The Book Market of the Habsburg Monarchy

In this continuation of the project P16079-G06 of Peter R. Frank the print versions about the topography of Vienna and the topography Prague are to be completed, which constitute the first two volumes of the series "Topographie des Buchwesens in der Habsburgermonarchie 1750-1850"("Topography of the Book Trade of the Habsburg Monarchy 1750-1850"). Furthermore the topography database will be available for free on the internet so that the entire material is accessible to the international research community. The approach of the project is a comprehensive documentation based on a constant pattern of data collection. Besides printers, book-sellers and arts and music dealers removed sectors ranging from bookbinding, cartographers, clandestine book-sellers, paper mills etc. to book-selling at market place will also be considered. The print version offers general descriptions of significant firms, with references to the firms` histories, and to publishing production. The documentation also points at gaps in Austrian research by providing concrete hints and thus gives an incentive for further studies. In the second phase of the project Vienna, Prague, Poszony/Preßburg and Buda-Pest as the most important centres of the Habsburg book trade will be subject to a comparative analysis. This analysis builds on the detailed survey of the topography. Through the materials collected an overview of regional characteristics will become feasible for the first time. The development of the book trade needs to be put in perspective with the economic conditions, censorship, and the legal framework of the book trade.Technical innovations (lithography e.g.), clandestine channels of distribution and marginal traders prove especially interesting to the research project. From a biographical point of view the topography of the book trade in the Habsburg monarchy may well prove a contribution to a clearer profile of the social group of those concerned with production and distribution of printed materials. The significance of migration for the development of the Viennese book trade in the 18th and 19th centuries will be demonstrated. An analysis of the publishing production of selected firms will be carried out, which should complement the topographical analysis. Representative firms in Vienna, Prague, Preßburg and Buda/Pest will be compared with regard to languages, pirate prints, and original publications, products like newspapers, journals and series, as well as specialisations in the publishers` production.

In this continuation of the project P16079-G06 of Peter R. Frank the print versions about the topography of Vienna and the topography Prague are to be completed, which constitute the first two volumes of the series "Topographie des Buchwesens in der Habsburgermonarchie 1750-1850"("Topography of the Book Trade of the Habsburg Monarchy 1750-1850"). Furthermore the topography database will be available for free on the internet so that the entire material is accessible to the international research community. The approach of the project is a comprehensive documentation based on a constant pattern of data collection. Besides printers, book-sellers and arts and music dealers removed sectors ranging from bookbinding, cartographers, clandestine book-sellers, paper mills etc. to book-selling at market place will also be considered. The print version offers general descriptions of significant firms, with references to the firms` histories, and to publishing production. The documentation also points at gaps in Austrian research by providing concrete hints and thus gives an incentive for further studies. In the second phase of the project Vienna, Prague, Poszony/Preßburg and Buda-Pest as the most important centres of the Habsburg book trade will be subject to a comparative analysis. This analysis builds on the detailed survey of the topography. Through the materials collected an overview of regional characteristics will become feasible for the first time. The development of the book trade needs to be put in perspective with the economic conditions, censorship, and the legal framework of the book trade.Technical innovations (lithography e.g.), clandestine channels of distribution and marginal traders prove especially interesting to the research project. From a biographical point of view the topography of the book trade in the Habsburg monarchy may well prove a contribution to a clearer profile of the social group of those concerned with production and distribution of printed materials. The significance of migration for the development of the Viennese book trade in the 18th and 19th centuries will be demonstrated. An analysis of the publishing production of selected firms will be carried out, which should complement the topographical analysis. Representative firms in Vienna, Prague, Preßburg and Buda/Pest will be compared with regard to languages, pirate prints, and original publications, products like newspapers, journals and series, as well as specialisations in the publishers` production.