Boktryckaren som förläggare : förlagsfunktion och utgivningspolitik hos P.A. Norstedt & söner 1879-1910

Sammanfattning: The Printer as Publisher - The Publishing Function and Editorial Policy of P.A.Norstedt & Söner 1879-1910.This dissertation in the field of the history of publishing treats of the printing and publishing house of P.A.Norstedt & Söner during the period 1879-1910. The main question, which concerns conditions, incentive and driving forces in the publishing business, can be formulated thus: What factors are involved in determining which works are published by a publishing house? Thé method employed is that of systems analysis. The concepts of ’field’, ’symbolic capital’ and ’power of consecration’ as formulated by the French cultural sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, are used as theoretical tools.Following a historical background to the development of the publishing function and the role of the publisher (chap.2) as well as a description of the development of Norstedts before the period studied (chap.3), there is an analysis of the company and its various branches of activity in order to ascertain what influence various parts of the company had as to editorial policy (chap.4). The profile of a publishing company and the editorial decisions were in these times very much the work of an individual publisher. In chapter 5 there is a biographical sketch of Mr G. B. A. Holm, managing director of Norstedts during this period, partly with the object of trying to establish the form of his influence on publishing policy.Norstedts was continually affected by the book market and the milieu surrounding it. This influence in both directions is examined in chapter 6, from the point of view of the company, through a study of the company’s correspondence with authors, publisher’s readers, booksellers, colleagues, customers and public authorities. There is also an examination of the various types of marketing used by the company to sell its books.A thesis in this dissertation is that the various segments of the book market are characterised by such a variety of conditions that the market must be analysed in its constituent parts. A distinctive trait of the publishing business is that of ’niche’ strategies and a company’s editorial policy is moulded by the particular market sector chosen. Chapter 7 begins, therefore, with an examination of the segments of the Swedish book market. The subsequent analysis of the works published by Norstedts in selected segments is based upon processing of a database containing information concerning titles published by Norstedts 1823-1910.Was their editorial policy successful? Chapter 8 presents a survey of the 32 annual balance sheets for the period. The analysis shows that the publishing side of the business was of crucial importance to the company as a whole, in a period characterised by intense and profitable expansion.The final chapter is an attempt to pan out, from a unique and timebound example (Norstedts 1879-1910), the patterns and regularities of the publishing business. In addition, other subjects in the field of the history of publishing are shown as being in urgent need of further research.