University Presses of France
Encyclopedia
Presses Universitaires de France or PUF (University Presses of France), founded in 1921 by Paul Angoulvent (1899–1976), is the largest French
university publishing
house.
The financial and legal structure of the Presses Universitaires de France were completely restructured in 2000 and the original cooperative
structure was abandoned. Companies that took stakes in PUF included Flammarion Publishing (17% in 2000, 18% currently) and insurer Maaf Assurances (9%, 8% currently).http://archives.lesechos.fr/archives/1999/LesEchos/18055-76-ECH.htm In 2006, another insurance giant Garantie Mutuelle des Fonctionnaires (GMF) injected capital into the PUF, taking a 16,4% stake in the publisher.http://archives.lesechos.fr/archives/2006/LesEchos/19738-107-ECH.htm A similar tendency toward the constitution of an oligopoly
has been observed by French newspapers, with titles like Le Monde
, Libération
or even L'Humanité
accepting to turn themselves toward private financing.
Almost all French students know the collection Que sais-je?
(a quote from Montaigne: "What do I know?"), created in 1941 by Paul Angoulvent. The collection is based on a unique format of 128 pages, in which specialists are invited to ruminate a specific theme. Today, there are close to 4,000 titles, by 2,500 authors, constituting the world's largest paperback encyclopedia covering a broad range of subjects. Many of the titles have been translated into up to forty-three languages, while the PUF have sold around 160 million books (2004 figures) since first published. Its ISSN number is 0768-0066.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
university publishing
University press
A university press is an academic, nonprofit publishing house that is typically affiliated with a large research university, and publishes work that has been reviewed by scholars in the field. It produces mainly scholarly works...
house.
The financial and legal structure of the Presses Universitaires de France were completely restructured in 2000 and the original cooperative
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
structure was abandoned. Companies that took stakes in PUF included Flammarion Publishing (17% in 2000, 18% currently) and insurer Maaf Assurances (9%, 8% currently).http://archives.lesechos.fr/archives/1999/LesEchos/18055-76-ECH.htm In 2006, another insurance giant Garantie Mutuelle des Fonctionnaires (GMF) injected capital into the PUF, taking a 16,4% stake in the publisher.http://archives.lesechos.fr/archives/2006/LesEchos/19738-107-ECH.htm A similar tendency toward the constitution of an oligopoly
Oligopoly
An oligopoly is a market form in which a market or industry is dominated by a small number of sellers . The word is derived, by analogy with "monopoly", from the Greek ὀλίγοι "few" + πόλειν "to sell". Because there are few sellers, each oligopolist is likely to be aware of the actions of the others...
has been observed by French newspapers, with titles like Le Monde
Le Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
, Libération
Libération
Libération is a French daily newspaper founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Originally a leftist newspaper, it has undergone a number of shifts during the 1980s and 1990s...
or even L'Humanité
L'Humanité
L'Humanité , formerly the daily newspaper linked to the French Communist Party , was founded in 1904 by Jean Jaurès, a leader of the French Section of the Workers' International...
accepting to turn themselves toward private financing.
Almost all French students know the collection Que sais-je?
Que sais-je?
“Que sais-je?” is a series of books published by the Presses universitaires de France . The aim of the series is to provide the lay reader with an accessible introduction to a field of study written by an expert in the field. As such, they are a good example of haute vulgarisation...
(a quote from Montaigne: "What do I know?"), created in 1941 by Paul Angoulvent. The collection is based on a unique format of 128 pages, in which specialists are invited to ruminate a specific theme. Today, there are close to 4,000 titles, by 2,500 authors, constituting the world's largest paperback encyclopedia covering a broad range of subjects. Many of the titles have been translated into up to forty-three languages, while the PUF have sold around 160 million books (2004 figures) since first published. Its ISSN number is 0768-0066.