TAN Books is a
traditionalist Catholic
Traditionalist Catholicism is the set of beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions, and presentations of Catholic teaching that existed in the Catholic Church before the liberal reforms of the Second Vatican Council ( ...
American book distributor and publisher.
History
TAN Books was founded in 1967, as "TAN Books and Publishers," in
Rockford, Illinois by Thomas A. Nelson (not to be confused with the founder of the Bible-publishing firm
Thomas Nelson) to keep in print books teaching the traditional Catholic faith in the wake of the upheaval in the Church that followed the
Second Vatican Council
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...
.
TAN was subsequently acquired by
Saint Benedict Press in 2008.
Criticism and legal troubles
''Baronius Press, Ltd. v. Saint Benedict Press, LLC'' (2016–2019)
1st Complaint ''(filed 2016)''
On September 29, 2016,
Baronius Press, a British publisher of traditional Catholic books, filed a civil
lawsuit
-
A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...
against TAN Books and
Saint Benedict Press. The lawsuit alleged that TAN had violated Baronius's ownership of the copyright for the English translation of
Ludwig Ott's ''Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma'' (''Grundriß der katholischen Dogmatik'' in the original German).
Baronius Press purchased the exclusive rights to the English translation from the original copyright holders in 2009, and obtained an exclusive license with the underlying owner of the German original in 2011. The English translation of ''Fundamentals'' had been in the public domain in the United States since its initial publication in 1954, as U.S. copyright law did not provide automatic copyright protection to works initially published in foreign countries (the English translation of ''Fundamentals'' was originally published in Ireland).
Imprints
* TAN Books: Publishes reprints of classic Catholic works on theology, Scripture, traditional devotions, the
Tridentine Mass
The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Traditional Latin Mass or Traditional Rite, is the liturgy of Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church that appears in typical editions of the Roman Missal published from 1570 to 1962. Celebrated alm ...
, and lives of the saints, as well as new titles on these subjects by contemporary authors and a line of newly-typeset
Douay–Rheims Bible
The Douay–Rheims Bible (, ), also known as the Douay–Rheims Version, Rheims–Douai Bible or Douai Bible, and abbreviated as D–R, DRB, and DRV, is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English made by member ...
s (co-branded with Saint Benedict Press). In addition, the former "Saint Benedict Press Classics" series is now marketed under the "TAN Classics" moniker. TAN has also, in recent years, published resources aimed toward Catholic
homeschooling families; the company has also released a line of
audiobook
An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements.
Spoken audio has been available in sch ...
s for some of its new and classic titles.
* Confraternity of the Precious Blood: TAN currently serves as the distributor of titles issued by the Confraternity (associated with the
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...
-based
Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood), including ''My Daily Bread'', ''My Imitation of Christ'', ''My Daily Psalm Book'', and ''Christ in the Gospel''.
* Neumann Press: Acquired by TAN Books in 2013,
Neumann Press republishes classic Catholic children's works, history books, and novels aimed at students from primary to secondary school.
* American Chesterton Society: Since May 2015, TAN Books has been the exclusive distributor of works published by the Society, which specializes in contemporary titles written in the tradition of Catholic philosopher
G. K. Chesterton
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, philosopher, Christian apologist, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Of his writing style, ''Time'' observed: "Wh ...
.
See also
*
List of book distributors
References
External links
TAN Books website{{Authority control
Book publishing companies based in North Carolina
Catholic publishing companies
Catholic media
Christian publishing companies
Publishing companies established in 1967
1967 establishments in Illinois
Book distributors
Traditionalist Catholicism