Book Research: Contributions to the Book Culture in Austria
Book Research. Contributions to the Book Culture in Austria. Edited by Peter R. Frank and Murray G. Hall. Vienna: Edition Praesens (Volumes 1–3); Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz-Verlag (from Volume 4)
About the series
Ever since the first printed works appeared in the 15th century, the book trade in Austria has presented a panorama that is as diverse as it is fascinating. Unlike in nation states such as Germany, England or France, which had a largely homogeneous population, the Habsburg Monarchy until 1918 was home to a multitude of peoples, ethnic groups, languages and religions. The various languages alone posed barriers to research. Further circumstances shaped the landscape of printing, the book trade, publishing houses and lending libraries, as well as newspapers and periodicals – and in most cases more profoundly than elsewhere: centuries of intervention by ecclesiastical and, later, state censorship; restrictions on licences; oppressive taxes, customs duties and postal charges; rampant unauthorised reprinting; and, finally, the long-standing absence of copyright. Penetrating this tangle of political, economic and cultural forces presents a challenge for research.
Whilst the period of the incunabula and the post-1918 era are relatively well documented, the periods in between are repeatedly characterised by gaps and significant omissions. It is therefore no coincidence that the history of the book trade in Austria and its former territories has not yet been written.
The aim of the new series will be to gradually piece together a more comprehensive picture of the book trade in Austria using individual building blocks: through overviews, studies of individual firms and genres, and similar contributions, from the early modern period to the present day. In the process, the significant contribution of printers and publishers from Germany will also come into sharper focus. Furthermore, the Jewish book trade – whether run by minority groups or by Austrians in exile – is to be featured.
Alena Köllner’s study on Prague has deliberately been placed at the beginning of the new series. In Prague, the second most important centre for book printing and the book trade after Vienna, the coexistence and rivalry between Austrian-German, Czech and Jewish book trade reveal the multicultural diversity that characterises the book trade in Austria.
Peter R. Frank – Murray G. Hall
Volumes published to date
Volume 1: Alena Köllner: Buchwesen in Prag. Von Václav Matěj Kramerius bis Jan Otto. Wien: Ed. Praesens 2000.
Volume 2: Carl Junker: Zum Buchwesen in Österreich. Gesammelte Schriften (1896–1927) Wien: Ed. Praesens 2001.
Volume 13: Johannes Frimmel/Mona Garloff (Hg.): Der Antiquariatsbuchhandel in Zentraleuropa. Perspektiven der historischen Forschung. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag 2026. [im Erscheinen]
The series published by Harrassowitz: https://www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/reihe_414.ahtml