Hatje Cantz
A Little Story about Art and the Art of Making Books

It all began with a consuming passion for books and art. In 1945, Gerd Hatje, a typesetter by trade, was granted a coveted publisher’s license by the Franco-American military government in Stuttgart.

Thirsting for knowledge and famished by the intellectual and cultural void left behind by the Nazi regime, he could now finally begin to build the "private university" he had dreamed of for so long.

His Humanitas Verlag published novellas, novels, and classics of world literature—all printed on the typical thin paper of postwar years—but with a great deal of loving care.

The ambitious new enterprise was incorporated as the Verlag Gerd Hatje in 1947 and was soon on its way to earning a fine reputation in the gradually recovering German publishing scene.

During the fifties, the eager young entrepreneur discovered the topics that remain at the heart of the firm’s publishing activities today: the visual arts, modern architecture, and international design.