - e. B. Chekhov (IB 258: A Boring Story ), Turgenev (IB 259: Poems in Prose ) - published. English-speaking and French authors also had their say with individual titles. Humanities texts by Fichte (IB 253/1: Determination of the Scholar ), Friedrich List (IB 260/1: Thoughts and Teachings ) or Hegel (IB 300: Introduction to the Phenomenology of Mind ) as well as speeches from the Frankfurt Parliament from 1848/49 (IB 244/1), on the other hand, hardly met with public approval and were later mostly replaced by other titles. In the 1920s, Anton Kippenberg's nephew and later founder of Albatros Verlag, Christian Wegner , was responsible for the island library.

In 1919 new productions reached a record with 71 titles, but then fell to 12 (1922) and 11 (1923) towards the end of the inflationary period ; the low was reached in 1924 with 9 titles left. After Tibulls Sulpicia (IB 331/1) had a print run of only 6,000 in 1921, most of the volumes of the last inflation year, 1923, appeared with this reduced initial print run.

Many volume numbers of the war and inflation years were re-assigned with other titles from the end of the 1920s. This was undoubtedly due to the fact that stock selection was deemed unsatisfactory in retrospect. Quite a few titles from this period are seldom to be found today, despite sufficient print runs; the remaining stocks at the publisher may have been blemished because of the poor quality of the paper after the currency stabilization .

IB 309/2, Hey / Speckter: Fables for Children , Thread Stitching (1928)

IB 249, Wilde: Salome , illustration by A. Beardsley: Die Apotheosis

From the end of the 1920s, Kippenberg also tried harder to obtain licenses due to the lack of contemporary authors in the publishing house, which was not always easy to calculate due to the fixed band price. However, titles by Insel authors such as Rilke (IB 400: Poems ) and Stefan Zweig (IB 165/2: Great moments of mankind ) continued to appear in large numbers. Until 1932 Felix Timmermans , Ricarda Huch (both with several titles) and Thomas Mann (IB 312/2: Felix Krull ) were very successful .

The historical illustration continued to be cultivated: In 1919 Dürer's Kleine Passion (IB 250) was published; later followed by his woodcut series Das Marienleben (IB 335) and the spiritual exposition of the life of Jesus Christ (IB 350). From the 19th century were u. a. Ludwig Richter with Es war once (IB 360) and Otto Speckter with Fifty Fables for Children by Wilhelm Hey (IB 309/2). Illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley have been added to Wildes Salome (IB 249) and Popes Lockenraub (IB 99/2).

With Bernhard Hasler ( Goethe : Novelle , 296/1), Max Unold ( Droste : Judenbuche , IB 271 / A), Oskar Kokoschka ( Ehrenstein : Tubutsch , IB 261/1) and Karl Rössing (G. Keller: The smith of his luck , IB 328 / A), contemporary illustrators were also involved for the first time. In 1933, the first color-illustrated island book was published: Der Struwwelpeter or funny stories and funny pictures by Heinrich Hoffmann (IB 66/2), which was reduced to IB size . The picture cover (see below), which deviates from the sample paper that is typical of the series, also premiered with this title. He was followed a year later by Fritz Kredel with images of soldiers in historical original uniforms band illustrated Who wants to be a soldier. German soldiers' songs (IB 236/2, 1934) and 1938 Grimm's fairy tale Hans im Glück (IB 530) with pictures by Willi Harwerth , the motifs of which he borrowed from his home in northern Germany.

Furnishing

In the mid-1920s, the design of the ribbons changed. The cover paper has been modernized (“Ent Biedermeier ”). The thread stitching , which almost exclusively appeared from 1931 on , gradually replaced the staple stitching, which had sometimes led to rust stains in the ribbon. The stability of the cover boards was improved, so that the upper spine in particular was better protected against tearing.

Price development

The volume price had risen to 7 by the spring of 1922 and to 12 by May, as shown in the complete lists of volume numbers 1 to 339 and 1 to 349 from that year. That was nominally fourteen and twenty-four times the retail price before the war. Another year later in the “4. Price list for the directory of the Insel-Verlag February 1923, issued on March 25, 1923 ”, the directory“ Books of the Insel = Verlag zu Leipzig. February 1923 ”, a volume of 1,400 Marks given by the publisher. In the directories themselves, due to the rapidly advancing inflation, which quickly turned any information given during printing into waste, no more prices were given from mid-1922. Rather, as is generally the case in the German book trade, in addition to price lists related to the cut-off date, such as the one mentioned above, a so-called constant basic price and a key figure (multiplier) were used, which were adjusted to the respective level of currency depreciation and with which the current retail price was calculated. At the end of the inflationary period, the price of the ribbon had risen to 825 billion marks .

Insert with the new price indication "80 Pfg." (1932, 69 × 74 mm)

After the currency stabilized in December 1923, island books cost 60 pfennigs again . The price then rose to 75 pfennigs in 1924 and 1 RM in 1925, only to be forcibly lowered to 80 pfennigs after a price reduction on the part of the publisher in 1926 by the 4th Emergency Ordinance of December 8, 1931 (RGBl. I No. 79, p. 699) to become.

For the price development from 1912 to 1932 (up to and including 1945) in detail, compare the following price table. The regular cardboard and brochure volumes, the paperback war editions of the First (KR) and Second World War (Feldpost - FP) as well as the leather editions were included in these. The table values ​​show the initial price display, question marks the lack of official price announcements. In the period of high inflation, prices rose rapidly, so there can be no fixed values ​​for an annual period.

cover	1912	1914	1915	from August 1, 1916	1917	1918	1919	1920	1921	Early 1922	May 1922	March 25, 1923	from April 1923	from November 15, 1923	1924	1925	1926	1927	1932	1942	1944
cardboard	-, 50	-, 50	-, 50	-, 60	-, 70	1.10	1.35	4.50	5, -	7, -	12, -	1,400	Hyperinflation	-, 60	-, 75	-, 90	1,-	-, 90	-, 80	-, 80	1.25 (?)
Paperback (cardboard / paper)	-	-	- -, 30 KR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-, 60 -, 45 FP	-, 60 -, 45 FP
leather	-	3, -	3, -	3, -	3, -	3, -	?	?	?	?	?	?	Hyperinflation	?	?	7, -	4.50	4.50	4, -	-	-

Time of National Socialism and the Second World War

Conservative publishing policy

Publishing prospectus 1933 (IV 10.33) with the announcement (below) of the Deutsche Chronik as IB 444

German Chronicle 1918–1933

For 1933, the publisher, which had always avoided current political issues in the series, announced a German Chronicle published by the DVP politician Hans Wolf and the writer Otto von Taube as IB 444 . 1918–1933 , the planning of which had already begun in mid-1932. It was originally intended to contain an objective historical account of the years of the Weimar Republic, the structure of which corresponded to the chronicle of Goethe's life (IB 415). From Kippenberg October 1, 1932 was as a time endpoint of the Chronicle initially proposed, but Hans Wolf suggested several times at the passing of the Enabling Act in the Reichstag zoom pull on 23 March 1933 by the Nazis , the sovereign legislative and executive was transferred power in Germany . The official demand for a special appreciation of the rise of the NSDAP under Adolf Hitler had finally found a visible expression in the description of the historical events in the course of the manuscript preparation in such a way that National Socialism and Hitler - among other things, an excerpt of his government declaration was published on the so-called day reproduced by Potsdam on March 21, 1933 - overall as positive political forces were also represented in the Weimar Republic. Ultimately, the chronicle, clearly right - wing conservative in its present final version , which had probably already left the ground of a balanced presentation of the most recent German history at the time, did not appear; the exact reasons are not known.

Jewish and other prohibited authors

As a result, the nationally conservative Kippenberg tried to evade the political influence of the Nazi regime (see also Reichsschrifttumskammer ) as much as possible. However, he too had to pay tribute to the new political conditions. On May 16, 1933, the Börsenblatt published a " black list " of 135 authors whose works had to be removed from public libraries. Among these was one of the main authors of the island publishing house, Stefan Zweig, who is also in the island's library with books of poetry and short stories as well as transfers of foreign literature was represented accordingly. The list was initially not binding for the publishers, but at the end of 1933 Kippenberg was again formally informed by the Börsenverein about authors who were undesirable for national and cultural reasons - including Stefan Zweig again. At this point in time the publisher, pointing out possible foreign policy entanglements at the Reich Propaganda Ministry, was able to obtain permission to sell individual titles by Zweig, so that he kept the 4 titles in his publishing directories until the summer of 1935; The author was already deleted from the publishing house's advertising for Christmas 1935. After the grace period had expired on March 1, 1936, he finally had to part with Zweig. In the same year, after Thomas Mann's expatriation , his Felix Krull also disappeared from the IB registers. All obviously Jewish authors and titles with a positive reference to Judaism and Jewish life had to be withdrawn from the publishing program. Such titles also fell victim to the book burning on May 10, 1933. In connection with this, almost the entire 2nd edition of the Old Jewish Legends (IB 347/1), published by Bin Gorion , is said to have been destroyed. In some cases, however, only the names of Jewish authors, artists or other persons mentioned in the texts were deleted or the pages with their names were left out in the case of Jewish translators, often in the imprint, in order to be able to sell the titles on, e.g. B. IB 215/2, François Mauriac : The Leper and the Saint , translated by Iwan Goll . This practice met u. a. also to Stefan Zweig, Heinrich Heine or the Frankfurt bookseller Walter Schatzki , whose collection copy was based on the edition of Heinrich Hoffmann's Der Struwwelpeter (IB 66/2) in the Insel-Bücherei. However, authors were also classified as of Jewish origin who were actually not, such as Franz Blei , who worked as a translator for Oscar Wilde , who had left Germany in 1933 as an opponent of the Nazi regime. Here, too, Kippenberg had the page with the imprint of the remaining inventory of the Canterville Ghost (IB 390), in which his name was listed, removed.

"Allowed" authors

Nevertheless, the production of the Insel-Bücherei with the "authorized" authors in terms of titles, sales and equipment was kept at a considerable level from 1933, so that due to its sales success until the end of the Second World War it still formed the economic backbone of the Insel Verlag. However, among these were not a few of the 88 writers and poets who had signed the pledge of loyal allegiance to Hitler published on October 26, 1933 , such as Rudolf G. Binding : The Sacrifice Course (IB 23, film adaptation 1944 ), Hans Friedrich Blunck : Gestühl der Alten (IB 538/1), Peter Dörfler : Jakobäas Sühne (IB 431), Josef Ponten : Der Meister (IB 289/2), Friedrich Schnack : Stories from Home and World (IB 498/1) or Wilhelm von Scholz : Confession (IB 467); the IB title is only final for Dörfler. In return, several IB authors were on the " Gottbegnadeten list " drawn up by Hitler and Goebbels in 1944 , such as Blunck, von Scholz or Helene Voigt-Diederichs (IB 491). In addition, three IB authors were represented on the special list of the "Irreplaceable Artists" with the six most important German writers: Ina Seidel , who only appeared in the Insel-Bücherei in 1958 with a volume of poetry (IB 668/1), Gerhart Hauptmann, who at that time was represented in the IB with Hanneles Himmelfahrt (IB 180/2) and was otherwise published by S. Fischer , and Hans Carossa , a lead author of Insel Verlag and at that time in the IB program with Die Schicksale Doktor Bürgers (IB 334 / 2) and poems (IB 500).

Even during the first years of the war, the island library was able to be continued to a considerable extent despite various material problems and personnel restrictions in the publishing house. By 1940 - at Christmas of that year before the end of the war the last complete list of the IB was published - volume number 559 ( Max Hirmer : The Most Beautiful Greek Coins in Sicily ) had already been reached; IB 560 Die Minnesinger (second episode) was only completed shortly before the end of the war , but it could not be tied up until October 1945. Until then, only titles that had been singled out in terms of content were re-assigned. For example, Edwin Redslob : Des Jahres Lauf (IB 99/3 - previously: Pope's Lockenraub ), Euripides : Elektra (IB 256/2 - previously: Niebergall Des Burschen Heimkehr ) or Josef Weisz : Flowers from the summit of the mountains (IB 131/2 - before: Verlaine My Prisons ). The new production had dropped to 6 titles in 1944. During this time, the Insel-Verleger appeared under the anagram "Benno Papentrigk" with a title in the series. His shaking rhymes appeared in 1942 as IB 219/3 , after the author had published them first in private printing and then outside the series by Insel Verlag.

Sticker winter aid donation from the Reichsschrifttumskammer in IB 224 / A (1935)		Sticker of the Reich Association of German Gymnastics, Sport and Gymnastics Teachers in IB 429 (Christmas 1939)

Island ribbon as a propaganda tool

Quite a few island books were distributed to the needy as book donations through the winter relief organization highlighted by the Nazi propaganda , which is documented by appropriate stickers. As was already the case during the First World War, many companies as well as associations and associations sent their workers or members standing as soldiers at the front as a gift of island ribbons that were more or less war propaganda in the form of stamps or stickers.

IB 313/2 Poems of the German Baroque (Ed. Wolfgang Kayser), photomechanical reprint

Expenses destroyed in the war

On the night of 3 December 4, 1943, the publishing house of the island were publishing in the Graphic Quarter and the building of the charge of the distribution of the publishing range commission agent CF Fleischer victims of war or during an allied air raid on Leipzig completely destroyed. In addition to subsequent editions ready for dispatch, eight first editions of new titles that were ready for delivery to the book trade and were bound in cardboard went up in flames. These could be reprinted immediately and then appeared in 1944 - albeit only in paperback - in bookshops.

However, one title - the poems of the German baroque , selection and epilogue by Wolfgang Kayser (IB 313/2) - has not yet been officially reissued by the publisher. Since only about four dozen copies have survived, which were sent by Kippenberg to the publisher, other publishing authors and book artists, friends of the publisher or for review purposes before the official publication date, IB 313/2 is a desideratum for many collectors in this series. In order to at least make the contents of the volume accessible to them, the title was published privately in 1989 with the permission of the Frankfurt publishing house (see below) as a one-time, photomechanical reprint in a paperback cover.

Price development

The retail price of the Insel books, which was forcibly reduced to 80 pfennigs by the 4th Emergency Ordinance of December 8, 1931, remained unchanged at least until the first years of the war, as can be seen in the publisher's relevant advertising materials. The publisher drew attention to its introduction with small inserts. The paper-bound brochures sold during the Second World War, on the other hand, cost 60 pfennigs and the paperback military post issues only 45 pfennigs. During the war, the price of the cardboard volumes is likely to have risen to 1.25 RM; this was then binding for the Leipzig publishing house in the GDR. For details of the price development from 1933 to 1945, see the table above .

Leipzig publishing house from 1945 to 1990

Issuing of the publishing license

Brochure New Volumes from the Insel-Bücherei , Insel Verlag Leipzig (1952)

Immediately after the Second World War, Insel Verlag was granted a marketing license for its remaining holdings on October 10, 1945 in the Soviet occupation zone . Island books could now be published again, but until 1950 only stocks or reprints of older titles. There were also IB titles that were on the list of literature to be sorted out and were no longer allowed to be sold, such as Friesennot by Werner Kortwich (IB 430/1). In order to satisfy the demand for literature more quickly, and probably also because of the lack of material, partial editions of 21 titles in the Insel-Bücherei were printed in inexpensive monochrome paperboard equipment without any reference to the same. This also made it possible to circumvent the price freeze imposed by the Soviet authorities on the island library at the level that existed before the end of the war, by adding a price of 1.50 to 2.25 RM, but mostly 1.80 RM, for the A print run of mostly 10,000 copies of printed brochures could be requested.

The publishing house was granted its first production license by the Soviet Military Administration (SMAD) in Berlin-Karlshorst with retroactive effect to April 1, 1946. Regular publishing operations could then be resumed with great difficulty on February 25, 1947 after receipt of a final publishing license from SMAD, initially with the number 366. In the decision in favor of the publisher, the former author of Insel Verlag and now a member of the Central Committee of the SED , Johannes R. Becher , and the Mayor of Leipzig, Erich Zeigner , who linked the - albeit futile - hope that Kippenberg might like Leipzig as a decisive influence determine the permanent exhibition location of his Goethe collection, which spanned all areas of literature, art and science and was considered the most important private collection in this field at the time. After the change of competence in the control of GDR publishing from the SMAD to the Office for Information of the GDR at the beginning of 1950, on October 26, 1951 the Leipzig publishing director Richard Köhler - Anton Kippenberg had died on September 21 - with the number 351 die bis License number to be found in the imprint of the Leipziger Insel-Bücher granted in 1990.

Incidentally, right at the beginning of the new publishing activity, Becher himself was represented with the sonnets volume, Wiedergeburt , which in 1987 was transferred to the Insel-Bücherei as IB 1079/1. The first new IB titles to appear were Crisanta by Anna Seghers (IB 99/4), Lebwohl! El Verdugo by Honoré de Balzac (IB 104/3) and Der Mexikaner Felipe Riveras by Jack London (IB 163/2), which took the place of other pre-war editions with this volume number.

Spending policy

Issues prior to 1989

After the Second World War, the Leipzig publishing house focused on the works of poets and writers from German humanism , so-called socialist realism, as well as from the Soviet Union and other socialist states. Among the Soviet authors were those who had previously been banned from publication or were exposed to persecution by the Stalinist power apparatus , such as Andrei Platonov (IB 982: July thunderstorm ) or Boris Pilnjak (IB 1043: ice drift ). The GDR authors spanned Willi Bredel (IB 834: Pater Brakel ), Bodo Uhse (IB 485/2: The way to the Rio Grande ), Wieland Herzfelde (IB 599: Das Steinerne Meer ; IB 952: Blau und Rot. Poems ) and Stephan Hermlin (IB 504/2: Ballads ; IB 585: The Lieutenant Yorck von Wartenburg ) to Johannes Bobrowski (IB 996: Poems 1952–1965 ), Günter Kunert (IB 1007/1: Go to the cinema ) and Franz Fühmann (IB 989/1: King Oedipus ).

However, licensed editions have also been published by authors from western countries, especially if their work was considered progressive in the sense of socialist cultural and art doctrine, as was the case with the German-speaking authors Ingeborg Bachmann (IB 1037/1: Die Gedichte ), Walter Jens ( IB 1063: The Downfall ) or Elias Canetti (IB 1066: The Voices of Marrakech ) was the case. Significant English-speaking authors, in addition to Nobel Prize winners at the time or later , such as Ernest Hemingway (IB 902: The storm surges of spring ), TS Eliot (IB 1089: The desert land ), Harold Pinter (IB 1048: The dumb servant ) or Doris Lessing ( IB 1039/1: Hunger ), for example Gertrude Stein (IB 1069: Picasso. Memories ), James Joyce (IB 1052: Chamber Music. Collected Poems ), James Baldwin (IB 999/1: Sonny's Blues ) or Truman Capote (IB 1036 / 1: Tree of the Night ).

Until 1989, the Leipzig publishing house continued to publish the series of illustrated books, which had been the classic since the 1930s, in which an introductory and commentary text was juxtaposed with a blackboard section, which usually consisted of 24 to 32 pages. The spectrum ranged from old masters of painting (IB 970, Cranach : drawings ) and sculpture (IB 1055: Meister HW ) to classic modernism (IB 1025/2, Dix : graphics ) to contemporary artists of the GDR (IB 765, Albert Ebert . Poetry of Everyday Life or IB 1050, Heidi Manthey : Faience ).

The illustrated island book enjoyed special care in the GDR. This was mainly thanks to the commitment of the production manager Hans-Joachim Walch - a student of Max Schwimmer . He mainly hired young graphic artists, often graduates of the Leipzig University of Applied Sciences, which he also attended . So were z. B. active as IB illustrators: Egbert Herfurth (IB 581/2, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing: Epigramme ), Rolf Felix Müller (IB 672, August Kopisch : Kleine Geister ), Karl-Georg Hirsch (IB 859: Stevenson: The Suicide Club ) . But also established book artists such as Werner Klemke (IB 234 / C, Stevenson: Villon ), Heiner Vogel (IB 290 / 2C, Alexander Grin : Das Purpursegel. Eine Feerie ) or Imre Reiner (IB 754, Cervantes: Fräulein Cornelia ), were able to bring their artists into the design of the ribbon. Finally, Walch himself appeared in the Insel-Bücherei as an illustration, e.g. B. IB 729: Kikeriki or The crowing of the noble rooster Beneventano by Herman Melville .

Publishing program 1990

Despite the vicissitudes associated with German reunification , the 1990 publishing program of the Kiepenheuer publishing group , into which the Leipzig publishing house had been integrated since 1977, proved to be constant at the Insel-Bücherei and was largely implemented. Only the title Guillaume Apollinaire : Die Cubist Maler (publisher: Helmut Melzer), announced in a new translation under number 1097 , fell by the wayside. A new edition of Oswalt von Nostitz 's translation from 1956 was published by Luchterhand Literaturverlag as early as 1989 and, due to the political upheavals in the GDR since 1989, has also been made available to the reading public there. For the planned new translation of the essay collection first published in 1913 under the title Les peintres cubistes , the publisher did not see sufficient sales opportunities.

Leipziger IB that was not published after the announcement

Titles not published due to publisher decisions

The publisher's announcements about the new publications were extremely reliable before the Second World War, as they appeared shortly before the publication of the volume. In the Leipzig publishing house, advertising material was only used to a comparatively limited extent after 1945 and primarily the announcements by Insel Verlag, which appeared from 1951 to 1977, mostly in spring and autumn, also served as a guide for the IB. Some titles were announced several times, but the publication was repeatedly postponed, which was mainly due to planned economy deficiencies.
However, other IBs were no longer edited at all - here the authors were generally no longer politically or even politically politically opportune: the poet and editor and, from 1949–1962, editor-in-chief of the magazine Sinn und Form , Peter Huchel , got involved in the mid-1950s increasingly in conflict with art and culture doctrine in the GDR. His volume of poetry, announced as IB 654 in 1958 and 1959, was accordingly not published; In 1961, Balzac's “The Girl with the Gold Eyes” was published with this number. As early as 1954, "Spanische Erzählungen" by Rudolf Leonhard , the writer and alleged father of Wolfgang Leonhard , was announced as IB 584 in the list of novelty preview - there was no publication. Finally, Hans Bethge's “Indian Journey” (IB 632) did not come on the counter either, despite the fact that this IB was announced in 1956 and 1958.
The series of unpublished IB titles includes: a. nor the Paul Éluard, sometimes announced without an IB number, with “Gedichte. Poèmes ”, Federico García Lorca with“ Bernarda Albas Haus ”, Bertolt Brecht with the“ Threepenny Opera ”, Charles-Louis Philippe with“ Charles Blanchard ”(IB 635) and Pierre-Jean de Béranger with“ Chansons ”(IB 673). Here, however, technical motives for the non-appearance may have been decisive, as the authors were otherwise published by Insel Verlag or other GDR publishers.
Re-editions of pre-war titles were also affected by the announcement and non-appearance. Klaus Groth's Quickborn (IB 451) was listed as IB 671 in 1959 with illustrations by Otto Speckter , for Storm's novella “ Zur Chronik von Grieshuus ” (IB 211/2) was 1958 and for Calderon's “Schulze von Zalamea” (IB 354) 1958 and 1959 announced the planned appearance.

The destroyed "Heartfield Edition"

Imprint of IB 1023/1

Title page excerpt from the destroyed IB 1023/1, J. Heartfield: Photomontages

Regardless of the given in the DDR shortage of materials, which was reflected in limited paper allocations to the publishing houses and partly low quality, strong mechanical paper, there were 1979 maceration of green sheets of a fully printed in 25 000 copies new release - which provided as IB 1023/1 Title John Heartfield : Photomontages from 1924 to 1944 , edited by Roland März .
The background to the spoiling campaign, probably unprecedented in the history of the Insel-Bücherei, were complaints from the artist's widow, with whom the selection of the original photomontages from the artist's estate intended for the volume was coordinated: the one by the Leipzig photographer Wolfgang G. Schröter The color photographs of the photomontages produced were retouched in the publishing house in such a way that the workshop character of the glued photomontages was completely lost in the printed panels. The panels were also printed exclusively in black and white, although a proportion of color panels had been agreed with the publisher.
An originally intended, corrected reprint of the title never came about. Only some Rohbogen for correction purposes have been preserved, and there were publishing other individual items as copies with proposed for this edition orange, with a diagonal letters rapport "HHH- ..." the initial untied the artist, printed pattern paper. Remnants of the sample paper were still used for very small binding rates from 3 other titles in the series, but upside down out of respect for the artist. The band number was then finally re-used in 1982 with Isaac Bashevis Singer's Der Spinoza von der Marktstrasse .

Shop prices in GDR bookstores

Belt type	Constant retail price	Manufacturing costs 1978	Manufacturing costs 1982	Manufacturing cost 1985
Text tape	1.25	2.10	2.60	3.20
Double text band	2.50	3, -	3.70	4.20
Illustrated book	1.25	3.90	4.75	5.45

The selling price of the GDR volumes was only 1.25 marks and then later also 2.50 marks for larger titles (so-called double volumes), which are listed for the first time in the publisher's directory for 1962 at "2.50 DM". This is why the Insel-Bücherei enjoyed brisk sales in the GDR and was always quickly sold out despite first editions of usually 10–20,000 text volumes and 20–30,000 illustrated volumes. The downside of the low price, which originated from the time of the Second World War and which was maintained in the GDR due to the state price control despite justified requests for changes from the publisher to the responsible office for prices , was a programmed loss of the publisher for almost every issue of Island Library.

DAS INSEL-SCHIFF, improvised mini-edition for the book trade (Insel Verlag Leipzig 1990, pp. 2 and 3)

At most, for the double volumes marked with a "D" on the spine label, at least the production costs could be redeemed until 1978. For all other island volumes, the profits from the sales of the other book editions of the publisher were used as a subsidy. For this, between 1.95 marks (1978) and 4.20 marks (1985) had to be spent per illustrated book and 0.85 marks (1978) and 2.65 marks (1985) for a simple text book. Even the double volume cost 4.75 marks to manufacture after the 2nd industrial price reform in the GDR in 1985, almost twice as much as its retail price. Only in the final phase of the GDR, before the beginning of the Leipzig spring fair in March 1990, did the Leipzig publishing house announce an adjustment of the band prices. According to this, from September 1, 1990, single volumes (double volumes) 7, - and illustrated volumes 8, - Mark, also with reference to the prices already demanded in the modern antiquarian bookstore in the GDR, which were above the original retail price . Due to the reunification policy announced by the GDR government elected on March 18, 1990 , the changed pricing policy no longer came into effect. The remaining volumes of the Leipzig program from 1990 were then sold at the prices established by Insel Verlag Frankfurt / Main for the Insel library.

In 1975, from IB 1002/1 ( Ibsen : Die Wildente ), the retail price was added to the imprint as “ EVP ” in “ M ”. Shortly afterwards, the price information was supplemented with IB 1007/1 ( Kunert : Kinobesuch ) with the note “GDR”, since the price printed in the book was not valid for sales outside the GDR; In some cases, the word “EPP” has been omitted. The price quotation was reduced in 1984, starting with IB 1060 ( Rubens : Drawings ), to a purely numerical imprint "00125" or "00250" for double volumes, ie without country and currency information, according to the practice generally introduced in the GDR book trade. This only lasted until 1988 at the Insel-Bücherei; For the first time, IB 1082 ( Rühmkorf : Kleine Fleckenkunde ) no longer had any price pressure.

Export of the series

IB 1089, Alexander Olbricht : Drawings , shrink-wrapped for book export

The series was delivered to many member states of the Council for Mutual Economic Aid at GDR domestic prices. Due to the language barrier, the numbers were only small. In addition, the IB was distributed abroad via the GDR's cultural and information centers, the first of which was opened in Prague in 1956, followed by Warsaw in 1957 and other Eastern Bloc capitals. Most of these were purchased by GDR tourists, business travelers from the GDR or GDR students abroad , which ultimately brought them back to the GDR. The ribbons often have price details stamped in the respective foreign currency.

A noteworthy export to the so-called non - socialist currency area (NSW) for the purpose of generating foreign currency was only available to the old Federal Republic to serve the collectors of the series and other people interested in literature. These exported island books were significantly more expensive than in the GDR. This was also reflected in two versions of the Insel Verlag's annual and semi-annual programs. While the editions intended for the domestic market contained the IB prices unchanged since 1945, the foreign editions, which were often printed on significantly better paper, showed the export prices. In 1964, for example, “text volumes DM 3.80, single-color picture and music volumes DM 3.80, multi-color picture and double volumes DM 4.50”, ie just as much as the Frankfurt editions. These prices can sometimes be found in the Leipzig publishing houses' directories until the 1980s, although German prices had already risen noticeably in the meantime .

In the 1980s, some of the export titles were sealed with a foil to protect the sensitive ribbons from damage in transit. These editions were still to be found in bookshops in the old Federal Republic for some time after reunification.

West German publishing house since 1945

First post-war directory of the Insel library of the Wiesbaden branch from 1950 (IB 1-548)

Establishment of the Wiesbaden branch

In April 1945 Anton Kippenberg founded a branch of the Insel-Verlag in Wiesbaden , in which the Insel library was to play a dominant role again. The publishing license with the number 13, which is found in the imprint of the former publishing production, Friedrich Michael received on 12 September 1945 by the American occupation forces. Although the Wiesbaden branch initially had to cut back on the design of the ribbons - there were only brochures until 1950 - two new publications were already published in 1946 with Jacob Burckhardt : Briefe (IB 331/2) and in 1947 with Molière : Tartuffe (IB 76/2) be delivered to the book trade. In 1948, however, as in Leipzig, there were only reprints of older titles. After Kippenberg's death in 1950, his long-time colleague Gotthard de Beauclair was initially artistic director, then publishing director of the house (1951–1962). The publishing house was relocated to Frankfurt am Main on October 5, 1960 . On April 30 of the same year, the shareholders had decided to make the West German publishing house independent under commercial law, so that the Leipzig part had now become a "branch" of Wiesbaden and then of Frankfurt.

Issue priorities

In the Federal Republic of Germany , Insel Verlag felt in the 1950s and 1960s, on the one hand, the artists and writers ostracized in Nazi Germany , especially those of German Expressionism , such as Ernst Ludwig Kirchner : Im Tanzcafé (IB 770), Franz Marc : Tierstudien (IB 567/1) or the painter (s) of the bridge. Colored greetings from Erich Heckel , Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Max Pechstein , Karl Schmidt-Rottluff to Rosa Schapire (IB 678/1), and on the other hand connected to modern authors from Western Europe and America. Works by Oskar Loerke (IB 733: The old venture of the poem ), Sigmund Freud (IB 817: The Moses of Michelangelo ), Franz Kafka (IB 662/1: The Metamorphosis ), Carl Einstein were now also available in the Insel-Bücherei (IB 801: Bebuquin ) or Karl Kraus (IB 688/1: Die Sprache ) appear. Thomas Mann (IB 637/1: The Sea Voyage ; IB 815: Paris Account) and Stefan Zweig (IB 165/2: Sternstunden ; IB 349/1: The Eyes of the Eternal Brother ) were again included in the series program.

In the publishing magazine Inselschiff 1/1966 the publisher even announced a title for 1966 as IB 883 Karl Marx : About Contemporaries , which was to be published by Claus Behnke. In his place, however, Artmann's transcriptions of poems by François Villons in the Viennese dialect Baladn did not appear until 1968 .

Contemporary representatives of German-language poetry or prose included u. a. Heinrich Böll (IB 647/1: In the valley of thundering hooves ; IB 768: When the war broke out ), Peter Gan (Richard Moering) (IB 628/1: Price of Things ), Robert Minder (IB 771: Culture and Literature in Germany and France ), Rudolf Hagelstange (IB 687/1: Ballad of Buried Life ), Ina Seidel (IB 668/1: Poems ), Gertrud von le Fort (IB 615/1: The Consolata ; 657/1: Plus ultra ) , Reinhold Schneider (IB 741: Las Casas before Karl V ), Günter Eich (IB 667/1: Allah has a hundred names ) or Arno Schmidt (IB 818: The resettlers ). With poetry transcriptions from Shakespeare (IB 898: Twenty-One Sonnets ) and Jules Supervielle (IB 932: Poems ) , Paul Celan from Bukovina was also included in the series. Surprisingly, Ernst Bertram , whose license to teach was revoked in 1946 because of his attitude during the National Socialist era, spoke again with IB 154/2: Poems and Sayings and with several titles as editor (e.g. IB 235 / D: Lenau , IB 579/1: Jean Paul ).

With the 1908/09 composition, Fifteen Poems from “The Book of Hanging Gardens ” by Stefan George , a representative of twelve-tone music , Arnold Schönberg (IB 683/1), was represented in the Insel-Bücherei, according to the series character Sheet music was only very rarely edited.

Examples of foreign language authors include: Virginia Woolf (IB 714: The Lady in the Mirror ), Lewis Carroll (IB 896: Alice in Wonderland ; IB 934: The Hunt for the Snark ), Tibor Déry (IB 677/1: The Riese ), Paul Valéry (IB 642/1: The Crisis of the Spirit ; IB 808: The Young Parze ), Jorge Luis Borges (IB 822: The Zahir and Other Stories ) or the Nobel Laureate in Literature Miguel Asturias (IB 704: Legends from Guatemala ), TS Eliot (IB 661/1: The desert land ) and Albert Camus (IB 686/1: Jonas or the artist at work ).

Older successful titles saw ongoing new editions. These include B. Poems by Rainer Maria Rilke (IB 400 and 480), The Sacrifice by Rudolf G. Binding (IB 23), The Marionette Theater by Heinrich von Kleist (IB 481) or Von dem Fischer un syner Fru , a fairy tale based on Runge with pictures by Marcus Behmer (IB 315), which was later supplemented with a retelling by Uwe Johnson .

Acquisition and outsourcing of titles

Originally not intended for the IB, Insel-Verlag editions were initially too expensive in terms of equipment or volume for the fixed retail price (IB 1027/2 - German Christmas carols with notes and pictures [1981 in the IB; already 1937 out of series published]) were taken over with subsequent editions for longer-term classification in the series, after the calculation of the sales price of the ribbons, which rose to DM 24 in 2001, allowed this. The series takeover also applied to unsold residual stocks of titles that were initially not supposed to appear in the Insel-Bücherei for publishing reasons (IB 292/2 - Christopher Marlowe : Die tragische Historie vom Doktor Faustus [1953 in the IB; already 1949 out of sequence]). Likewise, remnants of partial editions of original series titles, which were temporarily published outside the series in a simpler configuration, were bound with the typical series features - cardboard tape with title and spine label.

Conversely, in the course of the series' sales difficulties in the 1970s and 1980s, the opposite tendency occurred. H. a spin-off of many of the titles in the series, which then continued to appear as a paperback island paperback (it) - often in an expanded format and at a lower retail price - such as IB 891 - Irish Elf Tales (1966 in the IB, from 1987: it 988) or IB 1077/2 - Eliza Orzeszkowa : Flower Wedding (1977 in the IB, from 2000: it 2397).

Store prices

When the series began in 1912, an island book cost 0.50 marks . At the end of the Second World War in 1945, the band price had more than doubled to 1.25 marks , so it had remained relatively constant. The price constancy given for the Leipzig publishing house under planned economy maxims naturally could not find any parallel under market economy conditions in the Federal Republic at the Wiesbaden / Frankfurt publishing house. After the aforementioned first post-war novelties (IB 331/2 and 76/2) from the currency reform in 1948 and also the next novelty, IB 218/2, Molière : Menschenfeind , published in 1949 , when paperboard bindings only cost 1 DM until 1950 , the band prices rose thereafter continuously. This can be read almost completely up to the present day using the advertising materials and general directories created by Insel Verlag. In the latter in particular, the announced novelties were listed with their retail prices, whereas the books themselves never bore a price note, as can be seen from the peel-off price labels with barcodes that have recently been stuck to the back of the tape and those for advertising purposes on the front covers of the price stickers attached to reduced-price special editions.

While the price increase was still quite moderate in line with the general price development in the economic boom of the 1950s and 1960s, it then experienced a noticeable acceleration. In this context, however, the differences in pricing with regard to the features of the ribbons were significantly leveled out. In contrast to the uniform price setting for all series volumes up to 1945, the sales price in the Federal Republic was initially based on whether it was a mere text volume, one with illustrations, an illustrated book or even a colored illustrated book, this distinction became established in the mid-1960s no longer made, especially since the classic illustrated book had largely disappeared. In accordance with the advanced printing technology, colored illustrations have now been placed directly in the text. The main thing now was the scope of the belt, which led to price ranges for the same equipment. In 1966, for example, the new text volumes Poems of the Archipoeta (IB 887) and Edwin Fischer's Piano Sonatas (IB 857) cost 4.50 Marks, as did the Maya manuscript containing 24 colored tablets (IB 462/2). In contrast, Brecht's love poems (IB 852) and Diderot's mystifications with Picasso drawings (IB 885) were available for only 3 marks.

Assuming the first cardboard volumes in 1952 at 2 DM, the retail price had quadrupled by 1971. At the time of reunification in 1990 it was DM 18, and by the time the euro was introduced in 2002 it had passed the DM 24.80 mark, which was equivalent to around € 12.80. By the 2012 series anniversary, € 13.95 (DM 27.30) had been reached, which corresponded to a very moderate price increase of almost 10% in that decade. In 2013, however, the most expensive ribbons already cost 14.95 € (29.25 DM). The leather editions, which have been published annually since 1992, have increased noticeably from the equivalent of € 50.10 (DM 98) to € 78 (DM 153) in 2013. For the development of retail prices in the Insel-Bücherei, see the table below. Overall, the prices of the Insel-Bücherei have increased fifteenfold since 1952, although it must be taken into account that the equipment of the series volumes has reached a completely new level. Despite an overall increase in income, the essayist Josef Hofmillers' assessment of the current retail prices after the publication of the first 50 volumes, after which he became the lovers of the series and a. thinks as "young people whose stock market is smaller than their hunger for spiritual food" no longer quite do justice. Nevertheless, as far as can be seen, they have so far not done anything to diminish the demand for series ribbons, which has risen significantly recently.

Island library after the German reunification in 1990

General information on row development

In the old Federal Republic of Germany, due to the changed situation on the book market, the number of copies and the number of editions were reduced from the 1960s onwards, whereas in the GDR the broad range of the series was maintained and high print runs were achieved. Nonetheless, the "Insel-Bücherei" represented one of the bridges over the cultural-political differences between the two German states up to 1990 that arose as a result of the German post-war development, which kept alive the idea of ​​a common literature and a common publishing system in Germany during its division. As a result of German reunification, the Insel-Bücherei was able to appear again in 1991 as a uniform series of the now reunified Insel Verlag Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig and has since enjoyed a new upswing. Since then, the series has been published annually with around twelve new titles in normal format, six each in spring and autumn, at a price of around 14 euros (as of 2017), with the maintenance of smaller current works and the publication of selected titles from the works of Johann Wolfgang by Goethe and Rainer Maria Rilke form an editorial focus. Because of the closure of the Leipzig branch and the relocation of Insel Verlag from Frankfurt / Main to Berlin , this publishing location has been listed in the legal notice of Insel-Bücher since 2010 .

Since 2012, the series has also included large and small-format volumes that cost € 16, € 18 and € 8, respectively. Their separate numbering, which begins with the numbers 2001 and 2501, can only be found inside the band. Beginning with the anniversary program “100 Years of the Insel-Bücherei”, so-called special editions of very successful series titles are published at a price of 8 or 10 €, in which the volumes were merely given a redesigned cover and initially a new volume number without any change in content. Not least due to critical voices from the collectors, from 2014 the publisher reverted to their original numbers for the special edition volumes, which, however - as with the two special formats - are only given inside the volume; the title labels only bear the designation "Insel-Bücherei" without specifying the volume number. Collectors of the series can thus fall back on a numerically complete series even without these volumes and the two special formats.

Series program from 1990 to the series anniversary 2012

• Reunification time

At the beginning of the 1990s, in addition to the Frankfurt program, some of the volumes prepared in the Leipzig branch were also completed. This can be seen from the author or editor status and design. In 1991, drawings by the painter Robert Sterl (IB 1095) appeared, initially as the last classic illustrated book in the series, apart from two stragglers edited in 1995 and 1996: IB 1152, "The Naumburg Cathedral", a modified new edition of IB 505, and IB 1166, “Abstract Image 825–11” by Gerhard Richter , edited by Hans Ulrich Obrist . In the Frankfurt publishing house, this equipment variant had basically come to an end as early as 1988 with the IB 1104, "Oskar Schlemmer, die Fensterbilder" published by Reinhold Hohl . Before IB 1095, the “Heidelberger Totentanz von 1485” (IB 1092) published by Manfred Lemmer was also published in black and white . Finally, one of the titles planned in Leipzig is the volume of poetry, “Fäden ins Nothing,” with German-language poetry from Bukovina (IB 1097), published in 1991 by the Leipzig literary scholar Klaus Werner.

• 1990s

From 1992 onwards, the series largely followed the main editions of the Frankfurt publishing program. Its focus has always been on Goethe and Rilke, to whom one or more volumes were almost always dedicated in the following two decennia in the annual program. In 1994 the publisher presented a selection from Goethe's lyrical work in a four-volume, illustrated edition in a jewelery slipcase (IB 1144–1147). Several titles brought works of shorter scope with new equipment ("The tables on the theory of colors and their explanation" [IB 1140], "The new Melusine " [IB 1198] or "Sketch for a description of Winckelmann ", IB 1149). Dagmar von Gersdorff (“Goethe's first great love Lili Schönemann” [IB 1229], “Goethe's late love” [IB 1265]) and Wolfgang Frühwald (“Goethe's wedding”, IB 1294) dealt with individual biographical events in Goethe's life . Finally, the island publisher Siegfrid Unseld himself contributed the successful title "Goethe and the Ginkgo" (IB 1188) to this topic, which was made clear by the volumes "The History of the Duchess Anna Amalia Library " (IB 1293) and "Das Weimarer Residenzschloß " ( IB 1324) is added. With Rilke, too, there were rediscoveries of smaller individual works (“The White Princess” [IB 1182], “Worpswede” [IB 1208]) as well as several selections of poems (“In a strange park” [IB 1129] or “How should I mean Keeping the soul ”[IB 1150]) and letters (“ About God ”[IB 1160],“ Christmas letters to the mother ”[IB 1153]). Ute Voss examined Rilke's special relationship with the painter Balthus ("The Katzenkönig der Kinder", IB 1305). And the legendary number 1 also achieved another 6 editions from 1991 to 2006.

In keeping with the character of the series, which had always given German poetry its due space, poets who came from both parts of reunified Germany continued to have their say alongside the classics. Examples of the old Federal Republic are Karl Krolow (“The Handful of Sand”, IB 1223), Peter Rühmkorf (“Wake Up and Finding”, IB 1288) or Hans Magnus Enzensberger (“Natural Poems”, IB 1257) or the former territory of the GDR originating from Dresden Thomas Rosenlöcher ( "the wayside is Apollo," IB 1224) and Uwe Tellkamp ( "journey to the blue city," IB 1323) and the still in 1988 from the GDR be traveled Uwe Kolbe ( "This woman," IB 1297). Of the German narrators of the present "Dealing with Hölderlin" (IB 1176) and "The Noble came with two titles among others Martin Walser Hecker " (IB 1197), Peter Rühmkorf with "waking up and retrieval" (IB 1288), Hermann Lenz with “Hotel Memoria” (IB 111) or Robert Gernhardt with “roller coaster” (IB 1116) have their say. Foreign poets from the past and present also enriched the series. From Far Eastern poetry there was Tao Yüan-ming (“Peach blossom source”, IB 1091) and the collection “Bamboo rain. Haiku and woodcuts ”(IB 1124). European poetry was u. a. by Ted Hughes ("Prometheus on his rock", IB 1230), Michelangelo Buonarroti ("Forty-two Sonnets", IB 1235), Adam Mickiewicz ("Dich an sich an", IB 1192) or Pushkin ("The Iron Rider", IB 1195) represented.

"Fritz Kocher's Essays" (IB 1057) had already been published by the Swiss author Robert Walser in the Leipzig publishing house in 1983 after the first edition in 1904 by Insel Verlag. These stories appeared again with a different epilogue (IB 1118), followed by three other works by Walser, including “The Walk” (IB 1106), for which the publisher had advertised an illustration competition in 1989, and “Märchenspiele” (IB 1191) were. The first edition of titles with letters and documents by the two composers Beethoven (IB 241, 346/2) and Schubert (IB 168/2) before the Second World War was resumed with IB 1134 and IB 1167 and volumes for Johannes Brahms (IB 1171) and Richard Strauss (IB 1204) added.

Foreign-language epics were also presented in the IB, as in the past. Only examples can be mentioned here: Samuel Beckett with (“Lang nach Chamfort”, IB 1246), James Joyce (“Ulysses”, IB 1255), Oleg Jurjew (“Twenty facets of Russian nature”, IB 1307), Carlos Ruiz Zafón (" Gaudí in Manhattan", IB 1318).

The dominant artist in the field of "fine arts", which can only be mentioned as an example, was Pablo Picasso after 1990, who had already been awarded IB ribbons by both publishing houses. He was a new member of the series as an illustrator. a. with IB 1102 (Picasso / Eluard: "Le visage de la paix. The face of peace"), IB 1174 (Karl Krolow: "Poems that speak of love") and IB 1245 (Picasso / Pindar: "Eighth Pythian Ode") ); The title Honoré de Balzacs, illustrated by him, was continued: "The Unknown Masterpiece" (IB 1031/2) with the 3rd to 5th edition (1992). Picasso's artist personality and work were dedicated to other volumes, such as “The face of the muse. A picture and its pre-pictures ”(IB 1217),“ Picasso goes for a walk ”(IB 1258) and“ Dora Maar and Pablo Picasso ”(IB 1298). The French painter Henri Matisse was the focus of two titles - IB 1226 ("Magic Festival of Light. Henri Matisse in Morocco") and IB 1334 ("The Atelier in the Green. Henri Matisse - The Years in Issy"). Finally, the series presented Marc Chagall's text and etchings “My Life” (IB 1206) and the work “Die Träumenden Knaben” (IB 1170) written and drawn by Oskar Kokoschka in 1907.

• IB from the turn of the millennium

At the turn of the millennium, gift books found their way into the publishing program. Gisela Lindner, for example , discussed the appearance and effect of primary colors in art ("Blue, the heavenly color" [IB 1214], "Red - the color of love" [IB 1248], "Green - the color of life" [ IB 1304]) and the " Red Poppy " (IB 1183), the change in the garden over the course of the seasons by Johannes Roth ("Gartenlust im Herbst" [IB 1346], "Gartenlust im Frühling" [IB 1353]) or by Martina Hochheimer and Maria-Therese Tietmeyer the diverse floral flora (including "And the Flowers of Summer" [IB 1219] and "Flower Stars" [IB 1311] and "White Flowers" [IB 1317]).

• Anniversary year 2012

The anniversary year of 2012 largely saw the incorporation of well-known titles under new numbers (IB 1356–1365), but also presented a volume of poetry by Nobel Prize winner Günter Grass ("Lifelong", IB 1343), who otherwise had his publishing home at Steidl Verlag , a new edition of the story "Unter den Linden" by Christa Wolfs (IB 1355), published in 1974 by Aufbau-Verlag, or the legendary Rilke title "Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke", but now as IB 1350 and for the first time illustrated with mezzotints by Karl-Georg Hirsch .

Series program from 2013

2013

In 2013, several round birthdays offered occasions for issuing : the 250th of Jean Paul ( Des Feldpredigers Schmelzle Reise nach Flätz , IB 1375), the 200th of Georg Büchner ( Ernst Büchner : Attempted suicide with pins , IB 1372) and Richard Wagner ( Dietrich Mack : Wagner's Women , IB 1373), the 100th by Meret Oppenheim ( Why I love my shoes , edited by Christiane Meyer-Thoss, IB 1374) and the 60th by Ralf Rothmann ( stars below , IB 1382). For the first time there were small formats with the collection of poems encouragement (IB 2501) and later in the year “Von drauss' vom Walde” (IB 2502). With the large format u. a. Anna Akhmatova : I live from the moon (IB 2003) and Chekhov: The lady with the dog (IB 2005, new translation: Barbara Conrad , illustrations: Hans Traxler ). In the final 32nd episode, the lovers of the series were presented with another bulletin on various topics in their field of collection. The autumn volume Pong redivivus by Lewitscharoff / Meckseper (IB 1383) also came in leather. New discoveries were the grandson of the former GDR leader Erich Honecker , Roberto Yáñez ( spring rain , IB 1384), the comic artist Nicolas Mahler ( poems , IB 1385) and Cees Nooteboom ( Venetian vignettes , IB 1386) , who returned to Chile in 1990 . The reduced-price special edition series was continued, e.g. B. for only 8 € (including Peter Bichsel : December stories , IB 1388).

2014

There were twelve normal formats. With IB 1395 from Albert Ostermaier , wing change. Football odes , with pictures by Florian Süssmayr and a foreword by Oliver Kahn , the football World Cup in Brazil was paid homage to. For the first time, Robert Walser's family drama Der Teich (IB 1396), with illustrations by Christian Thanhäuser, was published in a bilingual “German- Swiss German ” edition . Further were u. a. to be found in the program: Max Beckmann : Apocalypse , with an afterword by the former Federal Minister of Education Annette Schavan (IB 1397), Hans Magnus Enzensberger : Disappeared , with drawings by Jonathan Penca (IB 1398), literary images Unter Teufeln (IB 1392) with illustrations by Jonathan Meese and Aristophanes Lysistrate (IB 1401 - already 1972 as Lysistrata under IB 967) - the new translation by Ludwig Seeger dates back to 1845 - illustrated by Picasso. For Jon Baumhauer's 70th birthday , volume number 1332 was now available under the title Seismograph , a short biography of the publisher Kurt Wolff by Raimund Fellinger with a comparison of the two book series Der Jüngste Tag and Insel-Bücherei from the beginning of the 20th century from a publisher's point of view . Another edition of Wildes Gespenst von Canterville - previously IB 390 with illustrations by Hans Alexander Müller (1888–1962) - was occupied by volume 1381, which was now illustrated by Aljoscha Blau .
The large format series (4 volumes) brought u. a. Dickens' Christmas Eve , newly translated by Eike Schönfeld and illustrated by Flix (IB 2010) and for gourmets Das Marmeladenbuch by Véronique Witzigmann (IB 2008), while in small format (4 volumes) and a. Poems and Thoughts of Sorrow, Ready to Say Goodbye (IB 2503), were launched.
The special editions now appeared under the previous IB number with a corresponding note on the back of the title page. From now on, the volume has been omitted from the title and back labels. A novelty - probably an oversight on the part of the publisher - should be noted here: If these previously only received new covers with identical content to the previous editions, Dickens: The New Year's Eve bells now also have new illustrations by Selda Marlin Soganci , which won the 2003 children's and youth book award of the City of Vienna , so that it is a new variant , IB 89 / D. This would actually have required an outwardly visible and probably new volume number. The unnumbered volume Every day is a new beginning appeared as the calendar for 2015 .

Spring 2015

In the number sequence, a new edition of Mörikes Mozart on the trip to Prague (up to the 250th thousand the title ran under IB 230), now illustrated for the first time with the sensitive watercolors by Hans Baumhauer , reached volume 1406. Among the only four text novelties, u. a. Goethe's Venice (IB 1404) by Mathias Mayer, Hesse's hike (IB 1403) and Rilke's image contemplations gathered in the first moment . The Himmelsleiter (IB 1405) from Meyer-Tasch / Meyerhofer has been slightly expanded and is now offered under number 1405 (2005 as IB 1272). The large format presented itself with something historical: Merian's insect book (IB 2012) and fables (IB 2013), for which Reinhard Michl provided colorful illustrations. The two small formats include Buddhist wisdom as the Blue Mountain and White Cloud (IIB 2506). A calendar for 2016 and a notebook to fill with your own thoughts with a slogan on the title plate by Max Frisch complete the program.

Fall 2015

The French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry , whose term of protection expired at the end of 2014, was announced four times in Insel Verlag's preview for autumn 2015 : In addition to the small-format title Confession of a Friendship (IB 2508), readers are said to be probably his best-known work, The little prince , to be presented in 3 variants. In addition to the normal and special edition in leather binding (IB 1410) - the translation was done by the philosopher Peter Sloterdijk - it was also to appear in English as “Little Prince” (IB 1411). With the latter volume, the publisher is following on from the foreign-language series of pages from the Insel-Bücherei, Pandora , which appeared with separate numbering in 1920 and 1921 during the inflationary period, but was discontinued after 52 volumes due to a lack of sales in a difficult economic environment. With Edmund Spenser's sonnets Die Lilienhand in the translation of Alexander Nitzberg (IB 1412) and Brecht's erotic poems When I went from you afterwards (IB 1408), the publisher focuses on poetry. For the first time in the series, the extremely versatile and productive author Johann Heinrich Merck is represented with Literary [n] Briefe [n] (IB 1409). Finally, IB 1413 from Matthias Reiner (ed.) Is still waiting: When there was still real winter. With photographs by Isolde Ohlbaum on buyers. In the large format, in addition to the gingerbread book by Hans Hipp, which gives an insight into the cultural history and various recipes of this pastry, which is particularly valued at Christmas time (IB 2015), Till Eulenspiegel (IB 2014) again with thirty pranks and fools, which Clemens J. Setz, retold and illustrated by Philip Waechter , came to the counter. An Eulenspiegel volume with contemporary woodcuts under the title Ein Kurzweiliglesen vom Till Ulenspiegel , compiled by Christian Heinrich Kleukens , had already caused a sensation in the Leipzig publishing house by 1955 and had a circulation of 105,000 copies. The third large volume Theaterleben (IB 2016), which at € 18 leaves the previous price level of € 16 for this format, features portraits of actors, among others. a. by Lars Eidinger , Ulrich Matthes and Nina Hoss , with photos by Margarita Broich , who can contribute insider knowledge as an actress, and texts by Brigitte Landes. There are also 4 one-time special editions. These include Peter Bichsel's Eisenbahnfahrten (IB 1227) and Wilhelm Müller's Winterreise (IB 1333). Insel Verlag has postponed the publication of IB 1410 and 1411 (The Little Prince) to spring 2016, although initially only IB 1411 was announced again; In the planned leather edition, too, the IB 1409 volume with letters from Merck will take its place, with the edition only being 500 numbered copies (2014: 650). In return the long overdue title of Peter Handke Notebook No. 4 (IB 1367) has finally been delivered. However, The Little Prince has not completely disappeared from the autumn delivery: it has now appeared in large format with illustrations by Nicolas Mahler (IB 2017), so that this format has 4 titles.

Spring 2016

The volumes announced by the publisher in December 2015 for publication on March 2, 2016 are except for the small-format Discover yourself! by Hermann Hesse (IB 2511) all published . There are six ribbons in the classic IB format, most of which are provided with illustrations. Among these are IB 1419, Mark Twain : The awful German language , and IB 1411, the English version of Exupéry's “Little Prince” - it was already announced for the autumn delivery of 2015 - two completely foreign-language titles. The publisher had already published Baudelaire's Vers choisis des Fleurs du mal (IB 119/1), a purely French-language title , in 1914, in the early days of the IB . On the other hand, the Pandora series , the foreign language series of pages published in 1920/21 on the IB, failed and was discontinued after 52 volumes - the economic and cultural-political framework conditions were probably too unfavorable for the ambitious project at the time. So without having to take on the risk of a whole special series again today - depending on the audience response, it can sprinkle individual titles into the IB series program - the publisher is again following the edition of foreign-language volumes in the IB and at the same time refers to the text on the wash slip on IB 1411 on the inspiration for this edition from the interrelationships between IB and King Penguin Books . Cyrus Atabay
has again transferred poems by Hafiz , and Josua Reiche illustrated the volume (IB 1415). In terms of content, the volume of aphorisms by Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, which was published very successfully with over 200,000 copies in the series as IB 543 to date, was given a new cover and title ( A Whole Book - A Whole Life ) as IB 1414 on the 100th anniversary of her death edited. The other editions also include new names in the IB: Augusto Monterroso with Gesammelte Werke (and other stories) , illustrated by Nicolas Mahler (IB 1417), or Adolph Freiherr von Knigge : About dealing with people ; the volume edited by Marion Poschmann was illustrated by Irmela Schautz (IB 1416). The series also grows by two small-format volumes. The three large formats - Exupéry's fourth announced volume was published in 2015 - include pictures and letters from Queen Luise (IB 2019), a new edition by Tschingis Aitmatows Dshamilja (previously 4 editions as IB 773), which are now illustrated with illustrations by Stefanie Harjes (IB 2009), and the story Sonntag by Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa - the translation was done by Thomas Brovot and the illustrations by Kat Menschik (IB 2018). Finally, there are again four special editions of successful IB titles in the new colored paper guise. The sales prices of all formats largely correspond to those of the previous year.

Fall 2016

Christiane Vulpius ' marriage to Goethe is analyzed by Wolfgang Frühwald in IB 1420 ( The community with Christiane Vulpius ), which is to appear on the occasion of her 200th birthday. The IB also picks up on the upcoming Luther year 2017 and offers a selection from his table speeches (IB 1421), illustrated by Michael Triegel . The volume was also bound in leather in a small edition as a special edition for bibliophiles. The well-known title Das Bett-Buch - actually a children's book - by Sylvia Plath is now also intended to inspire lovers of the island library in two languages, to which the illustrations by Rotraut Susanne Berner should contribute. Dickens Christmas tale A Christmas Carol , previously row represented as a translation in large format IB in 2010, was unchanged facilities now in the normal size as IB 1426 in the English original version of a Penguin Books printed output. It is now the third volume of its kind in the IB in recent times. With the title Shell with Landscape , an exploration in pictures and texts by the master of the colored pencil drawing Ulrich Moritz , the IB number 1427 was finally achieved. Two large and two small formats round off the program. The number is at IB 2016 (La Fontaine fables with illustrations by Chagall ) and IB 2513 (Schmid: From the joys of parents and grandparents , illustrated by Kat Menschik ). Finally, the cover variants grew by another 4 special editions, including a large-format volume for the first time, which accordingly costs 12 €. For the coming year a calendar ( There are so beautiful things in the world ) was presented again, which also offers a variety of references.

Spring 2017

The publisher has announced eight volumes in the classic format for March 1, 2017. Among other things, the IB 1434 illustrated by Hans Traxler honors the 275th birthday of the aphorist Georg Christoph Lichtenbergs . With rose poems (illustrations: Christina Kraus), IB 1428, the long series of gift volumes is linked to, which can also be assigned to Kate Greenaway 's volume “Children's Games” (IB 1429) from the Victorian era . After the anthology “Die Karawane” (IB 424) from 1932 and the fairy tale “The Cold Heart” (IB 1105), Wilhelm Hauff is back in the series with “ The Dwarf Nose ” (IB 1430). The publisher is also adding another English-language title: Max Frisch's “Questionnaire” (IB 1435), with which readers can also check their personal relationship with friendship if they have 25 questions. Small-format cat stories illustrated by Isabel Pin (IB 2514) appear alongside the aforementioned dog lanyard, and in large format Theodor Storm's “A Double” (IB 2023) is intended to commemorate his 200th birthday. Traditionally, four special editions of successful IB titles are presented in new covers. The sales prices of all formats largely correspond to those of the previous year. The publisher now supplies six pencils ( HB ) in the IB set with the empty “notebook” so that the IB reader can perhaps become a new author.

Fall 2017

Now the excursion into the relationship between man and dog in painting, which was still outstanding from the spring, is being delivered under the title “Some Dogs” by Jan Philipp Reemtsma (IB 1432). On Theodor Storm's 200th birthday, after the large volume in 2023, the fairy tale “ Der kleine Häwelmann ”, which is already available in many editions as IB 1441, with illustrations by the Wuppertal artist Ulrike Möltgen, also found its way into the island library in the spring delivery; according to IB 530 / A ( Hans im Glück ), an IB title label again bears a written title. The author duo Sibylle Lewitscharoff / Friedrich Meckseper presented another pong band in the IB with “Pong at the Event Horizon” (IB 1437) ; This is also available as a leather special edition. The representation of individual works by Rilke, which has long been maintained by the publishing house in the Insel-Bücherei, is supplemented by the description of Rodin's watercolors (IB 1440, “These perfect marvels”). The English series in the IB, which has been running since 2016, is served with Shakespeare's “Love Poems” (IB 1443). Already with his 5th IB volume (“Vom Schenken und Beschenkenbaren”, IB 2517) the philosopher Wilhelm Schmid deals with another aspect of everyday life. The large volumes, which have thus reached volume number 2026, have 3 novelties. However, Stifter's " Bergkristall " (IB 2025, illustrations: Gerda Raidt ) and "Gullivers Reisen" by Swift (IB 2026, retelling: Doron Rabinovici , illustrations: Flix) are among the titles that many publishers have on the program list. So here the new illustrations and translations should win the hearts of buyers. In addition to the mandatory calendar for 2018, some special editions for € 10 round off the autumn program. The gap in the number sequence, IB 1436 ("Lament about the fall of Sumer ") by the ancient orientalist Markus Hilgert as publisher has not yet been closed by autumn 2019.

Spring 2018

Texts connected with natural history topics dominate. With mushrooms. A reader (IB 1445), after IB 503 ( The small mushroom book trodden, 1937) again mycological territory by texts about mushrooms by famous authors like Nabokov , Sarah Cherry or Leo Tolstoy illustrated, will be presented by Christina Kraus. In addition to this volume, there is an anthology of forest experiences ( Das Waldbuch , IB 1451), provided with an afterword by Thomas Erbach and furnished with photographs by Sabine Wenzel from her cycle “The German Forest”. The nature theme is also taken up in a small format, where Herbert Schnierle-Lutz's natural poems from Romanticism to the present will appear under the title Magnificent Nature cheers the days (IB 2518). With Bernd Brunner's cultural history of the pomegranate (IB 1444) - he was already represented in the IB in 2011 with The Invention of the Christmas Tree - the mushrooms are accompanied by another edible fruit. The pastry chef and baking book author Martin Schönleben has created a collection of recipes, Heimat, to match the natural themes . The baking book (IB 2028) and by Véronique Witzigmann Mein Einmachbuch with illustrations by Kat Menschik (IB 2029) - both in large format.
Otherwise, the program mostly brings familiar content with new features: The text of the large-format IB 2027, Hoffmann's Das Fräulein von Scuderi with illustrations by Lisbeth Zwerger , was last in the series in 1958 as IB 190. Woodcuts by Christian Thanhäuser now adorn Robert Walser's The Walk (IB 1449, epilogue: Michail Schischkin ), which had already appeared in 1989 as IB 1106, illustrated by Rita Berger at the time. Rilke's letters to a young poet , from 1929 to 2003 as IB 406 in the publishing program, are now published in English as Letters to a Young Poet (IB 1450) with a foreword by Ulrich Baer .
New are Kia Vahland's art observations , search for traces (IB 1448), and the documents of a friendship between Goethe and Sylvie (IB 1446) and the button book (IB 1447) by Stephanie Schneider compiled by Paul Raabe . A calendar 2019, a notebook and another pencil set II with quotes have also been announced.

Fall 2018

With Jorge Amado , the repeated candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature from Chile, who died in 2001, is in the program (IB 1457), who published The Three Tides of Jochen Wasserbrüller (IB 1011/1) in the Leipziger Haus in 1961 . His 1948 fable about the striped cat and the swallow Sinhá, translated by Karin von Schweder-Schreiner , was illustrated by Isabel Pin and provided with an afterword by Steffen Popp . After Lyrik (IB 1323), Uwe Tellkamp is again a series author with Die Carus -achen (IB 1460); the volume is decorated with drawings by Andreas Töpfer. Urs Faesi also presents his second volume in the series with Raunächte (IB 1452, illustrations: Nanne Meyer ). The successful author of Kruso , Lutz Seiler , on the other hand , delivers his debut volume with IB 1455 Am Cape of Good Faith in the IB. The story by O. Henry The Gift of the Wise (IB 1453) and the texts by Werner Völker Christmas with Goethe (IB 1456) already set the mood for Christmas . In the special formats, there are again two volumes in small and two in large format, including Dagmar Manzel's Mein Liedbuch with sheet music, photos and drawings. There are also four new, reduced-price volumes in the program, as well as marble wrapping paper in IB style for the first time. However, the IB year ends for the first time in many years without a special edition; obviously their sales figures were no longer satisfactory in recent years.

Spring 2019

Initially, several birthdays gave the program makers the opportunity for new titles: Herman Melville, born in 1819 (IB 1466: Bartleby, the writer , with illustrations by Sabine Wilharm ), Theodor Fontane (IB 2033: The magic is in the detail , photos by Heike Steinweg) and Gottfried Keller (IB 2034: Clothes make the man , with illustrations by Ulrike Möltgen) as well as the Bauhaus founded 100 years later (IB 1463: Die Bauhaus postcards , edited by Gloria Köpnick ) were honored with novelties. Virginia Woolf is again represented in the IB , now in the original language as A room of once own (IB 1468). In view of the ongoing debates about immigration and asylum seekers, IB 1462 sees hospitality from Priya Basil as the IB's contribution to a Europe that is open to the world . And finally, Michael Hagners Lust am Buch (IB 1464) also reminds us of its dangers in the digital age. In small format (IB 2521), a small volume is dedicated for the first time to the famous author von Rheinsberg , Kurt Tucholsky : In front the Baltic Sea, in the back Friedrichstrasse (illustrations by Katrin Stangl ). There is also a colorfully illustrated calendar for 2020; For the first time since 2013, however, no new special editions with a new cover and a reduced price have appeared.

Fall 2019

The autumn delivery presents nine volumes in normal format: after the Weimar Duchess Anna Amalia Library (IB 1293), with IB 1474, Silke Trojahn is presenting another historical book collection, the Princesses Library of the Berlin State Library. The Catalan author Jaume Cabré is now present in the series with his story Claudi , which was illustrated by Jörg Hülsmann (IB 1469). As in the previous year, the theme of Christmas is again, this time with Dylan Thomas ' Christmas in my childhood (IB 1476) - the illustrations were provided by the English book artist Peter Bailey . Rilke's Valais quatrains will be bilingual (German / French) . Les quatrains Valaisans commanded (IB 1475). And finally, the English-language series continues with Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass (IB 1459), the cover of which bears a two-tone woodcut by Christian Thanhäuser . Other volumes deal with the following topics, among others: forest (IB 1477), human loneliness (IB 1473), Goethe (IB 1471) and prayers (IB 1470, with Triegel illustrations). There are two new titles for the small format and three new titles for the large format - including the Nibelungen illustrated by Burkhard Neie (IB 2036). There are also four special editions and a new wrapping paper with Christmas motifs.

Spring 2020

So far, Insel Verlag has presented its spring innovations every year at the Leipzig Book Fair . For the first time, the friends of the series had to do without this exhibition because of the COVID-19 pandemic . Nevertheless, seven classic series titles were delivered to bookshops, including an English-language edition, Melville : Barthleby the Scriber (IB 1482) with illustrations by Sabine Wilharm , and a volume by Sylvia Plath Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom (IB 1483). Following the GDR edition of Der Spinoza von der Marktstrasse (IB 1023/2), one of the normal formats is again the Nobel Prize winner Isaac B. Singer with Der Golem - translated by Gertrud Baruch (IB 1484). Also on the title list are u. a. Christoph Hein : One word just for Amalia , illustrated by R. Berner (IB 1479), and Birgit Haustedt : In the Alten Land (IB 1478). The large and small formats grew by two volumes each. The large volume title IB 2038 (Keller: Spiegel, das Kitten ) already existed in 1921 as a text part of IB 329 in the series, but now illustrated by Joëlle Tourlonias . The current complete list of available volumes for 2020 and the calendar for 2021 complete the program with which IB number 1484 has been reached.

Prize for literature in the Insel-Bücherei

All award winners who appeared in the IB with their own work, a broadcast or larger contributions such as afterwords, forewords and essays have been included in the following list. The authors were recorded with their first - and sometimes only - work in the Insel-Bücherei, even if they should not have received the literature prize at the time of their inclusion in the series.

Nobel Prize for Literature

As a publisher, Anton Kippenberg had a keen sense of what is important and what remains in literature. The authors of the first two volumes of the book series included three Nobel Prize winners. In addition to Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, who died in 1910 and who had already received the award in 1903 and was present with two ribbons, these were Henrik Pontoppidan and André Gide, who were to receive the award in 1917 and 1947 respectively. In the 1920s and 1930s there were four Nobel Prize winners each, including the late Paul Heyse, who was the first German to receive the award for his fiction work, and Theodor Mommsen, the first ever German prize winner, in the series program. Kippenberg also succeeded, the then very successful authors Hermann Hesse with the selection of poems Vom Baum des Lebens and Thomas Mann with Felix Krull. Book of childhood , with one work each, to be brought to the Insel-Bücherei, whereby Hermann Hesse was still to receive the Nobel Prize in 1946. During the war years, Gerhart Hauptmann was only one more award winner.

Even after 1945, more than two dozen Nobel Prize winners from 20 countries can be found on the authors' lists of the two publishing houses Wiesbaden / Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig.

Although the Insel-Bücherei has experienced a noticeable upswing as a result of German reunification, only six other titles by Nobel Prize winners have been recorded since 1990: Octavio Paz with figures and variations: twelve poems and twelve collages , Samuel Beckett with Lang to Chamfort , Günter Grass with the selection of poems created for the IB in the anniversary year 2012 Lifelong , Mario Vargas Llosa with the story Sunday , Peter Handke with notebook: August 31, 1978 to October 18, 1978 and Isaac B. Singer Der Golem .

Nobel laureate in literature in the Insel-Bücherei

author	Country of origin at the award ceremony	Price year	(First) title in the island library	IB no.	year	Publishing house	EA (thousand)
Samuel Agnon	Israel	1966	The outcast	823	1961	Frankfurt a. M.	7th
Ivo Andrić	Yugoslavia	1961	The way of Alija Djerzelez and other stories	438/2	1965	Leipzig (GDR)	10
Miguel Ángel Asturias	Guatemala	1967	Legends from Guatemala	704/1	1960	Wiesbaden	11
Samuel Barclay Beckett	Ireland	1969	Long to Chamfort	1246	2003	Frankfurt a. M. and Leipzig	3
Saul Bellow	United States	1976	A silver bowl: story	1059	1983	Leipzig (GDR)	20th
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson	Norway	1903	Synnöve Solbakken	37	1913	Leipzig	20th
Heinrich Boell	Germany	1972	In the valley of the thundering hooves	647/1	1957	Wiesbaden	15th
Ivan Bunin	France	1933	Nocturnal conversation	1021/2	1978	Leipzig (GDR)	20th
Albert Camus	France	1957	Jonas or the artist at work	686/1	1959	Wiesbaden	10
Elias Canetti	United Kingdom	1981	The voices of Marrakech	1066	1987	Leipzig (GDR)	15th
Thomas Stearns Eliot	United Kingdom	1948	The desert land	660/1	1957	Wiesbaden	10
William Faulkner	United States	1950	Piebald Mustangs	623/1	1956	Wiesbaden	15th
Anatole France	France	1921	The governor of Judea	338/2	1928	Leipzig	10
André Gide	France	1947	The return of the prodigal son	143	1914	Leipzig	10
Günter Grass	Germany	1999	Lifelong: Selected Poems	1343	2012	Berlin	4th
Peter Handke	Austria	2019	Notebook: August 31, 1978 to October 18, 1978	1367	2015	Berlin	7th
Gerhart Hauptmann	German Empire	1912	Hanneles Ascension	180/2	1942	Leipzig	40
Ernest Hemingway	United States	1954	The storm surges of spring	902	1969	Leipzig (GDR)	20th
Hermann Hesse	Switzerland	1946	From the tree of life	454	1935	Leipzig	10
Paul Heyse	German Empire	1910	Andrea Delfin	86/2	1927	Leipzig	10
Juan Ramón Jiménez	Spain	1956	Platero and I: An Andalusian elegy	578/1	1957	Wiesbaden	10
Rudyard Kipling	United Kingdom	1907	Stories from India	652/1	1957	Wiesbaden	10
Selma Lagerlöf	Sweden	1909	A manor story	97/2	1925	Leipzig	10
Halldór Laxness	Iceland	1955	Three stories	793	1963	Leipzig (GDR)	10
Doris Lessing	United Kingdom	2007	Hunger: narration	1039/1	1984	Leipzig (GDR)	10
Mario Vargas Llosa	Peru / Spain	2010	Sunday	2018	2016	Berlin	8th
Thomas Mann	German Empire	1929	Confessions of the impostor Felix Krull	312/2	1932	Leipzig	20th
Gabriel García Marquez	Colombia	1982	Leaf storm	1029/1	1978	Leipzig (GDR)	20th
François Mauriac	France	1952	The leper and the saint	215/2	1928	Leipzig	10
Theodor Mommsen	German Empire	1902	Roman characters	489	1936	Leipzig	10
Eugene O'Neill	United States	1936	Almost a poet. Drama in four acts	642/2	1979	Leipzig (GDR)	15th
Pablo Neruda	Chile	1971	Lumberjack, wake up! Hymn to Peace	608	1955	Leipzig (GDR)	10
Octavio Paz (collages: Marie José Paz)	Mexico	1990	Figures and variations: twelve poems and twelve collages	1268	2005	Frankfurt a. M. and Leipzig	3
Saint John Perse	France	1960	exile	730	1961	Frankfurt a. M.	10
Harold Pinter	United Kingdom	2005	The dumb servant	1048	1981	Leipzig (GDR)	15th
Luigi Pirandello	Italy	1934	The black shawl	974	1974	Leipzig (GDR)	20th
Henrik Pontoppidan	Denmark	1917	From the younger days	87/1	1913	Leipzig	10
Romain Rolland	France	1915	Antoinette: story	563	1952	Leipzig (GDR)	20th
Nelly Sachs	Sweden	1966	Glowing puzzles: poems	825	1964	Frankfurt a. M.	10
Mikhail Sholokhov	Soviet Union	1965	Aljoschka's heart	632	1962	Leipzig (GDR)	10
George Bernard Shaw	United Kingdom	1925	About women	889	1966	Frankfurt a. M.	7th
Frans Eemil Sillanpää	Finland	1939	The little Tellervo	524	1938	Leipzig	10
Isaac Bashevis Singer	United States	1978	The Spinoza from Marktstrasse	1023/1	1982	Leipzig (GDR)	15th
William Butler Yeats	Ireland	1923	Stories of Red Hanrahan	628/2	1978	Leipzig (GDR)	20th

Winner of the Georg Büchner Literature Prize

Almost half of the winners of the Georg Büchner Literature Prize, which has been awarded annually since 1951, with the exception of 1952, is also represented in the Insel-Bücherei. It is not uncommon for them to be in-house authors at Insel Verlag, which belongs to Suhrkamp Verlag, such as Martin Walser, Hermann Lenz or Sibylle Lewitscharoff. Since the prize for outstanding literary achievements is given in German, Germany and Austria naturally dominate the list of IB authors' countries of origin, while Switzerland is only represented once by Adolf Muschg. Christa Wolf, who died in 2011 and was the only winner from the GDR during the German division (1980), did not live to see the planned new publication of her collection of stories Unter den Linden with watercolors by Harald Metzkes in the Insel library in the 2012 anniversary year.

Laureate of the Georg Büchner Literature Prize in the Insel-Bücherei

author	Country of origin for the award	Price year	(First) title in the island library	IB no.	year	Publishing house	EA (thousand)
HC Artmann	Austria	1997	Transmission: Edward Lear's Nonsense Verses by Edward Lear	813	1964	Frankfurt a. M.	12
Ingeborg Bachmann	Austria	1964	The poems	1037	1980	Leipzig (GDR)	15th
Gottfried Benn	Germany	1951	Roman of the phenotype. Landsberger Fragment, 1944	734	1961	Frankfurt a. M.	10
Thomas Bernhard	Austria	1970	The madmen. The prisoners	1101	1988	Frankfurt a. M.	4th
Heinrich Boell	Germany	1967	In the valley of the thundering hooves	647/1	1957	Wiesbaden	15th
Volker Braun	Germany	2000	New dances of death. With poems by Volker Braun	1233	2002	Frankfurt a. M. and Leipzig	4th
Elias Canetti	United Kingdom	1972	The voices of Marrakech	1066	1987	Leipzig (GDR)	15th
Paul Celan	France	1960	Transfer: Twenty-one Sonnets by William Shakespeare	898	1967	Frankfurt a. M.	4th
Günter Eich	Germany	1959	Allah has a hundred names . A radio play	667/1	1958	Wiesbaden	10
Hans Magnus Enzensberger	Germany	1963	Transmission: The Beggar Opera by John Gay	984/1	1973	Leipzig (GDR)	10
Elke Erb	Germany	2020	Co-transfer: The Sky lights edge Poems of Alexander Blok	657/2	1980	Leipzig (GDR)	10
Günter Grass	Germany	1965	Lifelong: Selected Poems	1343	2012	Berlin	4th
Durs Grünbein	Germany	1995	Una storia vera. A children's album in verse	1237	2002	Frankfurt a. M. and Leipzig	4th
Peter Handke	Austria	1973	Notebook No. 4	1367	2015	Berlin	7th
Wolfgang Hildesheimer	Germany	1966	The distant brook . A speech	1025/2	1985	Frankfurt a. M.	5
Uwe Johnson	Germany	1971	Retelling: From the fisherman un syner Fru by Philipp Otto Runge	315	1976	Frankfurt a. M.	5
Marie Luise Kaschnitz	Germany	1996	Florens . Eichendorff's youth	1157	1996	Frankfurt a. M. and Leipzig	3
Wolfgang Koeppen	Germany	1962	Epilogue to: From the Machandel boom . A fairy tale based on Philipp Otto Runge	1036/2	1987	Frankfurt a. M.	8th
Karl Krolow	Germany	1956	Transmission: Spanish poems of the XX. Century	722	1962	Frankfurt a. M.	10
Hermann Lenz	Germany	1978	Hotel Memoria. stories	1115	1990	Frankfurt a. M.	3
Sibylle Lewitscharoff	Germany	2013	Pong redivivus	1383	2013	Berlin	5
Friederike Mayröcker	Austria	2001	From the hugs. Poems	1352	2012	Berlin	3
Martin Mosebach	Germany	1995	The pillow book. Poems and drawings	1127	1995	Frankfurt a. M. and Leipzig	2
Adolf Muschg	Switzerland	1994	Preface to: And every step is immeasurable by Siegfried Unseld	1244	2003	Frankfurt a. M. and Leipzig	3
Hans Erich Nossack	Germany	1961	Six studies	805	1964	Frankfurt a. M.	10
Heinz Piontek	Germany	1976	Transfer: Poems by John Keats	716	1960	Wiesbaden	10
Peter Rühmkorf	Germany	1993	Little spotting	1082	1988	Leipzig (GDR)	15th
Martin Walser	Germany	1981	In Goethe's hand. Scenes from the 19th century	1062	1985	Leipzig (GDR)	15th
Christa Wolf	German Democratic Republic	1980	Under the linden trees. narrative	1355	2012	Berlin	6th

Winner of the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize

Following the example of Group 47 , the Days of German-Language Literature, held since the mid-1970s in the Austrian city of Klagenfurt, were created . The Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, founded by the city in 1976, has been awarded annually since 1977. The jury included the renowned literary critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki , whose work We sit all on the same train appeared in this series in 2003 as IB 1239. The majority of the honored authors, on the other hand, have their publishing home outside the Suhrkamp publishing group, so that so far only four of the 27 award winners are represented in the Insel-Bücherei.

Winner of the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize in the Insel-Bücherei

author	Country of origin for the award	Price year	(First) title in the island library	IB no.	year	Publishing house	EA (thousand)
Angela Krauss	German Democratic Republic	1988	Trieste . Theater by the sea	1290	2007	Frankfurt a. M. and Leipzig	3
Sibylle Lewitscharoff	Germany	1998	Pong redivivus	1383	2013	Berlin	5
Erica Pedretti	Switzerland	1984	Sing out loud and wrong	1223	1992	Frankfurt a. M. and Leipzig	3
Uwe Tellkamp	Germany	2004	Journey to the blue city	1323	2009	Frankfurt a. M. and Leipzig	3

Winner of the Heinrich Böll Prize

The Heinrich Böll Prize, awarded by the City of Cologne since 1980 in memory of its honorary citizen Heinrich Böll to honor a literary life's work, has been named after the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature since 1985. So far 6 award winners from the Federal Republic are represented in the Insel-Bücherei.

Winner of the Heinrich Böll Prize in the Insel-Bücherei

author	Price year	(First) title in the island library	IB no.	year	Publishing house	EA (thousand)
Hans Magnus Enzensberger	1985	Natural poems	1257	2004	Frankfurt a. M. and Leipzig	4th
Ludwig Harig	1987	A case for Epicurus. stories	1301	2008	Frankfurt a. M. and Leipzig	3
Helmut Heißenbüttel	1984	Epilogue to: Arno Schmidt : The resettlers	818	1964	Frankfurt a. M.	8th
Uwe Johnson	1983	Retelling and epilogue to: Von dem Fischer un syner Fru . A fairy tale based on Philipp Otto Runge	315	1976	Frankfurt a. M.	5
Hans Mayer (literary scholar)	1980	Epilogue to: Heinrich von Kleist: Prince Friedrich von Homburg . A play	1029	1987	Frankfurt a. M.	8th
Ralf Rothmann	2005	Nice hat. Gethsemane. Two stories	1354	2012	Berlin	3

Design and equipment of the volumes

110 Pf special stamp from Germany (2000) Rizzi pattern

IB 1, Rilke: Cornet , Rizzi colored paper cover

Cardboard covers with sample paper cover

Rizzi paper cover

The outward appearance of the series differed significantly from the beginning of its publication from the usual series of books for mass distribution, which were printed on rather cheap paper without any special typographical effort and mostly only provided with simple paperback covers, such as the Reclam Universal Library. The first twelve volumes of the island library, however, were on wood-free printing paper and in Pappeinbände in Oktavformat (8 °) bound with colored coating papers for templates of the Italian collection Rizzi were provided.

Other colored paper binding

From 1913 onwards, the range of binding papers was also supplemented with samples that did not come from the “Rizzi” collection, as the increased number of volumes required an expansion of the sample paper fund in terms of content and to increase the visual appeal. The designs became increasingly modern from the 1920s. The sample paper fund of the series was still available for all published titles.

It was only with the appearance of the illustrated books from 1933 onwards, due to the expected high print runs, that title-specific sample papers were produced. Here very often a cover motif derived from the topic under discussion was used, which was then repeated in the report .

After 1950 there was a tendency, especially in the Leipzig publishing house, to design a separate sample paper for each new title. Many of the Leipzig production's designs came from Ursula Lemnitz. The entire edition and subsequent editions were regularly equipped with the band-specific sample paper. If there was a shortage of this from time to time, replacement binding papers were also used in small binding rates, which were either always used for small quantities or which were taken from the ongoing production of other IB volumes with sufficient amounts of binding paper. Due to the problem-free sale of even large print runs due to the sales price, the practice of a title-bound cover paper was possible without economic problems.

On the other hand, the Wiesbadener / Frankfurter Haus was able to bring only smaller binding rates onto the market from the end of the 1950s due to the increasing sales difficulties of the series, so that binding a title to a colored paper was forbidden. It was only with the relatively small editions of the novelties from the end of the 1960s onwards that the Frankfurt publishing house increasingly used title-specific binding papers, which are also currently standard in the series.

Colored paper cover with thick cardboard covers

It was only in the period after the Second World War that the Leipzig publishing house used particularly thick cardboard bindings to bind partial editions, which clearly differed from the normal binding material. The use is likely to be due to delivery bottlenecks in the normal cover cardboard. More than a dozen titles are known to date. Most of them are illustrated books such as IB 170/3 ( The Temples of Paestum ), IB 173/3 ( The Golden Gate to Freiberg ) or IB 281/2 ( The small flower book by Fritz Kredel).

IB 78, Hugo von Hofmannsthal: World Theater , marble paper binding

Marbled paper cover

From the end of 1927 to the beginning of the 1930s, when choosing cover papers, experiments were also carried out with relatively sensitive marble papers , which had previously been used in three special editions in half leather and which were now also used in a good two dozen titles in the normal editions. Obviously, the optical result achieved did not correspond to the character of the series and also lacked the required durability, so that it remained with these one-off attempts. So far, marbled paper has been found in 22 titles of the normal editions.

Title label

• Variants of the glued title plates
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  IB 329 basement: TS “Insel- Bücherei ”, normal variant

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  IB 329 Keller: TS "Insel- Verlag " (misprint)

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  IB 7 / A Citizens: TS "Insel- Bücher " (misprint)

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  IB 692 Peking Opera : TS upright (1959)

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  IB 715, Sieburg: TS without corner stars (1960)

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  IB 798 Zen: TS with lines (1964)

• Volumes in standard equipment with stuck title plate

The ribbons initially had a glued-on title label with a typographical design with stars and lines indicating the series number and the book series "Insel-Bücherei". Probably due to a printing mistake, which was not immediately noticed in the first binding rate of the first edition, at least Gottfried Keller's title came about : The three just comb makers . Spiegel, das Kitten (IB 329) on the incorrect impression “Insel- Verlag ”. During the Second World War, a title label misprint occurred again in the paperback edition (see below) of IB 7 Münchhausen , in which the series name was shortened to “Insel-Bücher”. The four corner stars were omitted from the Frankfurt and Leipzig editions from 1960 and 1964, respectively. Basically, in 1964 the structured star line was replaced by a solid line. The title plates looked more modern.

For reasons of the design of the cover, the design of the cover had only deviated from the always transverse title plate in the case of IB 692 Peking Opera , which had an upright title plate .

• Volumes in standard equipment with printed title plate

In the above-mentioned illustrated books from the 1930s and 1940s, the title and spine label were printed as part of the title-specific cover. For cost reasons, from 1982 in the Frankfurt (IB 1006/1, Poe: Der Rabe ) and from 1989 in the Leipzig publishing house (IB 1083, Barthelme : At the end of the mechanical age ), the title plates were generally only printed in an embossed title field, which is also the case in the reunified publisher was retained. It is true that the IB 1003/1 ( Virgil : Bucolica. Hirtengedichte ) published in 1978 in Frankfurt already contains volumes with a TS impression. However, these are later binding rates, for which the repeatedly encountered price markings by booksellers with "12, - DM" in these IB are an essential indicator; New releases cost only 10 DM. IB 1005/2 ( love letters from Babet ) from 1979 also has a title tag stuck on .

• Volumes in standard equipment without title plate

Title label and case for IB 1012/1 (from undivided sheet)

In order not to impair the appearance of the sample paper, the title label was completely omitted in Frankfurt for the first and some partial editions of IB 981 ( Heinrich Vogeler : Dir ) and in Leipzig for IB 1012/2 ( Kaplan : Variations on Yiddish folk songs ). While a narrow book loop made of transparent glassine paper carried the title of the Frankfurt edition, the title of Kaplan only contained the IB number as well as the author and part of the book title on the back label. Although the publisher had the title plates printed out, after submitting them, decided to omit them because of the impairment of the effect of the binding. The intention to insert them into the ribbon had to be discarded for reasons of expense. The planned separate delivery together with the ribbon to the bookstore for handing over to the buyer was also omitted on request.

• Volumes in standard equipment with pasted title plate

Until 1945, individual items from IB were repeatedly pasted over on title labels in the manufacturing process in order to correct processing errors and thus make the cover conform to the contents of the volume. In the German post-war economy, which was characterized by a lack of paper, there were already ready-made title-specific cover sample papers for editions to be paperboarded, which should no longer be used for the printed title - this also included the paperback cover paper for the war-destroyed IB 313/2 ( poems of the German Baroque ) - and on the other hand, were there such papers with an empty TS field that were originally supposed to be printed with the front cover. Here the publisher managed by sticking new title plates and was able to use the cover paper.

But TS over-gluing is also known from more recent times. After the letters from a traveler to Mr Drost… (IB 656/2), which appeared in Leipzig in 1981, had initially been attributed to the author Johann Karl Wezel and the title and cover design had been carried out accordingly, Leopold FG Goecking turned out to be the true author shortly before publication . The title page was replaced and the incorrect title plate was pasted over with the correct one. Next came the Leipzig publishing house repeatedly TS overposting if for lack of material small residual amounts of belonging to other IB-title cover boards were used for untying.

After reunification there were two pastes on the printed title plates: The title plate of the IB 530 / B (Brothers Grimm: Hans im Glück , 1992) did not have the subtitle "set up by Jens and Maria Anna Witt" - the deficiency was remedied with an affixed title plate . And the hunt. Myth, Metaphor, Motif (IB 1135, 1993) the erroneous impression “Met h apher” in the first binding rate delivered had to be corrected with a title label.

• Special editions from 2014 and large and small formats from 2012

The special editions from 2014 as well as the editions in large and small format from 2012 only bear the series designation without the volume number on the printed title plate.

Back shield

Variants of the IB, with and without back label

Only from IB 28, Hugo von Hofmannsthal : Der Tor und der Tod , and for subsequent editions generally from 1913, a back label with the author and short title was stuck on; the row number was given on this from the IB 158/1 (Landsknechtslieder) published in 1915 . It was not uncommon for the back label to be omitted from the editions published during World War II. From the 1980s, the back labels like the title labels were only printed on.

Landscape

If it is the reproduction of works of art that is as accurate as possible , such as by Goethe (IB 555, see illustration), Lyonel Feininger ( Red Sea and Yellow Ships , IB 629/1), Carl Blechen ( Italian sketches , IB 640/2) and Hans Purrmann ( Sommer auf Ischia , IB 721), or required the depiction of music images, a landscape format book cover (transverse 8 °) is used as an exception . For the first time this format has been in the images antics of Wilhelm Busch last (IB 25.02) in 1934 and 1999 when Martin Walser The noble Hecker (IB 1197) available from John Grützke was illustrated used. The number of ribbons in this format is well under two dozen.

• 

  IB 555 Goethe: hand drawings , landscape format, front cover

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  from IB 555 Goethe: Hand drawings , plate 21 with Schiller's garden in Jena

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  from IB 107 / B, Wagner: Five poems to Mathilde Wesendonk (afterword by J. Kaiser )

Leather and half leather bindings

Soon after the book series was established on the market, partial editions (each with a maximum of approx. 200 copies) of popular titles or first editions by authors who were successful at Inselverlag were bound in full leather and z. Some have a dust jacket and slipcase. The book block was taken from the normal edition. As island books, the ribbons can only be recognized by the number of sheets. They were offered at about six to eight times the price of the normal edition (see the price table 1912 to 1945 given above) and were made in the following two variants:

• Full leather binding with a gold-embossed island signet on the front cover and the title printed on the spine (LS series) as well as patterned endpaper; this variant appeared between 1914 and 1931 of 70 titles from 36 first and 110 subsequent editions, with 200 volumes each being bound,
• Full leather binding with gold-embossed fleuron , which occurs in 21 patterns, and title on the front cover and unprinted spine (series LF); between 1917 and 1924 this variant of 29 titles from 34 editions was only made to individual customer orders and is therefore very rare.

Two titles, the IB 1, Rilke: Cornet (1915-1924), and the IB 28, Hugo von Hofmannsthal: The Goal and the death (1921), are also Halbledereinbände before that with a marble paper at cover and a reading band provided were.

• 

  IB 22 Ricarda Huch: Love poems , full leather with signet

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  IB 23 Rudolf G. Binding : The sacrificial passage , full leather with fleuron

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  IB 28 H. v. Hofmannsthal: The gate and death , half leather with marbled paper

Softcover bindings

During the First and Second World War, partial editions were paperback for mailing to soldiers at the front (see below). In addition, during the Second World War - surely for reasons of material shortage - the remaining stocks of normal issues were tied up in brochures (construction paper ), strong, single-colored cardboard boxes. For some text editions and all paperback illustrated books, illustrated brochure paper was also bound, whereby the pattern for the illustrated books always corresponded to that used for the cardboard volumes of the normal edition.

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  IB 165, Friedrich Schiller: The Siege of Antwerp , Kriegsbroschur World War

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  IB 89 / 1C Charles Dickens : New Year's bell , Tonpapierbroschur

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  IB 59 / C Friedrich Hebbel : Poems , monochrome paper brochure

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  IB 460 Martin Beheim-Schwarzbach : The book of chess , sample paper brochure

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  IB 236/2, Fritz Kredel, Who wants to be among the soldiers , sample paper brochure from the illustrated book

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  IB 196, Joseph von Eichendorff: Die Glücksritter, Feldpostausgabe Second World War

As the material shortage persisted in all of Germany's occupation zones in the first post-war years , only paper-based paperback editions could still be produced during this period . At the beginning of the 1950s, first in Leipzig and then also in Wiesbaden, the Insel books then regained their familiar appearance.

Equipment for sales promotion

From 1912, mainly for first editions, the publisher used cover strips for some titles to promote sales , with which the content of the volume, the author or - in the case of subsequent editions - also the number of editions already reached is indicated. Most recently, a cover strip was placed around Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (IB 1178), the 1997 volume Women .

The design of the book cover in the Frankfurt publishing house moved away from the series-typical sample papers with the stuck-on (later printed) title and spine label, especially in the 1970s and 1980s, and approached the appearance of the increasingly numerous pressures on the book market and competing with the Insel Bücherei Paperback editions from other publishers. As early as 1961, volumes with a picture part were occasionally used in dust jackets that repeated a picture motif from the volume. They were made available to the book trade for the deliverable editions. The picture motif was then printed directly on the otherwise white, gray, brown or green background of the covering paper to be glued (picture cover), dispensing with a separate protective cover. These volumes have a monochrome row with the title and volume number. Picture covers with a white background were given a translucent glassine cover to protect them from the easily possible soiling .

From 1965, the often film-laminated bindings were graphically designed completely freely, sometimes even without specifying the title on the front cover, which meant that the serial character of the ribbons was lost.

• Special binding variants of the normal issues
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  IB 153 / B German War Songs (1915), cover strips

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  IB 700/1 The Sankt-Annen-Altar of Wolf Huber (1959), dust jacket

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  IB 265/2 Grünewalds drawings (1958), image cover

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  IB 949 Gershom Scholem : Secrets of Creation (1971), picture cover (drawing after A. Kircher )

Gift envelope from 1978 for volumes IB 1, Rilke: Cornet , and IB 1000/2, "Diary" / "Seven Poems"

The use of a special gift envelope remained unique. Volumes IB 1 (Rilke: Cornet ) and IB 1000/2 ( “ Das Tagebuch ” of Goethe and Rilke's “Seven Poems”) were explained in one of these in the “Week of the Island Library” in 1978 on the occasion of reaching the series number “1000” by Siegfried Unseld ) has been put up for joint sale. It repeats the cover paper from IB 1000/2 designed after the wall hanging from Goethe's bedroom (see illustration).

Illustrations and illustrated books

IB 7/1 GA Citizens: Münchhausen , cover illustration by Franz Riepenhausen

IB 221 Hans Holbein the Elder J .: Pictures of Death ( King Franz I and Death)

Illustrations

Already in one volume of the first delivery of twelve titles, Gottfried August Bürger's Stories about the Adventures of Baron von Münchhausen (IB 7 / A), a title illustration loosened up the text. The first fully illustrated volume was presented to readers only a little later with the Five Very Graceful Stories by Giovanni di Boccaccio (IB 16); it was followed in 1913 by Die Schön Magelona (IB 39) and Three Carnival Games by Hans Sachs (IB 46), again with medieval woodcuts, as well as Jean Paul's life of the happy schoolmaster Maria Wuz in Auenthal (IB 51). The further development of illustration in the IB before 1945 has already been discussed under the point "The island library from 1914–1932" (The interwar period).

The island book, which was designed on a high artistic level, which also included illustrations, took a special boom in the 1950s and 1960s in the Wiesbaden publishing house under its artistic director, Gotthard de Beauclair . Examples are the pen drawings by Robert Pudlich for Bontempelli's Fahrt der Europa (IB 627/1), Theo Kurpershoek's woodcuts for Balzac's The Girl with Gold Eyes (IB 654/1) or the woodcuts by Frans Masereel for Lorca's Das Kleine Don Cristóbal reredos ( IB 681/1). Production manager Hans-Joachim Walch, who worked there from 1952 to 1978, played a comparable role in promoting illustration at the Leipzig publishing house. He, himself a book illustrator, encouraged young artists in particular to enter the field of book illustration (for details see above in the section “ The Leipzig publishing house after the end of the war from 1945 to 1990 ”).

The publisher has recently tried repeatedly to win new artistic manuscripts for the publisher through competitions. After the illustration competition held for the 75th anniversary of the Insel-Bücherei in 1987 , Insel Verlag last called for illustrations of the stories of angels, ghosts and demons by Martin Buber , this time students of the Mainz University of Applied Sciences , to illustrate . Due to an equal artistic design, Buber's stories were edited in two volumes (IB 1280 and 1281) with illustrations by Regina Gail and Mandy Schlundt .

Single and multi-colored illustrated books

Litho stone with pages 10 and 11 from Merian's The Little Book of Tropical Wonders (IB 351/2)

The Bordesholmer Altar in the Schleswig Cathedral (image in IB 495 of the same name, panel 1)

IB 450/1: Manessian manuscript , plate 19 - That of Suonegge

The Bremen Town Musicians by Gerhard Marcks, illustration of the sculpture in: Tierplastik (IB 595/1, plate 27)

In the year of the Reformation and the penultimate year of the war, 1917, the first pure illustrated book, the historical woodcut series Pictures of the Death by Hans Holbein the Elder, was published. J. , launched a new type of book in the series that contained a black- and- white blackboard section that was separated from the explanatory text section . This first volume was reprinted in the Leipzig publishing house until 1989. In the 1930s, color picture books printed in multicolor printing enriched the series. They were furnished by contemporary book artists ( Fritz Kredel , Willi Harwerth and Rudolf Koch ) and also received a lot of international attention, which is documented by the award of a gold medal at the Paris World Exhibition in 1937 . This started with the Small Flower Book (IB 281/2) published in 1933 . He followed from the series with natural themes and a. The small tree book (IB 316/2, 1934) and The small goldfish pond (IB 255/2, 1935). In the case of a number of illustrated books, the accompanying plates were also printed according to older colored templates, such as Das kleine Buch der Vögel und Nester (IB 100, 1935), Maria Sibylla Merian's Das kleine Buch der Tropenwunder (IB 351/2, 1935) and Die Minnesingers in pictures of the Manessian manuscript (IB 450, 1933, part 1). Such editions were even worked on until the last year of the war, 1945. Of course, the 2nd part of the Minnesinger (IB 560) could only be delivered after the end of the war. The ribbons of this time, the color plate part of which was mostly produced by the Leipzig printing company HF Jütte , are likely to be considered unsurpassed in their print quality to this day. The color plates were printed using offset printing ; litho stones with a drawing applied the right way round were used as the initial printing template .

The first volume with photographic recordings then appeared in 1936, Der Bordesholmer Altar Master Brüggemanns (IB 495). This volume was followed by titles with recordings of the Naumburg Cathedral (IB 505), the Freiberg Cathedral of St. Mary (IB 179/3) and the Greek Temple of Paestum (IB 170/3).

Finally, from 1939 onwards, contemporary painters and sculptors were also presented with black and white photographs in the Insel-Bücherei, initially Georg Kolbe with Bildwerke (IB 422) - an issue focus that began in the 1950s and 1960s with titles about individual creative cycles by artists such as Ernst Barlach : paperback drawings (IB 600), Lyonel Feininger : Red Sea and yellow ships (IB 629/1), Gerhard Marcks : animal sculpture (IB 595/1), Paul Klee : hand drawings (IB 294/2) and dream landscape with Mond (IB 800), Hans Purrmann : Summer on Ischia (IB 721) and Friedensreich Hundertwasser : The way to you (IB 899), had its climax. From 1955 onwards, colored illustrated books on this topic were also published.

numbering

Original number concept

It was Kippenberg's intention to keep the entire series of books available in an uninterrupted sequence of numbers. Accordingly, he replaced no longer common titles with others with the same series number. In the 1930s, the titles of authors who had been banned from publication in Germany had to be replaced. This practice led to the "wandering" of some titles to new numbers. Many a volume was initially withdrawn from the publishing program as not being marketable enough and its number was assigned for a new title. Should the former be present again in the series due to a publisher's re-evaluation, his original number was mostly blocked by the replacement title. As a result, another series number was sought for him, the title of which was no longer up-to-date. One example is Die Gesichte der Sister Mechtild von Magdeburg : The volume, published in 1917 as IB 236/1 in just one edition, was initially not to be continued and was replaced in 1934 by Fritz Kredel's Who Wants to Be Among the Soldiers (IB 236/2) , which brought it to 125,000 copies by 1935 and was therefore recommended for subsequent editions. Now, due to the changed circumstances, the publisher planned to reprint Die Gesichte der Sister Mechtild von Magdeburg in 1937 and switched to number 404 with this; Until 1930 this had carried the novella by the Soviet writer Maxim Gorki Malwa , which was published in two editions ; At the end of the 1930s, it no longer corresponded to the prevailing zeitgeist of National Socialist cultural life.

Numbering during the German division

Complete directory of Insel Verlag 1973 with the announcement of IB 993, Hacks: Der Schuh

Also the Leipzig publishing house occupied after 1945 numbers new, manned by undesirable from the perspective of the East German cultural politics authors so that reprints not considered were ( Friedrich Nietzsche , Otto von Bismarck , Ernst Bertram , each with multiple titles, and Werner Kortwich with IB 447 Frisian note ). Incidentally, new titles were numbered consecutively from IB 561 onwards by both publishing houses. In order to avoid number clashes, the two publishing houses initially agreed on the allocation of new numbers as part of their largely independent publishing programs after the Second World War .

This vote has not been kept by the Leipzig publishing house since about 1973/74. The reason given was that the Frankfurt publishing house had assigned number 993 to the GDR author Peter Hacks (Der Schuhu und die flying princess) - this edition was not distributed in the GDR, by the way - although Leipzig itself already had a title with poems by Theodor Storms had signed up. Likewise, the number 996, for which a volume of poetry by Johannes Bobrowski was planned, was used by Frankfurt for Hofmannsthal's Der Kaiser und die Hexe . From 1974 onwards, the Leipzig publishing house used in particular the IB numbers 562 ff., Which had already been filled with new publications by the Wiesbaden publishing house, again for titles from the so-called German literary heritage. As a result of these discrepancies, the Frankfurt publishing house no longer felt obliged to coordinate the numbers, and so from the 1970s there were again a large number of series numbers with two different book titles.

Current numbering practice

Normal formats

Ribbons with the same title were originally published under the same IB number for new editions with changes in content. Renumbering was only inevitable if this number had meanwhile been assigned a different volume and this should continue to be kept available. In recent years, however, the publisher has basically changed the volume in these cases. In 1995, Goethe's Roman Carnival appeared with an illustrated afterword by Isabella Kuhn, first as IB 1155 and in 2007 as IB 1292, because Siegfried Unseld had now written the afterword.

Special formats from 2012 (large and small volumes)

Since 2012/2013, with the introduction of larger and smaller-format ribbons, three sequences have been running in parallel: The normal variants follow the previous series numbering, which was added to the autumn delivery of 2018 for "No. 1460 ”has arrived. The large volumes begun in 2012, which initially had their first editions with "No., S. 2001" and "No., S. 2002", continue to run from the two following volumes from 2013 without distinguishing letters (autumn 2018: 2032). With the volume number "2501", on the other hand, the planned series of small-format IB volumes has opened and will be at "2520" in autumn 2018. Obviously, based on the current issue frequency, the publisher has estimated that the three series of numbers should not interfere with each other in the foreseeable future; Preceding distinctive letters had therefore become obsolete.

Special editions from 2012

The renumbering of normal formats was used in 2012 (anniversary volumes) and in 2013 also for the IB special editions. These are successful volumes from the title holdings , the content of which remains unchanged, but with a new cover design at a reduced price, which are intended to appeal to buyers in particular. Sometimes round, gold-colored and red stickers on the front cover indicated the special price. From 2013 onwards, 8 to 10 special editions were published annually; 2016 was the first large format among the titles (IB 2001). From 2014 new special editions will be listed again under their original volume number, but only with a corresponding note on the back of the title page; In the title and spine labels, the band has been omitted entirely. The special editions should only appear in one edition. However, from 2014 there may be a. the special volumes by Rilkes In a strange park and by Gisela Linder Blau the heavenly color with the new cover as IB 1377 and IB 1361 already in the 2nd edition. It can therefore be assumed that at least these titles will now be continued in the series under the new equipment and IB number. On the other hand, after the special edition from 2012 (IB 1360), Siegfried Unseld's “Goethe and the Ginkgo” appeared in the following year in the 23rd edition again in the old design as IB 1188.

For the first time, Hesse's “In Weihnachtszeiten” was published in autumn 2019, without having previously experienced a normal serial edition; the title was previously only available as an island paperback (it 2418) in the publishing program.

Bibliographical recording of volume numbering and variants

The renumbering within the series led to the fact that there are ultimately up to four different titles for a series number (see the figures for IB 99). Bibliographically different volumes with the same volume number are recorded by digits following the main number. The different editions are immediately recognizable through the author and title information on the bookplates.

• Title plates of the four different IB editions with the number "99"
• 

  1914 - Richard Wagner: Tannhäuser (99/1)

• 

  1920 - Alexander Pope: The robbery of curls (99/2)

• 

  1943 - Edwin Redslob : Run of the Year (99/3)

• 

  1951 - Anna Seghers: Crisanta (99/4)

On the other hand, volumes that originate from the same author and usually have an identical title, but have content variations - e.g. B. by adding illustrations, changing prose text or poetry selections, revising a translation or revised afterwords - are also distinguished by capital letters that are also placed after them. Externally, the variants can only be distinguished if appropriate information is given on the title labels, as is usually the case when using or changing illustrators. The many possible changes in the content of the text are often not immediately apparent from the volume. It is not uncommon for them to be determined only through a meticulous comparison of texts. Up to now a maximum of 6 variants ( A to F ) have been achieved in Hölderlin's poems (IB 50), Rembrandt's hand drawings (IB 108/2) and Poe's Fantastic Stories (IB 129).

typography

P. 30 from IB 49-2, Heraklit : Fragments (bilingual), Greek script by Hermann Zapf

Insel Verlag attached great importance to the typeface design for each individual title. Writing and content should form an organic unit. For this reason, many titles were completely redesigned typographically for subsequent editions , with well-known typeface designers such as Rudolf Koch and Hermann Zapf being won over to help.

The font was initially dominated by Fraktur : of the 27 volumes in the first year, only five were in an Antiqua font. These are mostly translations, such as Van de Velde's AMO (IB 3), Balzac's Facino Cane (IB 19) and Sophocles ' Antigone (IB 27), or also poetry by German authors, here: Ricarda Huch : Liebesgedichte (IB 22 ). In the following, Antiqua fonts were also occasionally used in the series; Goethe's Pandora (IB 30/1), Hölderlin's poems (IB 50) and Hermann Bahr's Dialog vom Marsyas (IB 67/1) are just a few examples . Foreign-language text components, such as quotations or references to works, were also often set in Antiqua.

It was only with a non-public circular decree of January 3, 1941 that Hitler ended the predominance of Fraktur in the printing industry in Germany, since the so-called "Gothic script" was not to be regarded as a German script. It would actually consist of Schwabach Jewish letters . After that, the Gothic fonts were all to be eliminated in favor of the "normal font". Accordingly, the typesetting of the IB new publications was gradually converted to Antiqua typefaces. Due to the war, however, the printers were not always able to implement the font decree immediately without exception, so that almost half of the new publications from the last years of the war that followed had to be set in the old font.

Excerpt, pp. 58–59, from IB 360, L. Richter: Once upon a time with the Gilgengart font

After the Second World War, Fraktur fonts only rarely appear in the series, mostly when island tapes contain historical texts whose effect on the reader should be supported by a letter from the time of their creation , such as the one published by the Leipzig publishing house Cover by Hans Sachs Ein wünderlicher Dialogus und neue Zeitung (IB 579/2) or by Johann Beers Der neu made Jungfernhobel (IB 878), which was sold by both publishing houses. In 1950, the Frankfurt publishing house used the Gilgengart fracture created by Hermann Zapf commercially for L. Richter's Es war once (IB 360 / B).

The West German part of the publishing house had a wider range of fonts to choose from. Due to the economic constraints in the GDR, which led to standardization and unification in all economic areas and thus also in the printing industry, the number of antiqua typefaces available at printing companies there was reduced. However, this in turn had the positive effect that the row character of the ribbons was strengthened due to the relatively uniform typeface.

Two titles from the Wiesbaden / Frankfurt publishing house, Paul Klee's hand drawings (IB 294/2) and Georg Heyms Umbra vitae (IB 749), were even given a sans serif font : In Klee's hand drawings , this font probably corresponded best to the content of the volume, and with umber vitae an originating from the time of the Expressionist of poems was illustrations of EL Kirchner from the publisher Wolff reproduced (1924). Kippenberg had otherwise avoided this font in the Insel-Bücherei. Only in the digits of the volume number on the back label was a grotesque found from the beginning of the 1930s and later in most West German post-war editions. The latter can be distinguished from the Leipzig GDR editions on the back label.

binding

The first volumes of the 1912 series are both high-quality thread and wire stitching , which very often produces rust stains over time due to the effects of moisture, although wire stitching dominated until 1914. The war-related shortage of materials put an end to thread stitching in 1915, even though some of the war brochures were still bound in this way. Stapling with thread was gradually revitalized from 1927 onwards, so that wire stapling also occurred in new editions in that year. It was not until the fourth year of the war that the latter replaced thread stitching again, especially in the case of some binding rates for field post issues, which were thus made in both types of stitching from 1942 onwards. But cardboard volumes (e.g. IB 60 / 1A, children's songs ) and the sample paper brochures (including IB 460 / 1B, The Little Book of Chess ) were not entirely spared from this inferior stapling.

After the Second World War , both publishing houses only used wire stitching again until 1949, but after that almost exclusively thread stitching, which has also been mentioned in the imprint since IB 1250, This is the nightingale, she sings . Only the remaining editions and three illustrated books, such as IB 678, Maler der Brücke , from the West German publishing house and five text and illustrated books from Leipzig (including IB 1079, Becher: Wiedergeburt , and IB 1086, Masereel: woodcuts against the war ) the adhesive binding occurred differently .

imprint

Leipzig publishing house until 1945

In the case of the first volumes, apart from the details of the publisher ("Insel Verlag zu Leipzig") and the commissioned printer, no information was given about the first edition . Subsequent editions were, however, characterized by the specification of the thousand achieved, so that the respective first editions can almost always be defined. However, there are also a few subsequent editions without further notice. Secondary characteristics (text changes, printer information, changed advertising pages, paper quality, etc.) must then be used to determine the circulation. From 1938 onwards, the year in which the title was published was usually indicated on the title page, also for subsequent editions of earlier titles; The volumes did not contain any further information until 1945.

Leipzig publishing house 1945–1990

In addition to the previous information, the imprint of the Insel-Bücher in the Soviet occupation zone and then further in the GDR indicated the publishing license number "351" (until 1950: "366") assigned for the Insel-Verlag there, combined with the one assigned for the individual title License number .

Until 1964 the edition was given in thousands, after that only as an ordinal number . The font used for the volumes from 1953, the bookbinding in 1961 and an additional order number in the course of 1972 were added to the imprint. This was followed in 1975 by the entry of the store price, which had been constant in the GDR for over 41 years, and from 1980 onwards, the designer of the cover paper was named for most of the volumes. Finally, from IB 1067, Samjatin : How the monk Erasmus was healed , the ISBN and ISSN were also given in 1986 , so that the Leipzig publishing house's imprint, last to be found in 1990 under the title Im Schatten des Glücks (IB 1093) is now almost a third of a printed page. In the case of the 1990 volumes, the sales price was no longer imprinted due to the increased sales prices after the abolition of fixed prices in the GDR and the implementation of monetary union .

Wiesbaden / Frankfurt publishing house 1945–1990

The first post-war brochures contained the imprint next to the printer's information : “Published under license no. 13 of the military government's intelligence control ”, which was later reduced to “license no. 13” and ceased to exist with the establishment of the Federal Republic. In the case of new publications, a brief vita of the author and possibly the translator had to be included in the imprint, as in IB 76/2, Molière : Tartuffe , from 1947. Initially, the thousand is only given for subsequent editions, unless the title was given Already published elsewhere by Insel Verlag before its new edition in the Insel-Bücherei or already published in the Insel-Bücherei with a strongly changed content before the Second World War. Then the amount of the first IB partial edition or changed IB new edition was quantified. From 1965 to 1969 the number of copies can be seen in the imprint of the first edition.

The font used was specified for the majority of new publications and for a new type of pre-war titles. From 1960 on, the paper supplier is usually also mentioned in addition to the printer. All of this information will no longer be available from 1970, so that the imprint only mentions the printer and some of the edition. Only the ISBN supplements the publisher's information, which is again rather meager.

Frankfurt / Leipzig and Berlin publishing house from 1991

From 1991 to 1998 the imprint corresponded to the previous one from the Frankfurt publishing house; After the reunification of the two publishing houses, the additional publishing location "Leipzig" was added. Starting with IB 1150 (Rilke: How should I keep my soul ), the publisher identified the designer of the sample paper used or its original origin for almost all titles if it came from museum collections of colored paper. At first sporadically - for the first time in 1997 with IB 1175 (Heine: Neue Melodien ich spiel ich ) - and then from 1998 almost continuously the font was again placed in the imprint. This was completely revised in 1999 by listing the copyrights reserved to the publisher for the published title . At the same time, the edition of the island book could now be read from a single digit and the year of issue of the island book from a two-digit Arabic number in two series of digits, with the lowest number being the relevant one; in 2012, however, the old edition information from before 1999 was reverted to. Since 2004, the information on the paper used for printing and the reference to the thread stitching used have been added to the extensive publisher's information on the title.

Current equipment

Return to the classic pattern paper cover

The development initiated at the Frankfurt publishing house to promote sales, which threatened to rob the series of its unmistakable character and charm, was reversed in the 1980s. The Insel-Bücherei is currently wearing its old book cover with sample papers in the vast majority of its titles. Especially for titles that deal with classic German literature of the 18th and 19th centuries or biographical topics on their authors, historical templates from sample paper collections in museum holdings are often used ( German Book and Writing Museum / Deutsche Bücherei Leipzig), so that the Rizzi papers, which were related to the island library in the early days, are experiencing a renaissance. The printing is done on high quality paper and thread stitching is used. The title and back labels, which are still mandatory, are only printed on for reasons of production economy. Subsequent editions of a few titles that were already in the first edition in the Insel-Bücherei exclusively in picture binding will be provided with this binding in the ongoing subsequent editions (e.g. IB 1008/2: Polish love poems , with a binding drawing by Picasso , or IB 999/2: Hermann Hesse , Hours in the Garden , with a binding drawing by Gunter Böhmer ).

Modified surface of the cover paper and barcode sticker

From 1996, beginning with the volume Norbert Elias : Die Ballade vom Armen Jakob (IB 1165), the sample paper bindings have a very smooth, lacquer-like surface, the haptic properties of which are no longer equal to the papers used previously, but due to their robustness the previously typical rubbing significantly reduce the sensitive book edges. The smooth surface is supposed to enable book buyers in particular to be able to remove the barcode stickers , which have been used in book stores for some time for reasons of rationalization , with the indication of the sales price without damaging the surface. However, this only works a short time after the stickers have been attached, they gradually bond with the cover paper and then leave damage when removed. With the spring delivery of 2017, the cover surface became a bit rougher again; the long-term effect on the price stickers remains to be seen.

Large and small formats

With large-format volumes of 13.5 cm × 21.5 cm (large octave) and different numbering, but only given on the back of the title page ( S 2001 and 2003 ff.), Which otherwise have the features of the Insel-Bücherei , the publisher deviated from the prototype of the island book for the first time in autumn 2012. Until then, the small octave format was one of the constituent elements of the row design that had remained unchanged since 1912. This was followed by the first small-format tapes with dimensions 9.5 cm x 14.5 cm below the at the Spring 2013 Delivery No. 2,501th . The special formats are well received on the book market and are mainly purchased as gift books, so that a long-term continuation of the special format series can be assumed.

Band illustration and laundry slip insert

Very often the ribbons are now provided with book illustrations and photographs directly in the text, while ribbons with a purely pictorial and explanatory text section (illustrated volumes, see above) only rarely appear in new editions. Since 1999, bookmarks made of cardboard have been added to the new publications, which bear a brief reference to the respective volume number and its content as well as the other new publications of the spring or autumn program on the reverse. This ties in with an earlier tradition of the Frankfurt publishing house from the 1950s and 1960s; At that time the volumes were accompanied by so-called laundry slips made of paper, printed on both sides .

Optional extras of the range

Expenditures during the two world wars

War expenses and expenses for the Hamburg Red Cross in the First World War

IB 158/1 mercenary songs , Red Cross output, Christmas 1916

Directory of German books from Insel Verlag with references to war editions, 1915

IB 165 / 1A, F. Schiller: The Siege of Antwerp , paperback war edition

Smaller partial editions of around 75 titles available in the first two years of the war in 1915 and 1916 were bound in monochrome paperback covers to reduce the transport weight (so-called war editions) in order to facilitate delivery to the soldiers of the German Reich fighting on the front . The brochures, which cost only 30 pfennigs, have the normal title label on the front cover, but there is no spine label. So far, war brochures up to IB number 196 (Eichendorff: Die Glücksritter ) have been found. In a very few titles in war brochures, there is an imprint of the Hamburg Red Cross for hospital inmates for Christmas 1916. Due to the not very robust equipment and the intensive use of the brochures by readers under war conditions and in the hospitals, most of these issues did not survive the First World War. Other specimens were certainly thrown away in later times because of their inconspicuous appearance, so that they have become quite rare. In the Red Cross editions , only individual items can be found in around 20 titles.

In addition to the use of paperback bindings, so-called export marks appear in the Insel-Bücherei, which refer to an edition that was censored and expelled during the First World War . After there was no censorship at the beginning of the war, in 1916 the Deputy General Command of the XIX. Army Corps initiated an examination procedure in Leipzig for the literature that went to neutral foreign countries or the occupied territories. Its completion was documented from July 1916 to July 1917 by the stamp "Z XIX" on the title page below. From July 1917 to November 1918, the Leipzig Völkerschlachtdenkmal was either stamped in different sizes or later imprinted in an entire edition. Censorship marks from other army corps are also very rare (e.g. an "18" for the 18th in Frankfurt / Main). The shape and size, which was about 5 to 10 mm in diameter, varied due to the different printing companies that applied them.

• Main variants of the export marks in island books
• 

  "Z XIX" stamp from 1916

• 

  "VSD" stamp from 1916

• 

  "VSD" impression from 1917

Field post, front book trade and troop support issues in the Second World War

During the Second World War, as with many other publishers, a larger number of titles appeared in the Insel-Bücherei as so-called field post or front book trade edition, which offered a cross-section of the text volumes of the current publishing program and alongside historical treatises such as Das deutsche Ordensland Preußen von Treitschke ( IB 182/1), Roman characters by Mommsen (IB 489) or Political Conversation by Ranke (IB 349/2), especially fairy tales by Andersen (IB 397) or Hauff (IB 497) as well as politically harmless novels, stories ( Kleist , Eichendorff or Keller) and poems ( Hölderlin , Rilke, Morgenstern ). The 45 Pf. Military post issues were printed from the outset as separate editions with sometimes considerable numbers of copies on mostly inferior paper and, like the war editions of the First World War, were almost exclusively provided with thin, mostly monochrome paperback bindings for weight reasons for sending to the front.

IB 51, Jean Paul : Life of the hilarious little schoolmaster Maria Wuz in Auenthal , 76th – 85th, impression "Frontbuchhandelsausgabe" ( Gothic script )

The only field post issue in cardboard with sample paper was published in 1944 in a small edition that was printed in occupied Dorpat ( Estonia ) as early as 1943 , Rilkes Cornet (IB 1) - perhaps the publisher's bow to the work of one of its main authors, who had died in 1926 . In contrast, the front book trade editions were intended for exclusive distribution directly at the front; Secure price information is not available.

For the German soldiers fighting on the front , special partial editions of mostly 10,000 copies were made by the publisher for so-called troop support from 1943 on by order of the Wehrmacht , which also took over the distribution at the front and in the stage , which did not go on sale . Most of these ribbons were bound in single-colored cardboard ribbons with a striped structure specially produced for these issues. The back label was omitted from some issues. Sometimes patterned cardboard volumes or brochures were also used as cover material. The printing of these editions was mostly carried out by printing houses located outside of Leipzig , which were otherwise not involved in the production of the island library. Here, too, prices are missing; some of the expenses are said to have been distributed through the OKW's branch offices .

• War editions of the Second World War and stickers of the front bookstores
• 

  IB 196, J. v. Eichendorff: The Soldiers of Fortune, field post issue

• 

  IB 51, Jean Paul: little schoolmaster Maria Wuz, front book trade edition for the Wehrmacht

• 

  IB 39, Th. Fontane: Stine , troop support issue

• 

  Sticker, front bookstore Paris

• 

  Receipt, front bookstore Paris

• 

  Glue-in, front bookstore Rouen
  (60 × 88 mm)

At the beginning of the war, the IB titles, which were specially made for members of the German troops, were distributed primarily via the network of so-called front bookshops , whose headquarters were located in Berlin. Initially, "mobile bookstores" were set up in converted buses, later there were also fixed shops. Especially for the French occupation area, for which a branch office of the Berlin headquarters was installed in Paris, there are several stickers for front bookstores, some of which were also loosely enclosed with the books. In other occupied countries, stamps in the book often indicated the sale by a front bookstore. It is not uncommon for the members of the Wehrmacht who bought the car to document the purchase by hand in the book.

Recycling after the Second World War

Remnants of the field post and front book trade editions were also sold after 1945, whereby the printed references to the war-related issue were mostly made illegible by pasting over the imprint or removing the flyleaf.

Special publishing expenses

Additional prints for the 2nd book market edition 1980 (Brecht: Freundlichkeit der Welt , IB 907 / 1B) with text and for the 3rd book market edition 1981 ( African gold weights , IB 1040/1) with text and logo

Issues for the Leipzig book markets

Adhesive for the Leipzig Book Exchange 1984 (IB 681/2, Schwob)

Beginning in 1979 and ending in 1990 , book markets were held on the Leipzig market square , mostly in September, at which, along with other publishers, the Leipziger Haus des Insel Verlag also sold titles from its current program. The Insel Verlag stocked its sales stand for the first time at the 2nd book market in 1980 with a specially designed Insel book from ongoing production. This edition by Bertolt Brecht : From the friendliness of the world. Poems (IB 907 / B) only received an additional print with a text reference to the book market. From the 3rd book market onwards, a book market vignette designed by HJ Walch was also printed under the information text, which depicted an open book with a lion, Leipzig's heraldic animal - again holding a book - and a stylized page of text; from the 6th edition it was slightly enlarged. The additional printing can be found on the back of the flyleaf and from 1982 ( Bernini : Drawings [IB 660/2]) on the title page. For the 12th book market in 1990, the last island book was Walter Benjamin : Small Art Pieces (IB 1088) for this local event. The edition of the book market editions is said to have been around 500 copies each.

Issues for the Leipzig book exchange

On the occasion of the 85th anniversary of the publishing house, the Leipziger Haus delivered four titles from the 1983 annual production at the 24th Leipzig Book Exchange ("The Collectors & Hunters Exchange") on March 1, 1984 (IB 612/2, Schnitzler: Leutnant Gustl ; IB 681 / 2, Schwob: Monelle ; IB 682/2, Verlaine: Gedichte , and IB 1051, Valéry: Verse ) with an adhesive on the front mirror. The circulation of all four titles is said to have been 150 copies.

Preferential Editions

In accordance with the publishing tradition, from time to time for bibliophiles special editions of popular titles with special bindings (use of leather , parchment , linen , silk or a fine cardboard ribbon) and equipment ( handmade paper , author and artist's signature , original graphic additions, slipcase , hand coloring , larger Book format).

IB 328 / A, G. Keller: The blacksmith of his luck , laid paper, half parchment (1921)

IB 362, F. Timmermans: The triptych of the three wise men , laid paper, half-linen (1923)

Sometimes bookbinders who specialize in artistic bookbinding , such as Willy Pingel , Gerhard Prade and Gerd Prade , were commissioned with the production of handbinding .

In the 1990s, the production of special editions was intensified, so that to this day one with a title from the Insel-Bücherei's novelty program is usually on the market. Although the majority of the early titles in the series (up to around 1930) have appeared in the meantime and have been bibliographically recorded (see below: Kästner (2012) ), there may still be new discoveries here. Occasionally, book blocks were also provided with special bindings (e.g. all parchment or leather) by the publisher at the customer's request or for gift purposes. These rare editions are sought after by collectors.

Hofmannswaldau: Meaningful heroic letters from people in love , annual edition 1962/63, fine paperboard

Annual gifts for friends of Insel Verlag

For some of the titles in the IB publishing program , annual editions for Friends of Insel Verlag were also issued with special features that were not sold through retailers. This concerned z. E.g. for the Frankfurt publishing house Christian von Hofmannswaldau : Meaningful Helden-Letters for People in Love (IB 779) or Siegfried Unseld : Goethe and the Ginkgo (IB 1188) as well as from Leipzig the Life of Buddha (IB 870) published by Martin Gimm or that of Gerhard Pommeranz-Liedtke on the artistic folk creation in the GDR published graphic mirror (IB 920), in which important GDR artists such as Hans Ticha , Günter Blendinger or Manfred Butzmann were later represented.

Department store expenses

In the 1970s, the Frankfurt publishing house provided book blocks from the remaining stocks of island books from the 1950s to 1970s with a red, yellow or green paperback and as a "special edition in Insel-Verlag" mostly through department stores (so-called department store editions ) or that Modern second-hand bookstore sold at a price of usually DM 1. For some issues that were already printed in a relatively small edition, such as B. Nelly Sachs ' collection of poems, Glowing Riddles from 1968 (IB 825 / 1B), has the consequence that ribbons tied in the typical IB cardboard tape have become rare.

• Binding colors of the so-called department store gifts
• 

  IB 389 - Plato : A banquet , green

• 

  IB 300/2 - GW Hegel: Introduction to the Phenomenology of Mind , red

• 

  IB 328 / 1D - G. Keller: The smith of his luck , yellow

• 

  Back with the typical, glued-on price tag for DM 1, -

Special expenses for associations and companies

On various occasions, associations and companies have had small partial editions made by Insel Verlag with additionally integrated event pages, additional printing in the imprint or with special features in order to distribute them to their members, employees or business partners for representational purposes using the popularity of the series . Sometimes split runs are purchased by institutional prospective customers and on their own director with corresponding special equipment (protective envelopes) or Einklebern provided.

Issues of clubs (selection)

• Society of Friends of the Nietzsche Archives : IB 421/1, Friedrich Nietzsche (Ed. Richard Oehler ): Freundesbriefe , title page additional print, 1931
• Wilhelm Busch Society : IB 507 / A, Wilhelm Busch: Hernach , additional print for the inauguration of the Wilhelm Busch Museum , 1937
• Mansfeldische Kunstvereinigung IB 505 / A, Wilhelm Pinder : Images of the Naumburg Cathedral , special binding and title plate for the members for Christmas , 1937
• German Society for goldsmiths : IB 54/2, Friedrich Schnack: The Little Book of gems (IB 54/2), with a greeting leaf to the members and a bookplate , 1938
• Ackermann community Munich : IB 198 / C, J. von Tepl : Der Ackermann und der Tod , imprint note with reference to the community on the occasion of the anniversary "1000 years of the Archdiocese of Prague ", 1973
• Central working group Friedrich Schiller in the Kulturbund of the GDR : a total of 5 IB editions with Schiller texts for his annual meetings (including: IB 615/2, Maria Stuart , IB 922, Kabale und Liebe , and IB 991/2, The Fiesco Conspiracy zu Genoa ), each with an additional print, a dedication card and a slipcase.

Expenditures by companies and business associations (selection)

In 1965 the foreign trade company Deutscher Buch-Export und Import GmbH u. a. An edition of the title Die Minnesinger (IB 450), which has been in the publishing program since 1933, with an all-parchment hand-binding by Gerd Prade and slipcase and distributed with an accompanying dedication card, preferably to German business partners to promote the book export business.

The following German companies or business associations also used the island library for advertising purposes and gifts for business friends:

• Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesbrandkasse : IB 495, Der Bordesholmer Altar Master Brüggemanns , with additional sheet for the members as well as folding card with New Year's wishes for 1953 and woodcut by Gerhart Bettermann
• Sager & Woerner : IB 27 / 1B, Antigone (1959) and IB 726, King Oidipus (1960) - both by Sophocles and transferred from Roman Woerner , half leather bindings
• Gilde insurance in Düsseldorf (several picture books in leather binding)
• Kessler & Co .: IB 1077/2, Eliza Orzeszkowa: Flower wedding, with an additional print for the staff for Christmas 1988
• Federal Association of Companies in the Gas and Water Sector e. V. / FIGAWA: IB 1173, Gisela Linder: Water is life , impression of the address of FIGAWA
• Bristol-Myers Squibb , CNS / Serotonin Research: IB 1006/2, Poe : The Raven , additional print and dust jacket (1997)
• Bookstore zum Rennwegtor ( Zurich ): IB 1006/2, Poe: Der Rabe , additional print, linen cover and dust jacket (1981)
• Bankhaus Max Flessa KG (Flessabank), u. a .: IB 1324, Annette Seemann : Das Weimarer Residenzschloss (2010) and IB 1325, Wilhelm Busch: Der Kuchenteig (2011), each with an additional print as Christmas gifts
• MDM Münzhandelsgesellschaft : IB 1205, Dieter Wynands: Der Dom zu Aachen , additional prints on the front cover and half-title (book accompanying the 100 € gold coin 2012)

• Examples of special editions by Insel Verlag for companies and associations
• 

  IB 505 / A Wilhelm Pinder : Images of the Naumburg Cathedral , special edition for the Mansfeld Art Association, special cardboard cover

• 

  IB 507 / A Wilhelm Busch: Hernach , special edition for the Wilhelm Busch Society, half-title with additional printing

• 

  IB 726 Sophocles: King Oidipus , special edition for the company Sager & Woerner, half leather binding

• 

  IB 611 Japanese colored woodcuts , special edition 1958 for the Gilde Insurance Düsseldorf, leather binding

eBook-IB

Already in the Verlagsschriftenreihe Insel Verlag second half of 2011 was for my miracle of Else Lasker-Schüler (IB 1344) and Her Highness of Herman Bang the deliverability as (IB 1346) eBook been announced - but the sale did not take place. Since then, a small range of e-books has been set up in the IB, but it has not yet left the experimental stage, as the creation of the IB e-books is associated with a relatively high level of effort due to the mostly richly illustrated series titles.

In fact, as far as can be seen, only fifteen IB titles have even sold eBooks in addition to print editions. These included editions of all three IB formats. In the normal format are Dickens: The New Year's Bells (IB 89, illustrated new edition), Busch: The Cake Dough (IB 1325), Hesse: Butterflies (IB 1348), Trees (IB 1393) and Hike (IB 1403) and Ferrante: The Beach at Night (IB 1458). The large format is represented with And Another Fifteen Minutes to Buffalo (IB 2006), Witzigmann: Das Marmeladenbuch (IB 2008), Dickens: The Christmas Eve (IB 2010) and Llosa: Sonntag (IB 2018). Finally, in a small format, From the happiness of friendship (IB 2505), from the use of enmity (IB 2509) and from the joys of parents and grandparents (IB 2513) and from giving and receiving presents (IB 2517), all by Wilhelm Schmid, and Discover yourself available from Hesse (IB 2511).
For IB 1325, which was announced in 2010, as well as for the large-format IB 2006 and IB 2008 from 2014, the publisher's announcements did not contain any references to an eBook version, nor did the new publication from 2016 Sonntag by Mario Vargas Llosas (IB 2018 , Large format). On the other hand, one of them was missing in Enzensberger's ! (IB 1398) from 2014, only there has been no dealer offer since then. The online publisher's notes on eBooks are also kept quite spartan, only 10 bestsellers are advertised, but no IB. After the last eBook IB 1458 (Ferrante) was published in 2018, IB 1483, Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom of Sylvia Plath, is announced as an eBook version for the first half of 2020 .

The IB eBooks are sold slightly below the retail price of the printed books and are offered in the EPUB file format , which can be read with most common reading devices such as Tolino , Sony Reader , Kobo , TrekStor or BeBook , and Amazon Kindle .

Series title as an audio book

Since 2002, when the successful IB 1188, Unseld: Goethe and the Ginkgo was started, a total of six Insel books have also been published as audio books . Since Siegfried Unseld had co- founded the Hörverlag together with other publishers in 1993, the start with an island book from his pen and read by himself was obvious. The audio book versions were produced by Universal Music GmbH under the Deutsche Grammophon label , with two CDs in cooperation with broadcasters. Since the latest IB audio book, Ringelnatz ' Waiting for the Boomerang (IB 1264), was launched in 2005, it must be assumed that this product line has been discontinued.

In terms of content, volumes of poetry dominate, as poems only develop their full artistic effect as a spoken word. Most audiobooks go well beyond the corresponding series title in terms of content, in that additional contributions by the authors on the book topic are presented or songs contained in the volume are sung and title-related background music rounds off the listening experience. However, in return, existing text images naturally had to be omitted with the new medium. In order to promote sales of these parallel editions, it was advertised in the island books partly through inserted advertising slips (Hesse, IB 1231) or imprints (Unseld, IB 1188, 18th edition from 2004).

The front covers of the audiobooks take up the cover pattern of the original volume. The title plates do not contain a number, but the names of the performers. The designs of the backs, which always bear the Insel logo, and the backs of the CD cases, on the other hand, follow the design standard of Universal Music GmbH. The four editions with double CD advertise the original IB book edition with images.

List of audio books by IB editions

author	editor	IB title	IB no.	Year of IB	Radio station	Bonus material on the CD	Speaker singer	CDs	Year of the CD
Johann Wolfgang Goethe	Hans-Joachim Simm	How wonderfully the nature shines for me. Poems and pictures	1240	2003	-	4 songs with piano accompaniment by Reichardt , Beethoven and Schubert, sung by Peter Schreier , Hermann Prey and Fritz Wunderlich ; Beethoven: Twelve German Dances ( WoO 13)	Doris Wolters , Peter Matić	1	2004
Hermann Hesse	Siegfried Unseld	Stages of life. Letters	1231	2002	Südwestrundfunk	-	Doris Wolters, Gerd Andresen , Hans-Dieter Jendreyko	2	2002
Joachim Ringelnatz	Robert Gernhardt	Waiting for the boomerang	1264	2005	-	-	Robert Gernhardt	1	2005
Friedrich Schiller	Sigrid dam	The blissful moments. Poems	1263	2005	-	5 songs with piano accompaniment by Schubert , sung by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau	Frank Arnold , Maria Becker , Ernst Ginsberg , Charles Regnier , Siegmar Schneider u. a.	2	2005
Siegfried Unseld	-	Goethe and the Ginkgo	1188	1988	Radio Bremen	Mozart : Sonata in G major ( KV 379 / 373a)	Siegfried Unseld, Alexandra Henkel , Gerhard Garbers	2	2002
-	Helmut Walcha	German Christmas carols	1027/1	1986	-	Additional Christmas carols	Doris Wolter, Frank Arnold, Hanover Boys Choir , wind instruments of the Berlin Philharmonic , Regensburger Domspatzen , Dresdner Kreuzchor , Leipziger Thomaner , Helmut Walcha ( organ )	2	2003

Side rows to the island library

Austrian library

→ Main article : Austrian library

1915 began with Grillparzer political Testament one of Hugo von Hofmannsthal published page order to the island-Library, the Austrian Library . It essentially corresponded in its equipment to the island library, but had uniform yellow cardboard covers. It was discontinued in 1917 with the appearance of the 26th volume due to a lack of sufficient sales.

Pandora

→ Main article : Pandora series

After the First World War (1920/1921), the second and last page of the Insel-Bücherei was the series Pandora with smaller works in the original languages, which should give readers in Germany easier access to foreign literature, which was due to the inflation-related shortage of foreign currency from 1918 was disturbed. This series, which was published in seven languages, was not granted any lasting economic success either, and it did not exceed 52 titles.

Remnants of both series were taken over to the island library in the 1920s and sold with their equipment (title and spine label).

Promotion for the series title

Preliminary remarks

Insel Verlag ran intensive advertising for its book series at an early stage . This was done on the one hand through advertisements in the titles of the book series or other publisher's program as well as on the blurbs and backs of dust jackets. On the other hand, separate advertising material was produced, which was inserted into the island books or other publishing titles. Larger-format advertising prints were partly enclosed with the publisher's publication “Das Inselschiff” (often glued in) or made available separately from bookshops and the publisher. The latter also applies to the complete directories of the Insel-Bücherei or Insel Verlag, which are currently being created by the publisher. A good part of the history of the series in particular and of Insel Verlag in general can be read from the design and content of the publisher's advertising.

Leipzig publishing house 1912 to 1945

The beginning was made with a list of the first twelve titles in bookmark format (see the illustration above), in 1913 as a double page also with 42 and 73 titles. This was followed by lists of the island library in small advertising brochures, e.g. B. Cheap books from the Insel-Verlag , which presented a cross-section of parts of the publisher's offer or were dedicated to certain topics, such as the issues to propagate the First World War in 1915 and 1916 German books from the Insel-Verlag or the war editions from the Insel- Library and other cheap collections from Insel-Verlag in Leipzig . A complete listing of all 132 Insel books published up to that point was then included in the complete publisher's directory The Works of Insel Verlag from spring 1914, the cover design of which Walter Tiemann had taken over. The early advertising material also clearly shows the gradual increase in the sales price for the series volumes that began in 1916, which was due to the devaluation that began during the First World War . Advertising for the island library took off again after the currency stabilization at the end of 1923. From the mid-1920s, illustrations with portraits of authors or literary figures from the works themselves were incorporated into the design of the advertising material in order to make them visually more attractive. The publishing house now regularly offered its customers complete directories with all available titles in the Insel-Bücherei for spring and autumn or for Christmas. In the wake of the global economic crisis of 1929, the amount of advertising had to be significantly reduced in view of the existing cost pressure. It was not until the mid-1930s that the situation before the crisis was restored. In some cases, the publisher's advertising was initially numbered consecutively on the back. From 1931 a year numbering was used, which had been given up again in 1934; the year before the otherwise consecutive number was retained. The last advertising by the publisher for Christmas 1940 was numbered "40.348". Occasionally there was an erroneous double assignment of numbers.

• Examples of advertising material before 1945
• 

  Inexpensive books from the Insel-Verlag with a list of all available IB titles from 1914

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  German books from the Insel-Verlag from 1915 with a selection of war-related IB titles

• 

  Complete directory of the island library. Summer 1922 (bad paper during the inflation period)

• 

  Advertisement for Stefan Zweig from 1927
  (Photo: FX Setzer )

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  The island library. A treasure trove of German intellectual property and world literature. Directory by group (1934)

• 

  The island library. Alphabetical directory. Christmas 1940 (last complete list before 1945)

Leipzig publishing house after 1945

Books from Insel Verlag autumn 1954

Books from Insel Verlag autumn 1952

After 1945, the use of advertising material at the Leipzig publishing house was gradually restricted. In the 1950s, bookmarks with references to new publications and available titles from the Insel-Bücherei were still quite often enclosed with the volume , after that information about the series, with very few exceptions, was almost only available in the half-year or all-year general directories of Insel Verlag which appeared from 1951 to 1990 - from 1978 only as part of the overall program of the Kiepenheuer publishing group - at the Leipzig book fairs in spring and / or at the autumn fair and partly by well-known graphic artists such as Heiner Vogel (1958), Karl-Georg Hirsch ( 1967), Joachim Kratsch (1968), Hellmuth Tschörtner (1969–1979), Ulrich Tarlatt (1987), Ruth Tesmar (1988) or Horst Hussel (1989). From the last publisher's directory, published in spring 1990, all title announcements were made except for one number.

In some cases, directories were printed on less wood-containing paper for book exports. These received a printing note that differed from the domestic edition and often had the written national name “German Democratic Republic” as an impression on the front cover instead of the abbreviation “GDR” that was otherwise used. The higher export prices ("DM 3.-" to "DM 4.50") were shown as ribbon prices.

Since the demand for island ribbons due to their low retail price always exceeded the number of copies produced, additional advertising for the distribution of the series in the GDR had become largely obsolete at the end of the 1960s.

Wiesbaden / Frankfurt and Berlin publishing house

In view of the much more difficult market environment, the West German publishing house had to resume the intensive production of advertising material from the pre-war era, and the old numbering system with dates and consecutive numbers was continued from 1951 to 1964. After an intermediate period with unnumbered advertising material, five-digit numbers are used from 1973 onwards. Advertising inserts produced in different years for individual authors, such as Hermann Hesse or Sigrid Damm, often have an identical number, despite changes to the content.

In the 1950s and 1960s, bookmarks whose content was related to individual volumes or subject groups were intended to attract the reader's attention. The tradition established in 1969 of the publication of small half-yearly directories with the new publications of Insel Verlag was maintained until 2002. The advertising inserts, which were provided in leporello form with the publisher's signature and some illustrations, mostly also included the new publications from the Insel-Bücherei. Since volume number 1193, Romain Rolland : Goethe und Beethoven , which appeared in 1999, the first IB editions have almost without exception been accompanied by cardboard bookmarks with a brief summary of the volume and a list of the other novelties in the series published at the same time on the reverse.

Repeatedly appeared, especially until the end of the 1960s, complete lists of the titles available from the Insel-Bücherei, the number of which had dwindled to "The Hundred Gift Books of the Insel-Bücherei" in the mid-1970s. Since 1990 the publisher has been presenting the again significantly increased range of island books in mostly annual general directories. They have been available in the normal IB format since 1995, and in large format from 2016, and are visually very attractive with a cover sample of a current IB title. Especially for the book trade, the brochures on the biannual publishing program of Insel Verlag, which have been available in the West German publishing house since the 1970s, offer a comprehensive presentation of the new IB publications. They are in A4 format, richly illustrated and currently have a volume of around 100 pages. In addition, the publishing house produces special advertising material such as book inserts, advertising brochures, posters or newspapers for successful classical and contemporary authors of the publishing program, who are also regularly represented in the IB program. This applies e.g. B. to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, Hermann Hesse as well as Sigrid Damm , Ralf Rothmann and Wilhelm Schmid .

Advertising from other companies and the book trade

Franz-Mehring-Haus (1952): Title of the island library (page 12)

Franz-Mehring-Haus (1952): advertising brochure a. a. with the IB (front cover)

Residenz department store: IB directory, autumn 1930

In addition to the purely publisher-side advertising for the island library, there was also interest in retail companies in self-promotion for the popular series. The Dresden Residenz department store , which was destroyed in World War II, was included in the advertising brochure “Die Insel Bücherei. Complete directory of autumn 1930 "from Insel Verlag, print his company logo" ReKa "and address.

From the beginning of the series up to the more recent times, before this advertising medium increasingly disappeared for economic reasons, the island library was also often to be found as an attractive product range in brochures of the book trade for the current range of products. Even in the 1950s, larger bookstores in the GDR were putting up offer lists in which the novelties and available series titles were pointed out (see illustration).

Publishing archive for series production

The publishing archive for the production of the Insel-Bücherei from 1912–2002 has been located in the German Literature Archive in Marbach since 2010, where it was sold by the publishing house when it moved to Berlin.

Series anniversaries from 1937 to 2012

A quarter of a century island library 1937

In 1937 the Insel Verlag was able to draw a first positive summary of the series development after 25 years of Insel-Bücherei. The Insel-Bücherei had meanwhile developed into an essential mainstay of the publishing house with large editions, especially of the illustrated titles with a total of 20 million volumes sold. The anniversary series, delivered in two batches, comprised 18 text volumes as well as 4 black-and-white and 2 colored illustrated volumes.

Advertising insert for the 1937 anniversary edition

For friends of the series, an unnumbered special volume Die Insel-Bücherei 1912–1937 was published in series format and with series equipment , so that a total of 25 volumes were edited. In the special volume, the publisher first reviewed the history of the Insel-Bücherei from its very beginnings, when the form and name of the series were still being debated. In addition, the following had their say: RG Binding as a series author (IB 23: The Offering ) with a homage to the series, Annemarie Meiner as a book trade historian and publisher and thus a knowledgeable lover of the series, Richard Jütte , who reported on the difficult career up to that time The color illustrated books of incomparable printing quality were able to reach the market in 1933, and the publisher Severin Rüttgers (IB 509: Kudrun ) with comments on the IB for young people. The alphabetical index of all available series titles at the end of the volume, which is also interesting for the now-growing group of collectors, also revealed the shadow that the National Socialist rule had cast on the island library for five years. Names like that of the successful author Stefan Zweig, who was represented with five serial titles and several transfers in the series until 1933, the now expatriated Nobel Prize winner Thomas Mann (IB 312/1 Felix Krull ) or the Soviet writer Maxim Gorki ( IB 404/1 Malwa ) one looks in vain in the list; the volume numbers in question had been replaced by conforming titles from 1933 onwards, in accordance with the cultural policy requirements.

Insel Verlag also drew attention to the series anniversary with a large number of advertising materials that were enclosed in the IB volumes or other publications by Insel Verlag. Contrary to its title, the directory of the Insel-Bücherei 1912–1937 (IV 37.218) contained - like the special volume - only the available volumes; the rejected authors and the other volumes replaced by new titles, such as the series with Wagner libretti from 1914 or the war editions of the First World War, were also omitted here, so that it was only partially suitable for collectors.

50 years of the Insel-Bücherei 1962 in divided Germany

The 50th anniversary of the series in 1962 was overshadowed by the construction of the Berlin Wall in the previous year. There were therefore no joint activities between the two publishing houses. As far as can be seen, the event in the Leipzig publishing house was largely ignored. In any case, there were no special publications there and Sarkowski's IB bibliography mentioned below was not included in its own program, although this was initially agreed.

Conditions of participation for the 1962 anniversary competition

In contrast to the special volume from 1937, the Frankfurt publishing house published a now complete IB bibliography containing all the serial titles of both publishing houses up to number 750 (Hofmannsthal: Kleine Dramen ) with all variants and many special features, such as special editions or leather and half-leather volumes , listed. This volume, developed by Heinz Sarkowski over a year and a half with recourse to the Leipziger Insel-Archiv and Anton Kippenberg's IB collection, was illustrated in black and white and also with original illustrations from IB editions ( Minnesinger , Ikebana ) and equipped with an extensive register. It had two editions (26,000), and there was also a special edition in 25 copies. The buyers could also take part in a quiz, the participation forms of which were enclosed with the volume and for which the first prize was a free lifelong subscription to the series. In addition to the 25 novelties, as in the anniversary year 1937, the publisher also came up with a small edition bibliophile treasure, the successful Minnesinger (IB 450), hand-bound in half parchment by Willy Pingel . In the Insel-Almanach , which is published annually in Frankfurt, a large number of authors, illustrators, critics and collectors of the series, such as Max Mell, Max Rychner or Gerhard Marcks , reported on their first encounter with this series in the 1962 edition . The publisher and book historian Georg Kurt Schauer described in his critical review of five decades of the Insel-Bücherei in the magazine Philobiblon as “a pre-school for bibliophilia ”.

Island Library after seventy-five years in 1987

IB number 1 and special editions in a jewelry slipcase

The best-selling series title, Rilke's Cornet , which had not previously been reprinted in the GDR, was edited for the first time in Leipzig by Horst Nalewski with a commentary on the history of the work and correspondence between Rilke and Anton Kippenberg at the beginning of this edition, while he was in Frankfurt as Reprint of the first edition from 1912 was published, but now also with a printed spine label, which was still missing from the original. In addition, both publishing houses came up with two special editions, each in a jewelery slipcase: The Leipzig edition only comprised five small volumes. They were down to Gugeline of Otto Julius Bierbaum already appeared in the series (IB 1074), but now received any special equipment. In contrast, there were 24 Insel books, most of them series novelties, such as Heine's Der Doktor Faust. A dance poem (IB 1030), Tibetan songs (IB 1039) or The Book of Bluebeard by Frederick the Great (IB 1034) were, and the IB bibliography the slipcase from Frankfurt. It was advertised by the publisher with an A3 poster. After all, there were three almost identical volumes from both publishing houses under the two anniversary editions: The story of Aucassin and Nicolette (IB 1071), Dir by Heinrich Vogeler (IB 1072) and Von dem Fischer un syner Fru by Philipp Otto Runge and Uwe Johnson (IB 1075) .

Bibliographies and advertising

In the 1980s, after years of confrontation, the two publishing houses had come closer together again. Of course, this did not go so far as to allow the series bibliography now compiled by the Leipzig bibliophile Herbert Kästner to appear in all German. Rather, the identical bibliographical work, which was only adorned with black and white illustrations, was given different cover colors and different forewords. Siegfried Unseld was responsible for the Frankfurt bibliography, and the author himself introduced the Leipzig bibliography. In Frankfurt there was also a small advertising brochure in which the anniversary volumes and the available “one hundred gift volumes from the Insel-Bücherei” were described in words and pictures.

Exhibition and events

• IB exhibition in Offenbach

A highlight of the anniversary year was the exhibition on the island library held in Offenbach's Klingspor Museum , with a collection owned by the museum and many items on loan. a. the rarity of the series, the volume Gedichte des Deutschen Barock (IB 313/2), from Kippenberg's private library archived in Marbach . A brochure written for the speeches at the opening of the exhibition - Jochen Lengemann and Siegfried Unseld were among the speakers - in the typical "Insel" jewelry should form the nucleus of the future messages for friends of the Insel-Bücherei , which appeared until 2013 with the same equipment.

• Project of a central festival event in Leipzig and matinee in the Deutsches Theater Berlin

The Leipzig project of a central festival event with the participation of all German authors - planned for the GDR were Karl Mickel (represented in IB 1031/1: Altered Landscapes. Poems ) and Stephan Hermlin ( inter alia IB 918: Scardanelli ) as well as Martin Walser (IB 1062: In Goethes Hand ) and Walter Jens (IB 1063: Der Untergang ) for the FRG - however, failed due to objections from the publishing house and book trade headquarters , which complained about the lack of international participation, because "pan-German tendencies" of the event should definitely be avoided. The Sunday matinee on November 1, 1987 at the Deutsches Theater Berlin honored the 75th birthday of the series. Here Stephan Hermlin recited Hölderlin and interpreted Lissy Tempelhof Eisler songs. Dieter Mann and Otto Mellies finally undertook a tour of world literature based on IB texts, from the fable poets Aesop (IB 272) and Lafontaine (IB 185) to Seume (IB 763: With the stamp of truth ) and Mayakovsky (IB 794: Early Poems ) were enough.

Illustration competition

With an A4 advertising sheet on which the conditions of participation were printed, the publisher invited to an “open competition for the illustration of literary texts” on the occasion of the series anniversary, whereby three works were specified. In addition to the winning designs, this was Kleist's Michael Kohlhaas . The competition, which ended in November 1988 and ended in November 1988, with a first prize of DM 10,000  and two other prizes, resulted in only two winners: Monika Schliephack , the IB 1105: The Cold Heart of Wilhelm Hauff, and Rita Beyer , the Robert Walser The Walk (IB 1106) illustrated. Both volumes were then published in 1989 with a book loop indicating the competition.

100 years Insel-Bücherei 2012

Insel Verlag booth at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2012 with island books on display

Anniversary editions

In 2012 the Insel-Bücherei celebrated the 100th birthday, which is already quite rare for a book series. In the anniversary program, re-editions of 10 successful series appeared in redesigned bindings, IB 1356 to IB 1365, and the third edition of the bibliography of the series, edited and edited by Herbert Kästner . Due to its size, it had to have a robust linen cover, so it was no longer typical of the series.

Events

On the occasion of the series anniversary, a panel discussion took place on March 15, 2012 at the Leipzig Book Fair with the participation of the collector and bibliographer Herbert Kästner, the book scholar Siegfried Lokatis and the antiquarian Jens Förster who specializes in this series, all of whom come from Leipzig. The Insel Verlag then paid tribute to 16 March 2012 the birthday of the series with a ceremony at the large reading room of the German Library in Leipzig , on which the chief editor of the Insel publishing house Raimund Fellinger went down to the checkered history of the series and the successful publishing author Uwe Tellkamp after discussion of read his special personal relationship with Insel Verlag and the Insel-Bücherei from Rilke's Cornet and from his own Insel book title, Reise zur blau Stadt (IB 1323).

Exhibitions

The Kiel University Library brought under the motto 18.5 × 12 - The Island Library - 100 Years of diversity in a format the birthday of the series to the public close. The German Literature Archive Marbach traced the one hundred year path in the series from the year the island book was first published up to 2012 under the exhibition title A Year on the Island . Towards the end of 2012, a book show designed by the Klingspor Museum in Offenbach followed, 100 Years of the Island Library and Vermes Collection . The exhibition “100 Years Survived” could be viewed in the Leipzig Book Studies Archive; In addition, the archive drew attention to various topics in the book series with a poster campaign. Finally, from the end of 2012 to the beginning of 2013, a Berlin bibliophile presented a representative cross-section of his collection area “Insel-Bücherei” in the university library of the Free University of Berlin .

As a follow-up to the anniversary, the Bergische Universität Wuppertal ran from October 20 to November 5, 2014, an exhibition designed by a collector, “The Island Library 2.014. A corporate design for more than a hundred years ”.

Awards as "Most Beautiful Book of the Year"

On December 2, 1929, the " German Book Art Foundation" was founded. In 1931, the jury formed under her leadership selected Hans Carossa's island book from the “Fifty Most Beautiful Books of 1930” : Die Schicksale Dr. Citizen. Escape (IB 334/2) with out. This competition was not held again in the Federal Republic until the 1951 book year. In 1952, one of the award-winning books was an island book, IB 49/2, Heraklit : Urworte der Philosophie . In 1953, six Insel books, such as Henri Matisse : Women (IB 577) or Paul Hindemith : Johann Sebastian Bach (IB 575/1), were among the winners. Also in the following years island books were regularly to be found among the most beautiful books in the Federal Republic. In the GDR, the “ Most Beautiful Books of the GDR ” competition started a year later, with a jury formed by the Exchange Association of German Booksellers in Leipzig until 1989 selecting the books worthy of the award in accordance with the official cultural policy guidelines. For the first time in 1955 a title in this series - Ernst Barlach : Pocket Book Drawings (IB 600) - was among the award-winning books. As in the Federal Republic of Germany, this was followed repeatedly by titles from the Insel-Bücherei. The multiple choice of island books in the category of the most beautiful German books in both parts of Germany vividly reflects the high artistic standard maintained by the book series over a long period of time.

Island library as a collector's item

Soon after its publication, the series of books also attracted the attention of collectors, who are attracted by the visually attractive design, the demands on the content and the many variations in the decoration of the ribbons. The fans of the series usually strive to compile a numerically complete collection of the first editions, at least according to the main numbers and essential variants that were created through text changes or illustrations. In the GDR this was u. a. the bibliophile Herbert Kästner from Leipzig, who is currently also responsible for the bibliography of the series. In the Federal Republic of Germany, Helmut Jenne from Schriesheim built up a catalog-like complete collection with over 12,000 volumes from 1986 onwards, with countless variations in content and features as well as special features such as stamps and stickers, dedications, signatures or markings. The collection was acquired in 2011 by the German entrepreneur and grandson of the publisher Kurt Wolff , Jon Baumhauer . With its pre-existing holdings, it now has over 20,000 volumes and is likely to be the largest private and public collection in the island's library with ancillary areas.

and display information about the image

Impression from the collection of Jon Baumhauer's Insel library in Munich (2012)

Catalogs and publications for the series

Publishing catalogs

H. Sarkowski: 50 Years Insel-Bücherei (Catalog 1962), special edition, half parchment

The various edition variants of the Insel-Bücherei and its two page rows have already been recorded four times by Insel Verlag in bibliographies on the occasion of edition and publishing anniversaries , after the publisher had already included a list of the available IB numbers as an appendix to an anniversary volume in 1937 for the 25th anniversary of the series Had published comments from authors, book artists, publishers and printers on the history of the series. This anniversary volume as well as the four pure IB bibliographies by Heinz Sarkowski (1962) and Herbert Kästner (1987, 1999 and 2012) basically correspond in format and features to the volumes of the Insel-Bücherei, but have no volume number. Due to the increased volume, the most recent bibliography published for the 2012 series anniversary was bound in blue linen to increase the stability of the binding. In addition, Sarkowski had listed the Insel-Bücherei again in the first bibliography published by Insel Verlag in 1970, with which he had attempted to include all the publisher's editions up to 1969. For the Insel-Bücherei this was supplemented by the addendum Bibliography of the Insel-Bücherei 1969–1978 published by the GDR- Pirckheimer-Gesellschaft in 1979 , although the "Sarkowski" itself was only sold in a small number of copies in the GDR and thus in Could reach collector's hand.

Collectors' catalogs based on their own collections

After a first attempt by Gerd Plantener (1985, self-published ), Helmut Jenne, who had also integrated that of Plantener's into his collection, finally recorded the wide range of binding papers used in a catalog in 1995 and always provided a consecutive number in the order of first appearance of the pattern in the island library. This Jennes numbering to determine a binding pattern has established itself among collectors and antique dealers. In 2006 and 2008, a revised and greatly expanded version of the catalog, which was the standard work on the subject of the "Insel-Bücherei", was published in addition to the Kästner bibliography in two volumes. They contain all subsequent editions and special bindings, such as leather and half-leather volumes, parchment and fine cardboard volumes or war brochures, special equipment for companies and associations and also the volumes in the collection with dedications, signatures, drawings, stickers and stamps. Finally, Jenne also comprehensively covers the two page series on the IB, the Austrian Library and the Pandora series, as well as the English series King Penguin Books , which is related to the Insel-Bücherei . The catalog received first corrections as well as supplements and additions in July 2013.

Island Library - Messages for Friends

From 1990 to 2013 the Insel Verlag published the notices for friends of the Inselbücherei in a paperback edition - initially every six months and finally annually, usually for spring delivery. After it was initially the responsibility of dedicated collectors to edit the publication, the publisher continued to edit the publication, including contributions from the collectors. Issue 30 was only published in 2011 with the autumn delivery due to the publisher's relocation to Berlin. This has been the regular appointment since then; the last number was 32 in autumn 2013. According to the publisher's information, the series was discontinued due to insufficient demand.

National collectors' meeting

The lovers of the Insel-Bücherei met for the first time in 1982, due to the division, without the participation of collectors from the GDR. Until 1992, the meetings, which were usually held every two years, took place in the Klingspor Museum in Offenbach am Main ; The only exceptions were in 1988 with Dreieichenhain and 1989 with Marbach am Neckar . The circle of event locations expanded fundamentally from 1994 in the course of the reunification with the first selection of Leipzig . Due to the anniversary of the 2012 series, the 17th meeting in 2012 took place for the first time at the new publishing location of Insel Verlag in Berlin , followed by Worpswede in 2014. The 19th meeting in Munich in 2016 served as a stimulus for an exhibition on the Insel library at the Münchner, curated by Jon Baumhauer University under the title “An island full of books. The Insel-Bücherei in the time of National Socialism ”(July 11th to October 21st, 2016). The book city of Leipzig was then the youngest venue in September 2018, which Hamburg is to follow in September 2020.

Broadcast of the series and miscellaneous

Lucas Cranach: Drawings , Globus Verlag Vienna 1983

Co-prints for Globus-Verlag (Vienna)

In 1983 and 1984, at the request of the GDR Ministry of Culture , co - prints of a total of 5 titles from the current annual programs were produced for the Vienna-based Globus Verlag , which were bound in a monochrome cardboard tape with title inscription on the front cover and spine. The ribbons were provided with the Globus publisher's signet (Globus with a "G") on the half-title, a slightly changed title page and, on the first three volumes, also the copyright notice of Globus Verlag and an ISBN , which was used for the Leipziger Insel- Ribbon was only introduced in the course of 1986. In the case of the last two volumes, however, the copyright notice was “ Verlagsgruppe Kiepenheuer ”. In any case, they were not easily recognizable as the original editions of the island library. The volume Georg Büchner: Woyzeck , like his IB original no. 1056, was accompanied by an amendment slip - another clear indication of its origin from the Insel-Bücherei.

With the editions of 500 copies each, the publisher, which belonged to the Communist Party of Austria and was active in publishing until 1990, was supposed to be given the opportunity to earn proceeds from book sales. The sales price of the books sold in the GDR for only 1.25 (2 titles) or 2.50 Marks (3 titles) was at least 53 schillings , which corresponded to 7.42 DM . It even exceeded the foreign price of 3 Marks for normal text volumes and 4.50 Marks for text volumes of double size and illustrated volumes, which was set for the export business for the five parallel editions in the Leipziger Insel-Bücherei. Gellert's Life of the Swedish Countess von G. (IB 562/2), Georg Heyms Der Dieb, was one of the selected titles, all of which no longer had the rights of other publishers . A book of novels (IB 677/2), drawings by Lucas Cranach the Elder (IB 970) and Nikolai Gogol's How Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich became enemies (IB 592/2).

"Insel-Buch" as a political cover letter

Cover of IB 456 Otto Nebelthau: My vegetable garden as a cover for a camouflage font

P. 9 of the camouflage from 1953 with the title page for the actual content

The spread and political innocence of the series was at least in one case also exploited for political purposes. In a paperback cover of the IB 456 by Otto Nebelthau , which was not completely in keeping with the format (a little too wide) : "Mein Gemüsegarten", which was never provided with such a cover color by the publisher, contrary to the information on the title page with the year of publication 1950, a different text is included. After a few pages of the original text on the care of a vegetable garden , the lecture by the head of the Central Office of the Free German Youth (FDJ) in West Germany begins on page 9 : "The struggle of the Free German Youth for peace, unity and freedom and the preparation for the 2nd German meeting " from 1953 as a so-called camouflage font . The many b / w illustrations provided Unit in the then usual Propagandaton of the Cold War kept and in its core the supposed achievements of the young GDR the allegedly negative political and economic side effects of the early " economic miracle " in the Federal Republic of Germany against. The brochure then ends with a garden calendar as a normal island book text, so that the text interchangeability is not noticeable at first glance.

It can be assumed that this writing reached the recipients, mostly certainly members of the FDJ, which was banned from 1951 in the Federal Republic of Germany, by post from the GDR territory. There is no information about the exact client and the place of manufacture of the font.

Series of books similar to the Insel-Bücherei

Quite a few domestic and foreign publishers tried to exploit the popularity of the Insel-Bücherei's appearance for their own series projects, and more or less imitated the cover design with monochrome or colored cardboard covers as well as title and spine labels. Their content concept also inspired other publishers to create similar series; The following are mentioned here in particular in the chronological order of their appearance:

• De Uilenreeks (The Owl Series) (Bigot en van Rossum, Amsterdam 1934–1947, 52 ribbons)
• The Judgment Day ( Kurt Wolff Verlag, Leipzig, Munich 1913–1921, 86 volumes)
• the Swiss Library ( Verlag Rascher & Co. , Zurich 1917–1960, 43 volumes)
• the library of art history ( EA Seemann publishing house , Leipzig 1921–1925, 88 numbers in 84 small volumes)
• the Schocken Verlag library (Berlin, 1933–1939, 92 numbers in 83 volumes),
• the series Deutsche Volkheit ( Eugen Diederichs Verlag, Jena 1925 ff.)
• Meyer's colorful ribbons ( Bibliographisches Institut , 1934–1939, 34 multicolored ribbons)
• Meyer's picture ribbon (Bibliographical Institute, 1935 ff., 47 single-color ribbons)
• the weaver's library ( Verlag JJ Weber , Leipzig 1935–1942, 58 volumes)
• the King Penguin books (1939–1959, 76 volumes)
• the Piper library
• Edition Graphischer Zirkel , editor Erich Fitzbauer , (1973 ff.)

However, these series mostly only covered individual fields of the island library's edition program and could in no way achieve the universality of the edition program, the literary charisma and the popularity of the island library, so that many were discontinued sooner or later.

If, however, the imitation of the island library's equipment had exceeded a level tolerable for the publisher, Kippenberg took legal action against the competition for unfair competition and violation of the Design Law . B. in 1919 was able to obtain a cease and desist title against the cover design of the “Volksbuch” of the German Poet's Memorial Foundation before the Hamburg district court .

Licensed editions and pirated prints of titles in the island library

The popularity of the series also prompted several foreign publishers to include titles from the Insel-Bücherei in their publishing programs. Most of them were quite successful authors and titles in the island library. In some cases, the volumes were even included in ongoing book series. Sometimes there were also pirated prints . For educational purposes, German training centers in the book industry and artistic design, with the permission of the publisher, like to use texts from the Insel-Bücherei because they are not too large. Finally, in the GDR, the Leipzig Central Library for the blind also took licenses of IB titles in order to publish them in a larger format for the visually impaired.

Inclusion in foreign book series

Between 1943 and 1966 a total of five of the eight volumes by the Flemish author and painter Felix Timmermans, which have been published in the Insel-Bücherei to date, were published in the original translations into German by the Verein Gute Schriften in Basel, each with the addition “The printing is done with kind permission of the Insel-Verlag in Leipzig ”. These include IB 362: The Triptych of the Three Kings (Gute Schriften No. 215, 1943), IB 420: St. Nicholas in Need (Gute Schriften No. 35, 1949) or IB 508: I saw Cecilia come (Good Writings No. 10, 1948). These editions look very similar to the originals, as this series was closely related to the Insel library in terms of design, in which it had its volumes bound mainly in a colored sample paper with an affixed title and spine label.

The following editions with translations into the respective foreign language can certainly be attributed to the conditions of the German occupation and alliance policy in the Second World War: In 1943 the Italian series Il Castello , Verlag Guanda in Modena , was number 4 I casi del Dr. Bürger ( Die Schicksale Dr. Bürgers , 334/2) by Hans Carossa. In 1941, 500 copies of Karl-Heinrich Waggerl's Wiesenbuch (IB 426) came onto the book market of the then occupied Czechoslovakia under the number 141 of the Czech-language series Dobrého dilo svazek with the title Knížka o louce . Ernst Bertrams Von der Freiheit des Wort (IB 485/2) was included in the “Schouw-Reeks” series published by De Schouw in The Hague and appeared there in the Dutch translation Over de vrijheid van het woord as volume 5. Finally, there are still two IB titles have been included in the Serbian book series “VISERI”: IB 519, Kierkegaard -Brevier , and IB 522, Waggerl: Calendar Stories .

Other takeovers by foreign publishers

• British plans before World War II

At the end of the 1930s, the Cobden-Sanderson publishing house was initially interested in taking over 12 color illustrated books. The printing of 5,000 copies at a time was even supposed to take place in Leipzig under the supervision of Insel Verlag. The title of the series was "Pandora Library". Negotiations about this project and also about inquiries from other publishers ultimately failed due to the so-called smashing of the rest of the Czech Republic in March 1939, which had poisoned the negotiating climate beyond recovery until the outbreak of the Second World War. In England, Penguin Verlag then presented the King Penguin Books series, which mainly consisted of color illustrated books and was very similar to the IB, from autumn 1939 .

• DDR volumes in Chinese language

Due to the close cooperation between the GDR and the People's Republic of China , which still existed in the mid-1950s , two IB titles could also be published under license for Chinese readers. First there was Wilhelm Hauff's fairy tale The Cold Heart (IB 479) in the publishing house for children's literature Shanghai , which was followed in 1956 by Kleist's Broken Jug , which was now published by the New Art Shanghai publishing house. At that time the volumes cost 25 Fen in China , which was about 2.50 marks in the GDR. The ribbons have almost exclusively Chinese characters , but their content largely corresponds to the island edition. The license from Insel-Verlag and thus the connection to the Insel library can be seen from the copyright information in Latin letters.

Use of island books for educational purposes

• Book design

The first row in particular was used for training purposes. For example, in 1942 an edition was made as a workshop exercise for students in the first semester of 1942 at the Folkwang Master School in Essen. Without a year, this title was then published in the workshops of vocational school III and the graphic technical school Frankfurt am Main around 1950, using Zerkall hand-made paper donated by paper researcher Armin Renker for printing.

• Language learning

Some of the titles in the Insel-Bücherei were also in demand as reading material for learning German as a foreign language. As early as 1930, the volume Stefan Zweig's Sternstunden der Menschheit (IB 165/2 from 1927) , which was very successful in Germany, appeared in an excerpt from the London publisher George Bell & Sons , enriched with notes and a word list as an edition for German studies students and a new foreword by Stefan Zweig, which he dedicated to the spiritual connection of all nations with one another. A complete edition followed in 1931 for US German students studying at the New York publishing house Prentice-Hall, again with notes and vocabulary. More recently, Georg Büchner's Woyzeck from the Leipzig publishing house from 1984 (IB 1056), with its content and typesetting, was the inspiration for a US edition that was published by Basil Blackwell in 1988 with an English-language introduction and comments on the text in a slightly enlarged type area was. An edition published by Farrar and Rinehart, New York City, as early as 1936, should be mentioned here, although strictly speaking it does not belong to the licensed editions. Here the editor, Nils G. Sahlin, has added two brochures to the story Die Klabauterflagge by Hans Leip (IB 448), which was obviously imported from Germany as an island book: One contains a photo and a short biography of the author as well as Text annotations, the other a German-English vocabulary. All three parts were put into a hinged cover from which the island book could be taken for reading.

US Rilke issues during World War II

During the Second World War, the New York-based publisher Frederick Ungar Publishing Co. took advantage of the lively demand for texts in German in the USA due to immigration and reprinted many German authors in the original, including from the Insel-Bücherei 1942 from Rilke den Cornet (IB 1A) with a type area largely identical to the island's first edition, but without half-title, and The Sonnets an Orpheus (IB 115/2). At the time, they cost 1 and 1.5 US dollars respectively , as can be seen from a blurb on the book cover for the Cornet . Since the volumes do not show any indication of a license from Insel Verlag, they could possibly be pirated prints caused by the war.

Edition from the Rembrandt-Boekhandel

Without an imprint, but with the fictitious title page imprint "1947" - there is no such year of issue for the original - and the publisher's name "Rembrandt Boekhandel" on the cover and dust jacket, a reprint of Rilke's Cornet was published in Antwerp in 1947, which was in any case unlicensed , with a very early printing set being facsimile.

Reprints by the publisher Deutsche Zentralbücherei for the blind in Leipzig

For the visually impaired , 3 IB titles were reprinted in the GDR by the then publishing house Deutsche Zentralbücherei für Blinde zu Leipzig , making use of the licenses granted to Insel Verlag. The books, which according to the reprint imprint cost 10 marks, were produced in the Zwickau graphic works . In 1984 Stefan Zweig first published Schachnovelle und others (IB 976), followed in 1989 by a double volume already provided with an ISBN . It contained Heinrich Böll's Irish Diary (IB 498/2) from 1965 and Elias Canetti's Die Voices of Marrakech (IB 1066) from 1987 , each with a separate page count . The two photomechanical reprints in A4 format and a larger set (so-called large print ), The original typography was retained, however, and was given a sturdy cover made of synthetic leather or linen, thus lacking the IB-typical sample paper cover and the other equipment features of the island library (title and spine label, volume number). On the basis of the imprints that are identical to the IB titles, however, they are clearly recognizable as reprints from the Insel-Bücherei, the Böll reprint also from the sheet numbers taken from the original.

Insolvency proceedings for Insel Verlag from 2013 to 2015

In connection with the corporate law disputes between the majority shareholders of Suhrkamp Verlag and the minority shareholder Hans Barlach , which led to so-called protective shield proceedings, insolvency was filed for Insel Verlag on June 3, 2013 . Effects on the production of the series titles were not discernible. Since the insolvency proceedings for the main building were completed on January 21, 2015 through the conversion of Suhrkamp Verlag into a stock corporation, the proceedings at Insel Verlag also came to a positive conclusion.

See also

• List of IB titles

literature

• o. A .: 75 years of the island library. Speeches at the opening of the exhibition on September 10, 1987 in the Klingspor Museum Offenbach am Main. Insel, Frankfurt am Main 1987.
• Susanne Buchinger: Stefan Zweig - writer and literary agent. Relations with his German-speaking publishers (1901–1942). Booksellers Association, Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 3-7657-2132-8 .
• Hans-Eugen Bühler u. a. (up to no. 9), Jochen Lengemann (up to no. 20), Insel Verlag (from no. 21) as editor: Insel-Bücherei. Messages for friends (abbr .: IB.M). Insel, Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 1990 ff. And 2010 to 2013 (No. 29–32): Insel, Berlin, ISSN  0946-3089
• Edelgard Bühler, Hans-Eugen Bühler: The front book trade 1939–1945: Organizations, competencies, publishers, books. Booksellers Association, Frankfurt am Main 2002, ISBN 3-7657-2500-5 .
• Helmut Jenne: Catalog of the Jenne Collection. Insel-Bücherei - The most beautiful of all book series. 2 volumes, 2nd, extended edition, and catalog of the Jenne Collection Supplements to the 2nd edition of the catalog. Self-published by the author, Schriesheim 2006 and 2008 as well as 2013.
• Herbert Kästner (Ed.): 75 Years Insel-Bücherei: 1912–1987, a bibliography. Insel, Leipzig 1987, ISBN 3-7351-0022-8 .
• Herbert Kästner (ed.): The island library. Bibliography 1912–2012 [on the occasion of the anniversary “100 years Insel-Bücherei 2012”]. Insel, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-458-17540-7 .
• Karl-Hartmut Kull (Ed. Helmut Brade ): My collection of the island library. Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design , Halle an der Saale 2003, ISBN 3-86019-033-4 .
• Friedrich Michael (Ed.): The island library 1912–1937. Insel, Leipzig 1937.
• Helmut K. Musiol: Variations of the island library (sales catalog). Self-published by the author, Murnau 1989.
• Gerd Plantener (ed.): The island library 1912–1984. A bibliography. Self-published by the author, Frankfurt am Main 1985, ISBN 3-458-14307-6 .
• Heinz Sarkowski, Wolfgang Jeske: The island publishing house 1899-1999. The history of the publisher. Insel, Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 1999, ISBN 3-458-16985-7 .

Web links

Commons : Island Library  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Wikisource: Insel-Bücherei  - Sources and full texts

• Literature from and about Insel-Bücherei in the catalog of the German National Library
• Insel Verlag Official website of the Suhrkamp and Insel publishers
• Jubilee program of the Insel-Bücherei 2012 (PDF; 7.6 MB) Insel Verlag
• Complete directory of the Insel-Bücherei spring 2017
• Current program preview from Insel Verlag with a listing of the Insel library
• List of previous program previews from Insel Verlag including Insel-Bücherei
• Publisher's signets in the Insel-Bücherei
• The catalog of the Insel-Bücherei under a free database license is in the process of being built up
• Island Library. The catalog of the Jenne collection
• Conversation between collector Jon Baumhauer and the editor-in-chief of Insel Verlag Raimund Fellinger about the Insel library
• Directory of the island library number 1 to 1413 with 1963 volumes from 1912 to 2015

Individual evidence

1. ↑ As of 2012, volumes will also appear in a different format with separate numbering that is not visible on the cover and that has been left out here.
2. ^ Heinz Sarkowski, Wolfgang Jeske: Der Insel-Verlag 1899-1999. The history of the publisher. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig 1999, ISBN 3-458-16985-7 , p. 122.
3. ↑ Since the 2nd edition of this volume hit stores in 2014, it stands to reason that the successful title in the series will continue to appear under the new volume number 1350.
4. ↑ The island library. Each volume bound 80 Pf. Alphabetical index No. 1-559. Christmas 1939 . (Insel-Verlag I.-V. 39.335). See also for further information on this edition: Gerd Zimmermann: “Lanzelot und Sanderein” (IB 208). An afterword raises questions. In: Insel-Bücherei. Messages for friends. No. 29, p. 37.
5. ↑ The books of the Insel Verlag in Leipzig - May 1922 and the books of the Insel Verlag in Leipzig - spring 1922 . both: Insel Verlag, Leipzig 1922 (without number)
6. ^ Jürgen Kühnert: The history of fixed book prices in Germany. From its beginnings until 1945. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2009, p. 177 ISBN 978-3-447-06098-1
7. ↑ Pursuant to Section 1 (1) of the Regulation, the retail price for fixed prices had to be reduced by at least 10% from the level on June 30, 1931 (90 pfennigs), and as books the series titles fell under this provision.
8. ↑ Austrian-Hungarian bookseller correspondence August 2, 1916, Vienna 1916, No. 31, p. 365 (ANNO online ).
9. ^ Letter from Anton Kippenberg to Hans Wolf dated July 30, 1932 ( Goethe and Schiller Archives Weimar, signature: GSA 50/3803)
10. ^ Letter from Hans Wolf to Anton Kippenberg dated March 24, 1932 (Goethe and Schiller Archives Weimar, signature: GSA 50/3803)
11. ↑ Hans Wolf, Otto von Taube: German Chronicle. 1918–1933 , unpublished (brush print in the German Literature Archive Marbach), p. 72.
12. ↑ The island library. Summer 1935 - Alphabetical index. No. 1–476 , p. 15 (Insel-Verlag I.-V. 35.113.)
13. ↑ cf. u. a. The island library. Christmas 1935 - Alphabetical Index. No. 1–482 , p. 15 (Insel-Verlag I.-V. 35.132.)
14. ^ Heinz Sarkowski : The island library under the swastika . In: Insel-Bücherei. Messages for friends. Number 22, p. 5 ff.
15. ↑ The island library. Directory according to groups no. 1–499 . (Insel-Verlag I.–V. 36.183.)
16. ↑ Karl-Hartmut Kull: More than reading material: The editions of Oscar Wilde's story: Das Gespenst von Canterville , in: Insel-Bücherei. Messages for friends. Number 21, p. 62.
17. ↑ Although the author protested in 1934 because he had been put on the list without being asked, he nevertheless expressed his consent to the intentions of the signatories. Cf. Ernst Klee : The culture lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 , p. 52.
18. ↑ It was not until 1950 that comparable publications were to appear again in the Wiesbaden publishing house and in 1951 in the Leipzig publishing house.
19. ↑ At the exact time of the price increase to RM 1.25, the publisher did not have any price lists. In the DNB catalog there is also no information on cardboard volumes from the war years with 1.25 RM. It is not uncommon for troop support issues that were not published until 1943 to find price entries of “- .80” (Reichsmark) in the books made in pencil, which should have come from bookshops. This means that a price increase would not be considered until 1944 at the earliest. The price increase must have taken place at the beginning of 1945 at the latest, since receipts from bookstores with the price “1.25 RM” for the purchase of an island book are available from this time.
20. ↑ In fact, the collection went into the possession of which was founded by the daughters of the publisher married couple Anton and Catherine's Kippenberg Foundation, which they in their organizational headquarters, which in Dusseldorf nearby Schloss Jägerhof , since 1956 presented to the public.
21. ↑ ^{a b c d} The books of the Insel-Verlag in Leipzig. Autumn 1958. Leipzig 1958 (AG 458/58)
22. ↑ ^{a b c} The books of the Insel-Verlag in Leipzig. Autumn 1959. Leipzig 1959 (AG 480/01/59)
23. ^ The books of Insel-Verlag zu Leipzig. Autumn 1954. Leipzig 1954 (LP 19025/1954 50 000)
24. ↑ ^{a b} The books of Insel-Verlag Leipzig 1956. Leipzig 1956 (AG 480/56)
25. ^ Herbert Kästner : John Heartfield: Photomontages . In: Insel-Bücherei. Messages for friends. Number 8, p. 37.
26. ↑ . See the table below reproduced in the island archive undated excerpt from a publishing information of the island publishing house to the Ministry of Culture, Headquarters publishers and book trade, which is expected to come according to the context of the early 1980s (? 1984) (Source: The digital island archive of the University of Leipzig ).
27. ↑ The island ship. improvised mini-edition for the book trade . (Leipzig 1990), 4 pp.
28. ↑ Compare the website: The image cultivation of the culture and information centers of the GDR abroad up to international recognition in 1972/73 .
29. ↑ The books of Insel-Verlag zu Leipzig 1964 . Leipzig 1964 (AG 05/164/64), p. 31
30. ^ Publishing program '83. Kiepenheuer Dieterich Insel & List . o. O., o. J. [1983] (AG 482/2/83), p. 48
31. ^ Sarkowski: The island publishing house . Leipzig 1999, p. 418
32. ↑ As you can see after using the self-adhesive price stickers for some time, they can only be removed without leaving any residue immediately after they have been applied. Over time, the components of the adhesive bond with the book surface, so that when you peel it off, a more or less noticeable stain remains at the place of the price sticker.
33. ↑ ^{a b c} The prices in the table below refer exclusively to the respective novelties, which were published consistently as cardboard volumes from 1952, including the new special formats and special editions with the new IB number. Older titles were not recorded, some of which were issued in new editions but kept the original volume number, often at lower prices than the novelties. The brochures continued to cost DM 1.20 until 1954. For better comparability, the converted DM prices, which were slightly rounded, were also given from 2002 onwards.

    year	Text volume price in DM	Illustrated volume price in DM	Photo book price in DM	Colored illustrated book Price in DM	Leather strap special strap according to the price in DM
    1948	1, - (only in cardboard box)	-	-	-	-
    1950	1, - (only in cardboard box)		-	-	-
    1951	1.20 (cardboard / cardboard)	1.20 (cardboard only)		-	-
    1952	2, -			-	-
    1954	2, -			3, -	-
    1955	2, -		2.50	3, -	24, - half parchment
    1956	2.30		2.50	3, -	-
    1959	2.50		3, -	3.50	-
    1961	2.50		3, -	3.50	25, -
    1962	3, -		3.80	4.50	32, - half parchment
    1966	3 to 4.50			4.50	30.00
    1967	3 to 3.80			4.50	-
    1969	3 to 4.50				-
    1971	4.50 to 8.00				-
    1974	4.50 to 8.00				80, - 30, - cardboard tape
    1976	8, - to 10, -				-
    1978	10 to 12				-
    1979	10 to 14				-
    1984	12 to 16				-
    1990	14, - to 18, -				-
    1993	16.80 to 19.80				98.00
    1996	17.80 to 19.80				38, - linen 98, - half linen 148, - cardboard tape
    1997	18.80 to 24.80				98.00
    2001	19.80 to 24.80				120.00
    year	Normal band price in euros (DM)				Leather strap special strap as stated in price in euros (DM)
    2002	11.80 to 12.80 € (23.10 to 25.00)				68.00 € (133.00)
    2009	10.80 to 13.80 € (21.10 to 27.-)				68, - €
    2011	11.90 to 13.90 € (23.30 to 27.20)				-
    year	Normal band price in euros (DM)	Large volume price in euros (DM)	Small band price in euros (DM)	Special edition price in euros (DM)	Leather strap special strap as stated in price in euros (DM)
    2012	€ 10.95 to € 13.95 ( € 21.40 to 27.30)	€ 16.- (31.30)	€ 8.00 (15.65)	€ 10 (19.55)	78, - € cardboard tape (152.55)
    2013	€ 13.95 to € 14.95 ( € 27.30 to 29.25)	14, - and 16, - € (27.40 to 31.30)	8, - €	€ 8 and € 10 (15.65 to 19.55)	78, - €
    2014	€ 13.95 to € 14.95 eBook : 11.99 (23.45)	€ 16 e-book: € 13.99 (27.35)	€ 8 E-Book: € 7.99 (15.60)	€ 10	78, - €
    2015	€ 12.00 to € 13.95 (23.45 to 27.30) E-Book: € 11.99 and € 12.99 (23.45 and 25.40)	16, - and 18, - € (31.30 and 35.20) e-book: 13.99 €	€ 8 e-book: € 7.99	€ 10	78, - €
    2016	€ 12.00 to € 14.00 (23.45 to 27.40) E-Book: € 11.99 to € 12.99	€ 16 e-book: € 13.99	€ 8 e-book: € 7.99	10, - € and 12, - € (19.55 and 23.45)	78, - €
    from 2017	€ 12.00 to € 15.00 (23.45 to 29.35) E-Book: € 11.99 to € 12.99	16, - and 18, - € e-book: 13.99 €	€ 8 e-book: € 7.99	€ 10	78, - € (2018 ff. No expenses)
34. ^ Friedrich Michael (ed.): The island library 1912-1937. Insel, Leipzig 1937, p. 11.
35. ↑ IB 1384 by Yáñez only appeared at the beginning of November for his exhibition Metamorphosen , curated by the Berlin Galerie Kornfeld , which opened with a reading by the author.
36. ↑ In the spelling, due to poetic freedom, the word “ football ” - actually illegal - has been written with “double s” instead of “ ß ”. Ostermaier's poetry in this volume is also written in lower case without the use of a “ß” .
37. ↑ The volume 1332 by Shakespeare , which had already been announced for 2010 as The Songs and Poems from the Pieces , could not appear in the Insel-Bücherei for reasons of size. Problems with the ISBN that had already been assigned were resolved by the publisher.
38. ↑ On the occasion of the issue, Raimund Fellinger and Jon Baumhauer met for a conversation about the series and the Baumhauer Collection ( online )
39. ↑ See the Exile Archive website , accessed September 17, 2014.
40. ^ Insel Verlag. 1st half of 2019 . Berlin 2018, p. 42 ff.
41. ↑ Before his own volume, Enzensberger appeared as the author of an afterword (IB 703, Andreas Gryphius: Gedichte ) and editor (IB 984, John Gay: Die Bettleroper ) in the IB.
42. ↑ Gerd Zimmermann: Some remarks on the cover variants of the Insel-Bücherei of the Leipzig publishing house after 1945 . in: Binding research, information sheet of the working group for the recording, indexing and preservation of historical book bindings (AEB), ed. on behalf of the Berlin State Library, issue 32, April 2013, pp. 67 ff., ISSN  1437-8167 ; also published in a slightly abridged version under the same title in: Insel-Bücherei. Messages for friends . Number 32, fall 2013, ISBN 978-3-458-17575-9 .
43. ↑ Advertising insert: Insel. 1st half of 1978 (Leporello)
44. ↑ Helmut Jenne described in detail the variants of the end papers used in the LS series and the fleurons pattern in Volume 2 of his catalog (see literature, pp. 123–130 and 137–147).
45. ↑ Helmut Jenne provides the most comprehensive list of the cover strips found so far, with individual finds also being made here, in Volume 2 of his catalog (see literature, pp. 15 to 37) and the addendum to it (p. 49).
46. ^ Heinz Sarkowski, Wolfgang Jeske: Der Insel-Verlag 1899-1999. The history of the publisher. Insel, Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 1999, p. 461.
47. ↑ Licensed edition of the title published in 1934 in the Schocken Verlag library as No. 11.
48. ↑ Frieder Schmidt: From the dress of the books - cover papers in the island library . In: Insel-Bücherei. Messages for friends. Number 23, p. 61.
49. ↑ The Leipzig publishing house returned to the original Gorki title in 1951 and published 10 thousand copies for the last time.
50. ↑ The titles were first published in 1993 as volume 1129 (Rilke) and 2001 as volume 1214 (Lindner).
51. ↑ Compare with the remarks by Karl-Hartmut Kull: Vom Glücklicheninden. A previously undiscovered variant of IB 206 (1), Ruisbroeck . In: Insel-Bücherei. Messages for friends. Number 26, p. 85.
52. ↑ Ralf Neuparth: To the stapling of the island library . In: Insel-Bücherei. Messages for friends. Number 27, p. 41 (Leipzig 2008).
53. ↑ Compare this by way of example: Gerd Zimmermann: To determine the first edition in IB 262 Jeremias Gotthelf, "The Black Spider" . In: Insel-Bücherei. Messages for friends. Number 30.
54. ↑ Compare also the information from the German Museum of Books and Writing of the German National Library Leipzig mediengeschichte.dnb.de
55. ^ Klaus Kirbach and Hans-Eugen Bühler: Island books for the field and hospital . In: Insel-Bücherei. Messages for friends. Number 8, p. 6 ff.
56. ^ ^{A b} Klaus Kirbach, Hans-Eugen Bühler and Elke Steenbeck: Troop support and war-destroyed issues . In: Insel-Bücherei. Messages for friends. Number 9, p. 25.
57. ↑ This edition shows the wrong spelling Tr y pt i chon on the title plate, spine and title page.
58. ^ The Mansfeldische Kunstvereinigung (MKV) was an association founded in Eisleben in 1920 according to the statutes "for the purpose of promoting the interest of art and applied art" , which was entered in the register of associations in 1935. The founder was Arno Hoffmann (1888–1953), who was a drawing teacher in Eisleben, co-initiator of the painter and academic drawing teacher Johannes Sack. During the 3rd Reich, the MKV was incorporated into the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts (Arno Hofmann: Twenty Years of the Mansfeld Art Association. 1920–1940 . Self-published by the Mansfeld Art Association, Eisleben 1940, 23 pages - proven: ULB Halle branch library history / art history). After 1945 until the formal dissolution in 1973 she continued to work within the framework of the GDR cultural association (Peter Lindner: Founder of the Mansfeld Art Association - Arno Hofmann (March 24, 1888 to February 2, 1953) . In: Mansfelder Heimatverein e.V. (ed. ): Neue Mansfelder Heimatblätter . Issue 4, Personalitäten des Mansfelder Land. 1996 (5th year), p. 21).
59. ↑ The Berufsförderungswerk des Rohrleitungsbauverbandes GmbH (brbv), the Rohrleitungsbauverband e. V. (rbv) and Messe Berlin - here at IFW Berlin - Wasser Berlin 21. – 25. April 1997 - Have special editions made.
60. ↑ The bookstore existed from 1981 to 2001 (entry of the general partnership in the commercial register of the Canton of Zurich under the number CH-020.2.900.577-1 on May 20, 1981, deletion on August 9, 2001).
61. ↑ A total of four editions are known, in addition: IB 1129 (11th edition 2011), Rilke, In einer Fremden Park (2012), and IB 1379, Das kleine Baumbuch (2013). With a circulation of 350 copies each, these editions were intended as a Christmas gift from 2010 for selected business friends of the bank and, according to the information available from the bank, were originally intended to be continued for a longer period of time. However, after personnel changes in their responsibility for these advertising measures, they were hired at the end of 2013.
62. ↑ According to the publisher's information from 2015, the IB 1344, 1346 and 1398 that are missing in the current online offer were not implemented. It is probably no longer to be expected.
63. ^ Karl-Hartmut Kull: Island volumes as audio books . In: Insel-Bücherei. Messages for friends. Number 29, p. 44.
64. ↑ More detailed lists and information on the advertising material for the island library can be found at: Helmut Jenne: Catalog of the Jenne Collection. Insel-Bücherei - The most beautiful of all book series. 2 volumes, 2nd, extended edition, and catalog of the Jenne Collection Supplements to the 2nd edition of the catalog. Self-published by the author, Schriesheim 2006 and 2008 as well as 2013, vol. 2, p. 402 ff .; Karl-Hartmut Kull: Also a publishing history. Advertising inserts and directories of the island library . In: Insel-Bücherei. Messages for friends. Number 28, p. 85 ff.
65. ↑ This bookstore opened in August 1945 - initially as a department for "Sales Science and Literature" ( belonging to KPD-Verlag Neuer Weg ) - on the ground floor of the building built in 1911 for Dresdner Bank (plans: Martin Dülfer ) and was 2000 m² in size largest in the GDR. It was also connected to an antiquarian bookshop . It existed until January 17, 2009, when it had to be closed for economic reasons. As early as 2003, the Franz-Mehring-Haus bookstore had to go into bankruptcy, from which it was taken over by the Buch & Kunst Group, now part of Thalia , in the same year .
66. ↑ Compare with the inventory information of the literature archive ( dla-marbach.de ).
67. ^ Island almanac for 1962 . Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1961, p. 116 ff.
68. ↑ Die Insel-Bücherei, a pre-school for bibliophilia. In: Philobiblon. A quarterly publication for book and graphic collectors , on behalf of the Maximilian Society. V. edited by Ernst L. Hauswedell , Hamburg 1962 (Volume VI), Issue 3, p. 201 ff.
69. ↑ 75 years island library. Speeches at the opening of the exhibition on September 10, 1987 in the Klingspor Museum Offenbach am Main . Insel, Frankfurt am Main.
70. ↑ Germany Archive. An all-German series? The number war and the jubilees of the island library in 1962 and 1987 . Federal Agency for Political Education .
71. ↑ Hans Uslar: Literary Treasury. Matinee in the Deutsches Theater for the Insel-Bücherei . In: Neues Deutschland , November 5, 1987, p. 6.
72. ↑ 100 years Insel-Bücherei - the most beautiful book series in the world in the digital age Video recording part 1/2.
73. ↑ 100 years Insel-Bücherei - the most beautiful book series in the world in the digital age, video recording part 2/2.
74. ↑ 100 years of the island library "Weltgeist in the Westentasche" on boersenblatt.net of March 18, 2012 (accessed on July 20, 2012).
75. ^ Insel-Bücherei on the website of the University of Leipzig
76. ↑ See the information from the Pirckheimer Gesellschaft e. V.
77. ↑ Gerd Plantener: The Island Library 1912-1984. A bibliography . Börsenverein German Publishers and Booksellers Associations (ed.): The most beautiful books of 1953. Rated according to print, image and cover . Self-published by the author, Frankfurt am Main 1985, p. 162.
78. Jump up ↑ Börsenverein Deutscher Verleger- und Buchverkaufsverbände (Ed.): The most beautiful books of the year 1953. Evaluated according to print, picture and cover. Frankfurt am Main n.d., p. 15.
79. ↑ Roger Münch (Ed.): Studies and essays on the history of printing. Festschrift for Claus C. Gerhard on his seventieth birthday , Harrasowitzverlag, Wiesbaden 1997, p. 151, fn. 4.
80. ↑ Walter Richter (ed.): Spiegel Deutscher Buchkunst 1955 . Publishing house for books and libraries, Leipzig 1956.
81. ↑ Compare the video The island library - the largest collection
82. ↑ Bibliography of the Insel-Bücherei 1969–1978 . Edited by Herbert Kästner. o. O. 1979.
83. ↑ See Clara Jenne's website for the complete catalog .
84. ↑ Barbara Salver: Small Chronicle Collectors' Meeting . In: Insel-Bücherei. Messages for friends. Number 12, p. 22 ff.
85. ^ Karl-Hartmut Kull: Licensed copies of five titles of the Insel-Bücherei for the Globus-Verlag Vienna , in: Insel-Bücherei. Messages for friends. Number 12, p. 16.
86. ↑ See catalog of the German National Library in Leipzig
    • Lucas Cranach the Elder: Drawings (Signature: 1984 A 10869, ÖS 53.00)
    • Georg Heym: The thief. A book of novels (signature: 1984 A 4417, ÖS 58.00).
87. ↑ ^{a b} This series was a response from the Bibliographisches Institut Leipzig to Kippenberg's refusal to have the colored IB illustrated books printed by the Bibliographisches Institut; He had concerns about the print quality to be expected compared to HF Jütte, who delivered excellent prints. Compare Heinz Sarkowski: The island library under the swastika . In: Insel-Bücherei. Messages for friends. Number 22, p. 20 (Leipzig 2002).
88. ↑ Elke Lipp: Possibilities of expanding not just collecting island books . In: Inselbücherei. Messages for friends. Number 14 . Insel, Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 1996, ISBN 3-458-16819-2 .
89. ↑ compare the information from the German National Library.
90. ↑ Jens Förster: Licensed editions of titles of the island library . in: IB.M (Insel-Bücherei. Mitteilungen für Freunde) number 12, p. 7 ff., IB.M 14, p. 53 and IB.M 58, p. 53.
91. ↑ Jens Förster: Licensed editions of titles of the island library . In: IB.M (Insel-Bücherei. Messages for friends) number 12, p. 7 ff.
92. ^ Heinz Sarkowski: The island library under the swastika . In: Insel-Bücherei. Messages for friends. Number 22, p. 21 f.
93. ^ Jochen Lengemann: Rilke in the island library . In: IB.M (Insel-Bücherei. Messages for friends) number 2, p. 57 ff.
94. ^ Karl-Hartmut Kull (Ed. Helmut Brade): My collection of the island library. Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design, Halle an der Saale 2003, p. 72.
95. ↑ See the entry in the German National Library
96. ^ Suhrkamp: Conversion into a stock corporation is complete . Spiegel Online , January 21, 2015.