The Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft (WBG) is a German publishing house in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

. With about 140,000 subscribers (as of 1999) it is one of the largest

book clubs Book club may refer to: * Book discussion club, a group of people who meet to discuss a book or books that they have read ** Literature circle, a group of students who meet in a classroom to discuss a book or books that they have read * Book sal ...

in Germany. German scientists founded the WBG in 1949 as a

voluntary association A voluntary group or union (also sometimes called a voluntary organization, common-interest association, association, or society) is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement, usually as volunteering, volunteers, to form a body (or organ ...

to help with the shortage of scientific literature after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Its aim was to publish new books and to reprint standard works, scarce in that era. The company's principal founder and first managing director was

Ernst Anrich Ernst Anrich (born 9 August 1906 in Strasbourg, died 21 October 2001 in Seeheim-Jugenheim) was a German modern historian, sociologist, university professor, academic administrator and publisher, who was the principal founder (in 1949) and managing d ...

. One of its founding members was the philosopher . Nowadays the WBG publishes works from about 20 fields of study, sent by

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing a telephone call * Placing a ...

to its members. About a third of its programme is reprints of other publishers' scientific works. These publishers belong to the WBG: * Primus-Verlag, Darmstadt (founded 1996) * Konrad Theiss Verlag,

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

(taken over 1997) * Verlag Philipp von Zabern,

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

(taken over 2005)

References

* ''Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt: 1949 - 1974. Eine kurze Darstellung der 25 Jahre'' (''Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt: 1949 - 1974. A short account of the 25 years''). Darmstadt 1974

External links

WBG Website

(German) * ttp://www.primusverlag.de/ Website of the Primus-Verlag {{Books Book publishing companies of Germany Book clubs Mass media in Darmstadt

See also

References

External links