Melantrich
Encyclopedia
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
publishing house connected with the Czech National Social Party
Czech National Social Party
Czech National Social Party was a civic nationalist political party established in 1898 within the Young Czech Party as a nominally socialist group with a stress on achieving Czech independence from Austria–Hungary Czech National Social Party (Czech: Česká strana národně sociální) was a civic...
. Established in 1897, the publisher remained in existence until 1999.
In 1897 the Czech National Social Party
Czech National Social Party
Czech National Social Party was a civic nationalist political party established in 1898 within the Young Czech Party as a nominally socialist group with a stress on achieving Czech independence from Austria–Hungary Czech National Social Party (Czech: Česká strana národně sociální) was a civic...
(no relation to German National Socialism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
) was founded after a split within the Czech Social Democratic Party
Czech Social Democratic Party
The Czech Social Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in the Czech Republic.-History:The Social Democratic Czechoslavonic party in Austria was founded on 7 April 1878 in Austria-Hungary representing the Kingdom of Bohemia in the Austrian parliament...
. The new party set up a publishing house "Knihtiskárna národně sociálního dělnictva" ("Printing press of national socialist workers") on July 9, 1897. The party also started a daily, "Česká demokracie" ("The Czech Democracy"), led by Václav Klofáč
Václav Klofác
Václav Jaroslav Klofáč was a Czech politician and one of the founders of the Czech National Social Party. He was born in 1868 in Německý Brod...
, without much of success.
In 1907 Jaroslav Šalda, a talented worker from the printing press, together with Klofáč started a new daily "České slovo" ("The Czech Word"). The newspaper proved to be successful and in 1910 the publishing house bought building "Hvězda" ("The Star") on the Wenceslaus Square. The company adopted name "Melantrich" after a renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
publisher Jiří Melantrich from Aventino (1511 - 1580). The building was renamed to "Melantrich" after the 1922 reconstruction.
In 1919 the company, obtaining an official permit, started to publish several newspapers and journals (including the first tabloid in the Czech lands, "Pražský ilustrovaný zpravodaj"). In 1924 Melantrich became joint stock company
Joint stock company
A joint-stock company is a type of corporation or partnership involving two or more individuals that own shares of stock in the company...
. In 1926 printing press "Koppe & Bellmann" from Prague-Smíchov was acquired. In 1928 a branch in Ostrava
Ostrava
Ostrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic and the second largest urban agglomeration after Prague. Located close to the Polish border, it is also the administrative center of the Moravian-Silesian Region and of the Municipality with Extended Competence. Ostrava was candidate for the...
was established, in 1934 branch in Brno
Brno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...
and later branch in Žilina
Žilina
Žilina is a city in north-western Slovakia, around from the capital Bratislava, close to both the Czech and Polish borders. It is the fourth largest city of Slovakia with a population of approximately 85,000, an important industrial center, the largest city on the Váh river, and the seat of a...
. During the 1930s Melantrich got involved in movie production and in commercial graphics. In 1936 a music publishing "MelPa" (Melantrich + Pazdírek) was established. The spectrum of literature published by Melantrich was very wide and included works by many contemporary Czech writers. The circulation
Newspaper circulation
A newspaper's circulation is the number of copies it distributes on an average day. Circulation is one of the principal factors used to set advertising rates. Circulation is not always the same as copies sold, often called paid circulation, since some newspapers are distributed without cost to the...
of some newspapers and journals reached hundredths of thousands, in few cases ("Večerní slovo", weekly "Svobodný zítřek") more than one million.
Led by Šalda Melantrich became the largest publisher in the First Republic of Czechoslovakia
First Republic of Czechoslovakia
-Independence:The Czechoslovak declaration of independence was published by the Czechoslovak National Council, signed by Masaryk, Štefánik and Beneš on October 18, 1918 in Paris, and proclaimed on October 28 in Prague...
. After the Nazi occupation (1939) the company managed to stay in business but Šalda was imprisoned (in 1941) and the control was taken over by Nazi collaborators. After the war Šalda, unwilling to participate in politics any more, was removed by the party
Czech National Social Party
Czech National Social Party was a civic nationalist political party established in 1898 within the Young Czech Party as a nominally socialist group with a stress on achieving Czech independence from Austria–Hungary Czech National Social Party (Czech: Česká strana národně sociální) was a civic...
from his executive position. "České slovo" was renamed to "Svobodné slovo" ("The Free Word") in 1945.
After the communist takeover of power in 1948 Šalda got ousted, the company nationalized and split into three parts. In 1950 the Czech Socialist Party
Czech National Social Party
Czech National Social Party was a civic nationalist political party established in 1898 within the Young Czech Party as a nominally socialist group with a stress on achieving Czech independence from Austria–Hungary Czech National Social Party (Czech: Česká strana národně sociální) was a civic...
(the party changed its name) was granted the right to control the company again while the state remained as the formal owner. (This settlement led to litigations after 1989.) In 1950 the publishing house changed its name to "Svobodné slovo-Melantrich", in 1960 to "Svobodné slovo" and again in 1967 back to "Melantrich".
During the Velvet Revolution
Velvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...
(1989) a balcony of Melantrich building served as a tribune for speakers to the masses of protesters gathered on Wenceslaus Square. The socialist party later used this balcony as the main symbol of their (eventually unsuccessful) election campaign in 1990.
The first half of 1990s was spent in disputes and litigations who is the new owner of the company. The newspaper Svobodné slovo changed the editor-in-chief many times while the circulation was steadily falling down. In 1996 Melantrich was bought by a media company, part of the Chemapol group. Svobodné slovo was renamed to "Slovo" ("The Word") and in 1998 sold out. Chemapol bankrupted in 1998. The publishing house was, like many other large traditional publishers in the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, unable to compete and closed down in 1999.
Afterwards, the Melantrich building was turned into a luxurious hotel.
Literature
- Libuše Pešková: Publikační činnost nakladatelství Melantrich od založení do vzniku 2. světové války (Publication activities of Melantrich until World War II), Charles University, 1975. A diploma work with complete bibliography from the 1918-38 period. http://www.ff.cuni.cz/tinweb/tw?ST=03&SID=001773FEF2&L=02&KDE=016&RET=Publika%C4%8Dn%C3%AD+%C4%8Dinnost+nakladatelstv%C3%AD+Melantrich+od+zalo%C5%BEen%C3%AD+do+vzniku+2%2E+sv%C4%9Btov%C3%A9+v%C3%A1lky Selected list of book editions can be found in the Czech Wikipedia article.