Velhagen & Klasing was a major German publishing company in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
History
Long nineteenth century
Übersichtskarte von Afrika, 1886 (published in Andree's Allgemeiner Handatlas, 1887)
Velhagen & Klasing's first major success was the popular cookbook of
Henriette Davidis from 1844 to 1875.[1][2] The company earned 2,762
Thaler in the cookbook's
peak sales year in 1858,[2] or the equivalent of over
US$40,000 in 2021.[4] Davidis argued fiercely with the company over her compensation, and her
royalty payment increased from 50 to 1000 Thaler over its publication history.[1]
Another area that Velhagen & Klasing emphasized was geography textbooks. In this area,
Ferdinand Hirt [
de], who published
Ernst von Seydlitz [
de]'s works, was their major competitor.[6] In the mid-to-late 1800s,
Hirt & Sohn[b] and Velhagen & Klasing together had an
oligopoly in the German textbook market.[7][8]
In the late nineteenth century, Velhagen & Klasing published a number of very popular adventure novels by
S. Wörishöffer.[10][11] She was hired by Velhagen & Klasing to rewrite an unsuccessful novel by a previously unpublished writer, Max Bischoff, which resulted in Robert des Schiffsjungen (1877).[10][12] The publisher intentionally hid the identity of Wörishöffer, who was not the world traveling male that the novels implied, in order to preserve their credibility.[11]
In 1886, they began publishing the illustrated family monthly, Velhagen & Klasing's Monatshefte, which included reviews by
Carl Hermann Busse.[13][clarification needed]
In 1901, they bought the publishing company of
Georg Wilhelm Ferdinand Müller (1806–1875) from his heirs. Müller's work consisted primarily of textbooks.[14]
When World War I caused a redrawing of national boundaries, some publishers, such as
Columbus Verlag of Berlin [
de], began developing geographical maps which ignored territorial boundaries. Velhagen & Klasing rejected this shift and focused on territorial boundaries.[16]
Velhagen & Klasing published the second most popular school atlas in Germany in the 1920s, after the one made by
Carl Diercke.[17]
Their atlases in this era were examples of
cartographic propaganda intentionally designed to promote
German nationalism,[18] as had their other textbooks since the nineteenth century.[19]
The trend to expand the borders of Germany and German cultural influence in Velhagen & Klasing's maps began in the late 1920s, and by 1933 their maps contained large-scale falsifications.[20]
Velhagen & Klasing was one of many who profited from the closure of Jewish and
left-wing publishing companies during the
Nazi Party's rise to power in the 1930s.[21]
Notes
^Occupational breakdown of Velhagen & Klasing's consumers is available in
Fullerton (2015, p.
246)
^1500 to 1850: Ulrich Pfister, 2010. "
Consumer prices and wages in Germany, 1500 - 1850," CQE Working Papers 1510, Center for Quantitative Economics (CQE),
University of Münster. 1851-1882: Coos Santing, 2007, Inflation 1800-2000, data from
OECD, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Economic Outlook. Historical Statistics and Mitchell, B. R. International Historical Statistics, Africa, Asia and Oceania 1750-1993 London :
Macmillan ; New York : Stockton, 1998, International Historical Statistics, Europe 1750-1993 London : Macmillan ; New York : Stockton, 1998, and International Historical Statistics, The Americas 1750-1993 London : Macmillan ; New York : Stockton, 1998. After 1883, German inflation numbers based on data available from the Deutsches Statistisches Bundesamtarchive and
GENESIS database.
^According to the
Destatis Federal Statistical Office, 2,762 Thaler in 1882 is worth
US$38,265 in 2009. It seems reasonable to assume there was some inflation between 1858–1882.
Frey, Axel (1997). "Aus der Leipziger Buchhandels- und Verlagsgeschichte. Velhagen & Klasing, Bielefeld und Leipzig" [History of the book trade and publishing in Leipzig: Velhagen & Klasing, Bielefeld and Leipzig]. Sächsische Heimatblätter. 43 (1). Jahrgang: 34–39.
Tabaczek, Martin (2003). Kulturelle Kommerzialisierung: Studien zur Geschichte des Verlages Velhagen & Klasing 1835-1870 [Cultural commercialization: Studies in the history of the publisher Velhagen & Klasing, 1835-1870] (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
ISBN3-631-51093-4.
OCLC54695707. Adapted from Tabaczek's 2001 dissertation at
Universität-Gesamthochschule Essen.
Tabaczek, Martin (2010). "Religiöse Literatur und ihre Kommerzialisierung zwischen Vormärz und Reichsgründung. Das Beispiel des Verlages Velhagen& Klasing" [Religious literature and its commercialization between Vormärz and Reichsgründung: The example of the publisher Velhagen & Klasing]. Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens. 65: 213–227.