Booksellers as Publishers in Estonia in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century and at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century

Abstract

The article handles general developments and changes in book trade and publishing which took place in Estonia during the second half of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. The aim is to show the publishing activities of Estonian booksellers and to analyse the activities of Estonian booksellers and development of book production (printing) and publishing of Estonian language books. The survey is based on the research literature and on the master thesis by Signe Jantson, Book Trade in Estonia 1850–1917: Bookshops and their Owners. Up to the middle of the nineteenth century the book production and dissemination in Estonia was in the hands of Baltic German entrepreneurs and depended on the political and economic developments not only in Russia but also in Germany. The Estonian national awakening movement was preceded by the birth of Estonian national literature in the middle of the nineteenth century. In the period of the next fifty years the publication of Estonian language books increased tenfold. The second half of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century was still favourable for the book trade: 263 new shops were opened and 283 new persons tried to start book trade businesses, but trading with books did not guarantee sufficient income and the bookshop owners were often engaged in other spheres. Among the 283 bookshop owners, 83 headed companies comprising the publishing house, the printing office, and the bookshop.

XIX A. pabaigos–XX A. PRADŽIOS ESTIJOS KNYGŲPREKYBININKAI, LEIDĖJAI IR SPAUDOS DARBUOTOJAI

“…The number of new bookshops increased during the first decade of the 20th century and fell during the years of the war. Altogether, 119 bookshops were opened during the period, but the majority of shops were closed in a short time [6,[64][65]. The number of bookshop owners (51) who operated in several book-related areas was somewhat modest compared to the total number of those who started in this business (119).…”

“…Twenty-two people had other jobs besides being booksellers, but considering the relatively short lifetime of bookshops it can be assumed that the job of bookseller was a brief diversion for people of other professions. Being both a teacher and a bookseller was the most common combination (with eight known cases) [6,81]. However, the activity period of bookshops that were opened at the beginning of the 20th century was generally very short, which means that many of their owners had never a chance to expand into other areas [7; 187].…”

“…Altogether, during the period of the National Awakening movement, 39 new bookshops were opened and 45 persons were engaged in selling books. By the end of the period, most bookshop owners were of the Estonian origin [6,[71][72][73][74].…”