Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co. is a media publishing house based in Stuttgart

Stuttgart

Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, founded in 1822 by Johann Friedrich Franckh. In the nineteenth century the company published the fairy tales of Wilhelm Hauff

Wilhelm Hauff

Wilhelm Hauff was a German poet and novelist.-Early life:Hauff was born in Stuttgart, the son of August Friedrich Hauff, a secretary in the ministry of foreign affairs, and Hedwig Wilhelmine Elsaesser Hauff...

 as well as works by Wilhelm Waiblinger

Wilhelm Waiblinger

Wilhelm Waiblinger was a German romantic poet, mostly remembered today in connection with Friedrich Hölderlin. After he had attended Gymnasium Illustre in Stuttgart, he was a student at the seminary of Tübingen in the 1820s, when Hölderlin, already mentally ill, lived there as a recluse in a...

 and Eduard Mörike

Eduard Mörike

Eduard Friedrich Mörike was a German Romantic poet.-Biography:Mörike was born in Ludwigsburg. His father was Karl Friedrich Mörike , a district medical councilor; his mother was Charlotte Bayer...

.

The "Friends of Nature Club" (Gesellschaft der Naturfreunde) was set up in 1903 in response to booming public interest in science and technology, and by 1912 100,000 members were receiving its monthly magazine "Cosmos" (Kosmos). The company moved into publishing books on popular science topics under the brands Franckh’sche Verlagshandlung and KOSMOS, including successful non-fiction guidebooks by Hanns Günther

Walter de Haas

Walter de Haas , who wrote under the pseudonym Hanns Günther was a prolific German author, translator, and editor of popular science books.- Work :...

 and Heinz Richter

Heinz Richter (engineer)

Heinz Richter was a German radio engineer and one of the most successful authors of introductory-level radio and electronics textbooks in Germany from the 1950s throughout the 1970s.-Biography:...

. Children's fiction and Kosmos-branded science experimentation kits were introduced in the 1920s.

Kosmos's current output includes non-fiction, children's books, science kits and German-style board game

German-style board game

German-style board games, frequently referred to in gaming circles as Euro Games or Euro-style, are a broad class of tabletop games that generally have simple rules, short to medium playing times, indirect player interaction and abstract physical components...

s. Many of their games are translated into English and published by Rio Grande Games

Rio Grande Games

Rio Grande Games is a board game publisher based in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. The company primarily imports and localizes foreign language German-style board games.-History:...

, Mayfair Games

Mayfair Games

Mayfair Games is a publisher of board, card, and roleplaying games. They also license German-style board games and publish them in English throughout the world...

, and Fantasy Flight Games

Fantasy Flight Games

Fantasy Flight Games is a Roseville, Minnesota-based game company that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games. Fantasy Flight Publishing was founded in 1995 by its CEO, Christian T. Petersen. Since the release of its first game product in 1997, the company has been doing...

. Their line of experiment kits and science kits is distributed in North America by Thames & Kosmos

Thames & Kosmos

Thames & Kosmos is a publisher of over 60 science kits for kids of all ages, which cover topics such as biology, physics, astronomy, and alternative energy. It places an emphasis on teaching real-world issues and practical skills through hands-on experimentation and comprehensive reading materials...

.

Notable games

• Beowulf: The Legend
  Beowulf: The Legend
  Beowulf: The Legend is a 2005 designer board game by Reiner Knizia. The artwork is by John Howe. Game play uses cards and tokens. The play moves along a board, and players obtain gold and cards in order to eventually obtain victory points....
  
  
• Jambo
  Jambo (board game)
  Jambo is a board game designed by Rüdiger Dorn and published in 2004 by Kosmos in German and by Rio Grande Games in English. In the game, players are African traders before colonisation buying and selling market wares. The game was nominated for the 2005 Spiel des Jahres award and also placed 8th...
  
  
• Lord of the Rings
  Lord of the Rings (board game)
  Lord of the Rings is a board game designed by Reiner Knizia based on The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. The game was published in 2000 by Kosmos and Fantasy Flight Games, and won a Spiel des Jahres special award for best use of literature in a game. It features artwork by illustrator John...
  
  
• Lost Cities
  Lost Cities
  Lost Cities is a 60-card card game, designed in 1999 by game designer Reiner Knizia and published by several publishers. The objective of the game is to mount profitable expeditions to one or more of the five lost cities...
  
  
• The Settlers of Catan
  The Settlers of Catan
  The Settlers of Catan is a multiplayer board game designed by Klaus Teuber and first published in 1995 in Germany by Franckh-Kosmos Verlag as Die Siedler von Catan. Players assume the roles of settlers, each attempting to build and develop their settlement while trading and acquiring resources...
  
  
• TwixT
  TwixT
  TwixT is a two-player abstract strategy game invented by Alex Randolph. It is a member of the connection game family, along with games such as Hex, Havannah, Y, PÜNCT and *Star...
  
  

External links

• Kosmos web site (English profile)