Pirate editions commissioned by the state

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Even up to the mid-eighteenth century, the book market in the Habsburg Monarchy was still in a rudimentary stage of development; outside Vienna there were only a handful of efficient printers and publishers – until former gooseherd Thomas von Trattner built up his publishing empire.

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Thomas von Trattner (1717–1798), one of the first large-scale entrepreneurs in Austria, bought a book-printing business in Vienna in 1748. He became a court book printer and was later even ennobled. Trattner made most of his money from reprints; at that time pirated editions were common practice for economic reasons, as costs remained low and interest in books and reading had to be generated. In 1752 Thomas von Trattner was commissioned by Maria Theresa to print schoolbooks and textbooks for the entire Monarchy. He built the Trattnerhof on the Graben in Vienna as the headquarters of his business and also had branches in all parts of the Monarchy. He published Enlightenment literature and scientific works, in particular in the field of medicine.

Soon other publishing houses opened in the capital and book production expanded enormously. One hundred and ten different periodicals – journals, newspapers, magazines and almanacs – were published in Vienna. However, the educated public’s thirst for reading was limited by censorship. A list of banned books was itself banned in 1777, as it was feared that the list of titles could have been misused as a means of selling forbidden literature. Pedlars distributed trivial writings, but even this form of distribution was forbidden in 1789. Large libraries included those of the nobility and monastic institutions and first and foremost the Vienna Court Library, which with its 170,000 volumes was the largest in the German-speaking lands.
The brief suspension of censorship under Joseph II in 1780 brought an explosive rise in literary production, but police supervision of citizens was soon intensified again, bringing an end to their freedom to read. Censorship was tightened further under Leopold II, but nevertheless Enlightenment literature now began to penetrate the Danube Monarchy, albeit later than in the rest of Western Europe. Strict censorship prevailed during the Vormärz period. In the course of the nineteenth century publishing became increasingly specialized and the book market underwent professionalization and commercialization.

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maria-theresia-soll-bei-einer-audienz-thomas-trattner-zum-nachdruck-ermutigt-haben

Maria Theresia zu Thomas von Trattner:

joseph-ii.-hob-1780-die-zensur-weitgehend-auf-und-ordnete-an

Weitgehende Aufhebung der Zensur durch Joseph II. 1780:

aloys-blumauer-kommentierte-den-sprunghaften-anstieg-insbesondere-der-broschueren-und-kleinen-flugschriften-im-zuge-der-aufhebung-der-zensur-1780

Aloys Blumauer:

in-der-201egeheimen-instrukzion201c-von-1786-befuerwortete-joseph-ii-die-einrichtung-einer-geheimpolizei

„Geheime Instrukzion“ von 1786:

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Engelsing, Rolf: Der Bürger als Leser. Lesergeschichte in Deutschland 1500–1800, Stuttgart 1974; Vocelka, Karl: Glanz und Untergang der höfischen Welt. Repräsentation, Reform und Reaktion im habsburgischen Vielvölkerstaat, Wien 2004 (Österreichische Geschichte 1699–1815), 247–255; Wittmann, Reinhard: Geschichte des deutschen Buchhandels, 2. Aufl. München 1999;

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