By Nicoletta
The fourteenth publishing house of our journey is Laterza.
The publishing house was founded in Bari on May 10, 1901, by Giovanni Laterza (1873-1943) as a natural continuation of the activity of the Bookstore and Printing House, founded by his family eleven years earlier in Putignano.
Giovanni Laterza initially set out to be a “service” publisher for authors from Bari and Puglia, with particular attention to technical, economic, commercial, and legal cultural themes. However, faced with the difficulty of creating a publishing program with only local resources…
His story is linked to his meeting with Benedetto Croce in 1901, the leading exponent of idealist philosophical thought in Italy and one of the main pillars of antifascism.
Croce remembers Giovanni Laterza as follows: “Then suddenly a full trust arose in you towards me, and this trust, accompanied by constant patience, was not so much appreciated for itself but was judged by me as evidence of your sure intuition, because you had been able to read the depths of my soul (and for that, I was grateful) my complete disinterest, that is, my only interest in the things I considered good and useful.”
In a few months, Croce drew what was, and still is, the “genetic map” of Laterza; he was the one, in June 1902, to clearly invite Giovanni Laterza to abandon the project of publishing literary works.
“I think it would be better to refrain at least from accepting books of novels, short stories, and light literature: this to appear as a publisher with a defined identity: that is, as a publisher of political books, historical works, art history, philosophy, etc.: a publisher of serious stuff.”
Within a few years, the “Biblioteca di Cultura Moderna,” the publisher’s first series, was re-founded, and the “Classics of Modern Philosophy” (1906), “Works of Benedetto Croce” (1908), “Writers of Italy” (1910), and “Ancient and Medieval Philosophers” (1915) were created. Since 1906, Laterza has also been responsible for the publication of the journal “La Critica,” also directed by Croce.
Laterza becomes a European publisher of essays and culture, selective and demanding.
After Croce’s death in 1952, Vito Laterza (1926-2001) took over the activities of the publishing house. Vito did not even try to find a “helmsman” to functionally replace Croce; instead, he aimed to build a network of “friends of Casa Laterza” from which to draw proposals and suggestions to integrate into the editorial containers he designed.
In 1951, coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary of the publishing house, a new series, “Libri del tempo” (Books of Time), was launched, which would become one of the most influential in the culture of Italy in the second half of the twentieth century.
Around 1960, three essential innovations were introduced: a network of inspectors for promotion in bookstores and schools was created, later integrated with the distribution entrusted to Messaggerie Italiane; a branch was opened in Rome to facilitate editorial contacts; and a structured editorial office was founded in Bari. In 1963, the old family-run collective company was transformed into a joint-stock company, with administrative bodies suited to more modern business management.
In 1964, the “Universale Laterza” series was created, aimed at offering high-quality economic works at an affordable price, including both classic texts and essays. In addition to traditional fields such as political history and philosophy, it also covers new currents of literary criticism, historiography, and social sciences.
In the following decade, the Universale Laterza became the most successful series of the publishing house, with print runs often exceeding ten thousand copies per title.
The same period also includes particularly successful initiatives: the series “History and Society” (1964), designed to host history titles for a broader audience; the “Great Works” (1968), which establish themselves in the field of architecture and urban planning studies; the “Pocket Laterza Essays” (1974), which introduce the model of the pocket-sized book-interview on major political and cultural issues. In the educational world, a significant wave of renewal is brought by the Italian literature textbooks by Carlo Salinari and Carlo Ricci (1969); history by Rosario Villari (1969); and philosophy by Francesco Adorno, Tullio Gregory, and Valerio Verra (1973).
Between the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the publishing landscape changes radically.
The cooling of ideological-political debate and the decline of so-called “commitment” are the foundations of the crisis in the cultural publishing sector, particularly in the area of essay writing. Vito Laterza must scale back the economic series and reduce average print runs, with the inevitable effect of increasing the number of titles published. However, he can rely on works for schools and the still-growing demand expressed by universities.
In 1981, the “Laterza Universal Library” is launched, aimed at enhancing especially the catalog of history works and philosophical classics, solving the issue of the size and price limitations of the pocket series.
In 1989, the “Laterza Manuals” series is introduced, which, in addition to intervening in areas traditionally familiar to Laterza, eventually opens new fields such as law, Romance philology, pedagogy, and teaching. The need to renew the editorial offer is also felt in the field of essay writing: thus, two series are born, “Robinson” (1980), dedicated to popular essays, and “Sagittari Laterza” (1986), focusing on more specialized topics.
In the autumn of 1989, Laterza ceased to be a fully family-run company and was no longer governed by a family board of directors.
Although Vito Laterza’s role as managing director and Paolo Laterza’s role as president (since 1970) of the board of directors were confirmed, once again it became necessary to restructure the company’s activities.
In 1993, the “Laterza Economics” series was launched, no longer in pocket format but maintaining the same cover price. This series renewed the experience of the “Universale Laterza” and contributed to relaunching the entire catalog, both recent and older works, of the publisher.
Since 2000, almost all new titles have been produced in digital format, while simultaneously beginning a massive operation to recover titles from the Catalog, making them available as e-books.
New series were launched: “Anticorpi” (Antibodies), readings for free spirits; “Idòla”, offering an antidote against the false axioms circulating in public debate; “Celacanto”, a series for children illustrated by prestigious designers to tell history to a younger audience; “Historical Culture”, addressing the most urgent and significant contemporary issues; “Audiobooks”, because listening is increasingly seen as a viable alternative to reading.
The school catalog was strengthened and diversified, maintaining a strong leadership position in the field of history for schools, fully respecting ministerial guidelines. The paper production was combined with digital production, creating online platforms dedicated to the educational world. The most significant changes in recent years also concern the multiplication of the channels through which the publisher enhances the catalog. Laterza expresses its expertise—gained over more than 120 years of history—in selecting and mediating quality content.
Laterza provided content for, and in some cases editorially created, some of the main successes in series sold alongside newspapers and magazines at newsstands.
Among the most important collaborations are those with “Corriere della Sera,” “L’Espresso,” “la Repubblica,” “il Giornale,” and “Il Sole 24 Ore.” Additionally, Laterza took initiatives in organizing major cultural events, among which stands the Trento Economics Festival; reaching its 13th edition in 2018, featuring the intervention of highly qualified international personalities and a vast public participation, as well as the “Lezioni di Storia” (History Lessons), held since November 2006 in major Italian cities: Rome, Milan, Turin, Florence, Genoa, Naples, Trieste, Bari, Udine, Cagliari, Brescia, Trento/Rovereto, Verona, Padua, and Matera.
A quality publisher that has managed to renew itself while keeping its cultural and family roots strong.
Check out all the books published by Laterza and many more available in our catalog.
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