TAN Books is a

traditionalist Catholic Traditionalist Catholicism is a movement that emphasizes beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions and presentations of teaching associated with the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). ...

American book distributor and publisher.

History

TAN Books was founded in 1967 as TAN Books and Publishers in

Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, Winnebago and Ogle County, Illinois, Ogle counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located in far northern Illinois on the banks of the Rock River (Mississippi River tributary), Rock River, Rockfor ...

, by Thomas Aquinas Nelson (not to be confused with the founder of the Bible-publishing firm Thomas Nelson) to keep in print books teaching

traditionalist Catholicism Traditionalist Catholicism is a movement that emphasizes beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions and presentations of teaching associated with the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). Tr ...

in the wake of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

. TAN was subsequently acquired by Saint Benedict Press in 2008.

Criticism and legal troubles

''Baronius Press, Ltd. v. Saint Benedict Press, LLC'' (2016–2019)

On September 29, 2016, Baronius Press, a British publisher of traditional Catholic books, filed a civil

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

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 Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite or ''usus antiquior'' (), Vetus Ordo or the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) or the Traditional Rite, is the liturgy in the Roman Missal of the Catholic Church codified in ...

, 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 Homeschooling or home schooling (American English), also known as home education or elective home education (EHE) (British English), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted ...

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 Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

-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.

References

External links