Gallimard

History

Beginnings

The May 31st 1911, Gaston Gallimard takes the direction of the Editions of the New French Review ( NRF ) at the request of its creators: Andre Gide and Jean Schlumberger. Gide and Claudel inaugurates the new publisher. Other great names of the French literature will come soon to pack the catalog: Proust, Supervielle, Malraux, Saint-Exupéry…

In 1913, following a surface reading, André Gide refuses the manuscript of To the research of time lost whereas Bernard Grasset agrees to publish it in account of author. At its exit, On the side from Swann meets critical warm welcome. Gaston Gallimard then seeks to discharge Marcel Proust and reaches that point in 1917. This episode marks the beginning of a long competition between the two editors.

In 1919, the publisher is dissociated from NRF (Jacques Rivière takes the direction of it) and is transformed into a Public limit company, the “Gallimard Bookstore”. This one is its first great business success with the Prix Goncourt obtained by In the shade of the young girls in flowers . It starts to publish more popular books, like those of the collection “the masterpieces of the novel of adventures”, who allow to compensate for the losses generated by the pure literature.

As of 1921, Gaston Gallimard sets up a reading panel which will validate the quality of the leading choices. Among the members of this committee of reputation, one will find Benjamin Crémieux, Jean Paulhan, Louis-Daniel Hirsch or, a few years later, André Malraux, Raymond Queneau and Jean Grosjean.

A fast expansion

Gaston Gallimard weaves little by little a network of relations in order to discover the new French and foreign authors, or to discharge them when it was preceded by a competitor. Cultivating the friendship of sworn, it also gets busy to monopolize the Literary prize S (in fifteen years, it obtains half of the Prix Goncourt).

In 1932, Gaston Gallimard makes an agreement of exclusive distribution with the Messageries Hatchet, which ensures the house a good visibility on the tables of booksellers. In 1933, the Editions of the Pleiad, founded by Jacques Schiffrin with the collaboration of Charles of the Boss, are integrated into the Gallimard Editions and become the collection the “Bibliothèque of the Pleiad”. Schiffrin remains the director until the Second world war about it. This event marks one period of multiplication and reinforcement of the collections (Collection of foreign literature with “whole world”, tests with “the Library of the Ideas”, of news with the collection “Rebirth of the news”, directed by Paul Morand…).

During the Popular front, the publisher is victim of an attack, undoubtedly financed by the Cross-of-fire.

Occupation and post-war period

After the Armistice of 1940, Gaston Gallimard must yield the direction of NRF to Drieu La Rochelle, fascistic author militant, and accept autocensurer against a paper quota. The attitude of the editor is ambiguous. It accommodates in its offices of the clandestine meetings of the French Lettres founded by Paulhan while publishing translations of traditional German, like Goethe, to reconcile the Occupant. He refuses with skill the lampoon of Lucien Rebatet Décombres but does not hesitate, in its proposal for a repurchase of the Éditions Calmann-Levy, to declare his house “ Aryan with Aryan capital ”. The suicide of Drieu La Rochelle and the support without fault of resistant writers make it possible Gallimard to protect the Gallimard bookstore from the purification which follows the Libération. Responsible for all the sins, NRF is prohibited of publication.

In the immediate future post-war period, Gaston Gallimard tries to give again at his publisher the dynamism to which she is accustomed. Are born the “modern” collections then:

the “Black series”, directed by Marcel Duhamel
the “Cross of the South”, directed by Roger Caillois
“Hope”, of Albert Camus

The era Claude Gallimard

The Gallimard Editions mark the literary scene by publishing the avant-gardes (Nathalie Sarraute, Maurice Blanchot, Georges Bataille…) and many outstanding writers of the years 1950 (Jean Genet, Eugene Ionesco, Jacques Prévert…). The literary prizes multiply, the house explores all the fields of literary creation.

Claude Gallimard, the son of Gaston, wishes to modernize the publisher. He makes enter of new leaders within the company, develops the department of the book of art in collaboration with André Malraux and that of the social sciences while joining Pierre Nora. With the passing of years 1960, the Gallimard Editions continue to attract the great names of the French and foreign literature: Modiano, Clézio, Kundera…

The development of the Gallimard group

Anxious to remain in the foreground of the leading scene, Claude Gallimard poses the first stones of the Gallimard group by successively repurchasing several other publishers:

Such in 1949
Denoël in 1951
the Roundtable in 1957
the Mercure de France in 1958

In 1970, it puts an end to the contract which bound it to Hachette and founds one year later its subsidiary companies of diffusion (the CDE) and distribution (the SODIS).

The years pocket

The first ideas of an exploitation of the funds appear. It is the time of the first pockets with creation of the collection “Ideas” in 1962 and “Poésie Gallimard” in 1966. In 1972 appears the collection “Folio”, collection major which will offer new prospects to the literary catalog of the house.

Gallimard today

January 15th 1976, with the death of Gaston Gallimard, Claude becomes president of the Gallimard Editions. It will remain it until 1988. It then leaves the direction of the company to his son: Antoine, current chairman of the remained publisher, until today, independent.

In 1999, the Gallimard editions start negotiations with the company Bibliopolis, house of electronic edition specialized in the publication of classic authors on the Web, with an aim of creating a subsidiary company which would be named " Gallimard Numérique" or " Gallimard Interactive" , and to thus instigate the sector of the edition and the book electronic. However, these negotiations are brutally stopped in the year 2000, little time before their result, and the creation project of a pole of electronic edition implementing the technologies developed by Bibliopolis is thus given up.

Since 1930, Gallimard is located at 5 rue Sébastien Bottin in the VII {{E}} district of Paris.

Collections

the Infinite one: currently directed by Philippe Sollers.

Gallimard in figures

1.418 titles published in 2003
Turnovers: 226 million euros
Effective: 1.000 paid
the 2nd French editor , rather far behind Hatchet (CA 2003: 960 million euros)

The Gallimard group

subsidiary companies of edition:

Editions Denoël
Editions of Mercure de France
Gallimard Leisures (tourist Guides)
Gallimard Youth
Phase Two (ex Verticales)
Joelle Losfeld
P.O.L (88%)
Editions of the Roundtable
Editions Foliade (Belgium)
Editions of the Five Borders (Swiss)
Gallimard Limited (Canada)
Schoenhof' S Foreign books (the United States)
Futuropolis

bookstores:

the Couch (Paris)
Bookstore Kléber (Strasbourg)
Bookstore of Faculties (Strasbourg)
Bookstore Delamain (Paris)
Bookstore Gallimard (Paris)
Bookstore Gallimard (Montreal)
Bookstore of Paris (Paris)

Diffusion:

Distribution:

SODIS
SOCADIS (Canada), in partnership with Flammarion

See too

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