Libri Librorum
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Dostojewski: Schuld und Sühne (1921), leather binding with serial signet and title page without row reference
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The series Libri Librorum (books of books) is a book series with 5 titles published by Leipziger Insel Verlag from 1921 to 1923 . It formed part of the multilingual "Orbis Literarum" (world literature) and comprised more extensive works.
Issue occasion
The idea for the edition of foreign-language literature in the original languages in Insel Verlag came from the cosmopolitan publisher Stefan Zweig . Immediately after the First World War, he assumed that the import of foreign books to Germany for reading in the original version would be more difficult in the long term due to the increasingly unfavorable exchange rates between the mark and foreign currencies. The paper mark had lost half of its pre-war value on January 31, 1918, and three quarters of its pre-war value on January 31 of the following year against the international reserve currency, the US dollar . Their further decline was in sight. Under this impression, Zweig developed his idea of a book production with foreign original works in Insel Verlag in a letter dated February 27, 1919 to the publisher Anton Kippenberg , with which he also wanted to forestall competing companies from other publishers. After initial hesitation, Kippenberg joined in with this project, as he was particularly impressed by the economic argument. So he put it in a later advertising to justify this project that it
"For the educated German who has never, even in the hours of war, lost the intellectual connection with the cultures of Europe, has become almost impossible to obtain books from abroad."
At a meeting in Leipzig in October 1919, the details of the project, which was to consist of three book series complementing each other to form the “Orbis Literarum”, were worked out. The character of the series for Zweig and Kippenberg lay in its classicism, which is reflected in the correspondence between the two to work out the series program. The necessary advertising measures were also decided at the meeting. A first advertisement in the Börsenblatt für den Deutschen Buchhandel in 1919 was intended to draw the book market's attention to the planned book series, and another from February 17, 1920 to mark the business area against any publishers competing with similar ideas. Zweig also pointed to the advantages of leaflet supplements in the series, which refer to all series programs. Well-known authors, such as Thomas Mann , and other public figures were also asked to use review copies for the series project in corresponding publications. Thomas Mann then announced a public statement that appeared in the Münchner Neuesten Nachrichten for the Christmas business in 1920 . On February 15, 1921, Hugo von Hofmannsthal's essay followed in the Neue Freie Presse .
In detail: For the “Libri Librorum” series described here, large works in the handy format of the “Grand Duke Wilhelm Ernst Edition” were intended, which was also used successfully in the publisher's German classics. The texts printed on thin paper would be available in linen and leather covers. Medium-sized works and anthologies of poetry would be the focus of the second series, the “ Bibliotheca Mundi ” (World Library). And finally, in the case of the " Pandora " series, which was supposed to present shorter texts of around 6 sheets , such as novellas, stories, pieces or compilations of poems, the equipment and conception should be sent directly to the island, which has been successfully on the market since 1912 with excellent sales figures. Library to be linked. It would supplement the two series with books of a larger size and, with its own sample papers, special title plates and its own signet, also have its own face vis-à-vis the IB. Ultimately, she only reached 52 titles.
In the aftermath, of course, it can be stated that the audience response hoped for by Zweig and Kippenberg largely failed to materialize in all three book series, which was not only due to the currency stabilization that had already been successfully initiated in November 1923 with the introduction of the Rentenmark . Rather, the buyers did not want to pay the relatively high prices of the entire series and the selected texts were probably not attractive enough for the audience or too demanding.
expenditure
Announcement 1919 and 1920
The first Börsenblatt advertisement for the “Orbis Literarum” was dated December 1919. In a seven-page second advertisement from February 17, 1920, “Detailed announcement about BIBLIOTHECA MUNDI. LIBRI LIBRORUM. PANDORA. three complementary collections of masterpieces of world literature in the original languages ”, 7 titles were initially planned for this series, in addition to the five that were then published by Cervantes and Swift. In addition to Zweig, the Romanist Heinrich Wengler and Fritz Adolf Hünich also worked on the project .
Format and number of copies, retail price
The Libri Librorum series, in octave format (8 °) of the "Grand Duke Wilhelm Ernst Edition" and in thin paper, appeared in initial editions of 5000 copies, but they did not sell as expected. With the stabilization of the currency, the further profiling of the series program was finally withdrawn from the economic basis. The "Libri Librorum" are therefore likely to have only achieved a fraction of their originally planned number of titles. So only three titles and, two of them not until many years later, experienced further editions: Balzac's Les contes drôlatiques , Homer's Ilias / Odyssey and Der Nibelunge Nôt , the latter having received a new cover in the 2nd edition in 1930 and only after the last Leipzig edition from 1955, which was distributed by the Wiesbaden house in West Germany, was removed from the publishing program. In the last edition of 1942, Homer's Iliad / Odyssey was adorned with a vignette with Homer's portrait instead of the serial signet. After 1924 the titles were no longer listed under the series name in the publisher's announcements and directories. Strictly speaking, the series ended with the 2nd edition of the Balzac volume. The continuation of the two titles with a linguistic historical reference beyond the inflationary period should have satisfied a demand on the part of linguistics and school education .
The first edition of the Dante volumes were available at least until 1940, with the binding after 1924 only bearing a simple publisher's signet without a serial number, as well as the subsequent editions of Homer's epics and the volume “Der Nibelunge Nôt”. The other two editions were sold out in the middle (Dostojewski) and late 1920s (Balzac).
In 1921 the linen volumes were offered for inflation at between 32 marks (Balzac) and 56 marks (Homer). The two Dante volumes together cost 70 M, which was about US $ 2.80 or around 18 Swiss francs . Leather editions were also offered in 1921; they started at 140, - M (Balzac), which in the meantime cost 40, - M as a linen ribbon, and ended at 160, - M (Homer). After the inflation had been overcome, the series volumes in 1924 cost 7 Reichsmarks in linen and 14 Reichsmarks in leather . Deviating from this, the Homer volume was sold for 9 or 16 RM due to its larger volume. In the late 1920s, prices were reduced slightly. In the Federal Republic of Germany, the 4th and last edition of “Der Nibelunge Nôt” in 1955 then asked for 10 DM .
Printing and equipment
The volumes were printed by Leipzig printers such as Spamer, Poeschel & Trepte or Breitkopf & Härtel. Here, the Dostoevsky band was still in the old Russian orthography set .
All editions have a publisher's signet specially designed for this series by Walter Tiemann on the front cover with the publisher's typical island ship, which is moved by sea waves, and the words “LIBRI LIBRORUM” as well as a gold-embossed title on the back. On the other hand, there is no reference to the series on the half-title, title page, signature and imprint. Only the general publisher's signet of Insel Verlag, which was designed by Eric Gill in 1907 , still adorns the half-title. The series affiliation can only be read on the cover. The books were mostly bound in single-colored, flexible linen. There were binding rates in flexible full leather with all first editions gilt edges . The volumes were also delivered with single-color dust jackets in a slipcase with an affixed title vignette. The dust jackets come with and without a serial signet.
The author's information for the two volumes of Dante, published in Italian and Latin, is given in the Latinized form “Dantes Alagherius”, as Latin was the lingua franca of the Insel Verlag's “Orbis Literarum” - it also contained Paul Cauer's accompanying word “Lectori salutem ”for Homer's Iliad / Odyssey and the table of contents - and on the other hand, volume 2 also contained original Latin texts by Dante in the edition.
A volume "Goethe's Faust"
The first publisher's prospectus for the foreign-language "Editiones insulae" including this series (IV 422) listed only the five titles mentioned in the table. In the somewhat later publisher's announcements “Orbis Literarum” from 1921 (IV 439, 441), the complete edition of Goethe's Faust (Urfaust, Fragment (1790), Tragedy I and II, Paralipomena) was also listed as a series volume.
But neither is a binding of this edition known with the publisher's signature typical of the series, nor is the volume listed in the bibliography of the works of the Insel Verlag by Heinz Sarkowski among the series volumes. As can be seen from the introductory text of the advertising leaflet “Orbis Literarum” (IV 439, p. 2), Kippenberg had in the meantime decided to also tie up the “Faust” in part as a series volume, especially since this was done in terms of typography due to the lack of information about the series affiliation in the volumes themselves had been easily possible and it was a German masterpiece that, as a passionate Goethe admirer and collector, he probably also wanted to see in the group of world literature gathered in the series. This intention must have existed until at least the beginning of 1923. Because in the publishing directory “Books of the Insel-Verlag zu Leipzig. February 1923 ”the Faust volume is still listed in the series titles. After that, however, he must have distanced himself from this plan again, certainly not least because of the sluggish sales of the series. The Faust edition was otherwise selling very well and was constantly being reprinted. In the Christmas directory of Insel Verlag from 1924, only the 5 titles actually sold and cataloged under the series name are listed.
Series title table
For the sake of completeness, the subsequent editions already mentioned and printed with the set of the serial edition have also been included in the table below. Your information on the edition and the cover colors are given in italics. Just as its cover no longer had a serial sign with the words "Libri librorum", the front of the dust jacket supplied was missing or it was completely unprinted. Due to the tense situation with the procurement of paper after the Second World War, The Nibelunge Nôt was published in 1947 in the 3rd edition with normal paper and only paperback and in half linen.
| author | title | language |
Circulations (in thousands) |
printing house | pages | leather | linen |
DNB catalog (Link) |
| Honoré de Balzac | Les contes drôlatiques ( crazy stories ) |
French | [1921]: 1st - 5th | Imprimerie Bernhard Tauchnitz | 516 | red | blue | d-nb.info |
| [1923]: 6-10. | NN | blue | - | |||||
|
Dante's Alagherius (I) Introduzione (Introduction) di Benedetto Croce |
Dantis Alagherii Opera Omnia. La divina commedia. Il canzoniere (Dante Alighieri's complete works. Divine Comedy . Collection of poems) |
Italian | 1921: 1st - 5th | Tipografia di Poeschel & Trepte | 537 | dark green brown red |
green dark green blue |
d-nb.info |
| Dante's Alagherius (II) epilogue (afterword) di Heinrich Wengler |
Dantis Alagherii Opera Omnia. Vita nuova - Il convivio - Eclogae - De Monarchia - De vulgari eloquentia - Questio de aqua et terra epistolae (Dante Alighieri's complete works. The new life . Banquet . Eclogae . Three books about the monarchy . About eloquence in the vernacular . Investigation of the situation and shape of water and earth ) |
Italian Latin |
521 | d-nb.info | ||||
| Ѳ [едоръ] М [ихайловичъ] Достоевскiй ( Fyodor Michailowitsch Dostojewski ) |
Преступленiе и наказанiе ( guilt and atonement ) |
Russian | [1921]: 1st - 5th | TИПOГPAѲiЯ ШПAMEPA ( Spamer printing company ) |
651 | brown | blue | d-nb.info |
| Όμηρος ( Homer ) Epilogue (Latin): Paul Cauer |
Όμηροy Eπἡ Ἰλιάς - ἡ Ὀδύσσεια (Homer's epics Iliad - Odyssey ) |
Ancient Greek Latin |
MCMXXI (1921): 1st - 5th | BΡΕΙΤΚΟΠΦ ΚΑΙ ΑΙΡΤΕΛ ΤΥΠΟΓΡΑΦΙΑΣ ( Breitkopf & Härtel ) |
1011 | brownish red | burgundy | d-nb.info |
| 1935: 6-9 | - | blue | - | |||||
| [1942]: 10-14. | - | black | - | |||||
| Eduard Sievers | The Nibelunge Nôt / Kûdrûn |
Middle High German |
[1921]: 1st - 5th | Poeschel & Trepte | 626 | dark blue | blue | d-nb.info |
| 1930: 6-8 | 624 | - | blue | - | ||||
| 1947: 9-13 | - |
beige (only half linen) |
d-nb.info | |||||
| 1955: 14.-17. | - | blue | d-nb.info |
Publishing advertising for the series
The individual editions of the series titles and the duration of their availability can be seen from the publisher's advertising. The waiver of the series reference after 1924 shows that the publisher no longer wanted to continue the series as a whole.
- Advertisement by Insel Verlag for the series from 1921 to 1955
"Orbis Literarum" from 1921 (IV 439) with 6 serial titles (including "Goethe's Faust")
"Christmas Directory 1924" with 5 series titles (without "Goethe's Faust")
"Books from Insel Verlag for Christmas 1955" with "Der Nibelunge Not / Kudrun" (14-17) without a series reference
literature
- 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 .
- Heinz Sarkowski: The island publishing house. A bibliography 1899–1969. 2nd Edition. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig 1999, ISBN 3-458-15611-9 .
- Christian Wegner (edit.): Directory of all publications by Insel-Verlag 1899–1924 , Leipzig [1924]
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Link to the exhibition in the German Literature Archive Marbach (DLA) from June 29 to October 16, 2011 "Stefan Zweig's World Library" ( text and pictures ).
- ^ Neue Freie Presse of February 15, 1921 (No. 20283), Vienna, pp. 1 f. (ANNO online ).
- ^ Susanne Buchinger: Stefan Zweig - writer and literary agent. Relations with his German-speaking publishers (1901–1942) . Buchhändlervereinigung, Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 164.
- ^ Susanne Buchinger: Stefan Zweig - writer and literary agent. Relations with his German-speaking publishers (1901–1942). Buchhändlervereinigung, Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 152 ff.
- ↑ In that year the last publisher's directory was published at Christmas due to the war. No statements can therefore be made for the years thereafter.
- ↑ According to Sarkowski, the first edition of Homer's “Iliad / Odyssey” was delivered completely in leather binding. This is refuted by the existing linen issues. The DNB also specifies a linen cover in its catalog ( online ).
- ↑ Latin Wikipedia on " Dante Alagherius "
- ^ Heinz Sarkowski (arrangement / ed.): Der Insel Verlag. A bibliography. 1899-1869. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig 1999, p. 396 f.
- ↑ The normal publisher's signature on the front cover identifies the volumes of this later binding rate as no longer published within the series.
- ↑ There are also bindings with the normal publisher's signature on the front cover, which identifies the volumes as no longer published within the series.
- ^ Heinrich Wengler (1889-1946) was a grammar school teacher and Italian lecturer at the Technical University of Dresden. He was friends with the well-known Jewish Romanist Victor Klemperer .
- ↑ a b A gold print portrait of Homer has taken the place of the series or publisher's signet on the book cover.
- ↑ This edition was printed on normal paper.
- ↑ A partial edition was only delivered in paperback.