Preview
Preview Fall 2024
In the darkroom where books are made (also known as the prepress stage), we are predominantly working in tough digital worlds these days: one or zero, black or white, yes or no—those are the questions here. The final result, if everything has gone well with the transfer to paper (also known as printing), can be a wonderful analogue object. In the transition process from digital to analogue, it’s very important to finely modulate the hues of color, so that they are pleasing to the eye of the beholder. Stochastic screening (also known as FM, or “frequency modulated” screen) has served the photobook world extremely well in recent years. In view of the current state of the planet, we ask ourselves when there will be an FM screen for present-day political discussions and conflicts. More differentiation, more of “both/and,” as well as more acceptance of diverse opinions could help to make the future look more promising. In our social discourse spaces (also known as democracy), we would be happy to allow this to take effect.
Preview Spring 2024
While writing these lines, we are packing our library, the inventory of books and pictures, as well as the rest of the entire office into gray and yellow boxes and brown cartons (picture left). The move is scheduled for mid-December 2023. The good news … we are moving approximately 500 meters closer to the Mediterranean, from west Stuttgart to the south side of town! After five years in the Gallery House, it’s time for a new environment and modern, insulated walls, ceilings, and windows at the historic Ziegenbein factory…
Preview Fall 2023
At the outdoor public pool, where publishers like to hang out during hot summers, it became clear to us: publishing is like long-distance swimming. Twice a year, in spring and fall, there is a turnaround, and in between you just have to keep going, count laps, and not lose your concentration. Sometimes you’re held up by swimmers doing the breast stroke or backstroke (e.g., pandemics, economic crises, etc.), but you can’t let yourself get upset. You simply have to improvise, then slowly pick up speed again, and finally enjoy the wonderful feeling of overtaking them (e.g., titles that sell better than expected, good reviews, etc.) If you’re not feeling it, you just swim slower (i.e., fewer books!)—short breaks can increase endurance. We’ve been feeling something like this for years; every time we think things are going well, we’re doused with cold water (which is actually quite refreshing this summer). Then comes another turnaround, and things start to go better again. Taking all of this into account: keep on swimming and don’t forget to shower beforehand!
Preview Spring 2023
Ingar Krauss’s Sugar Beets, Volker Hinz’s Carrousel, and Danny Franzreb’s Proof of Work: these are our three spring titles. The topics of these books ranges from silver gelatin prints to bitcoins to wild fashion shows in the nineties. For the first time, the number of our new releases is so manageable that we can list them all in this afterword. We’ve always been reluctant to weigh in between our books— whether they’re potential bestsellers or niche titles, they’re equally important to us. That’s why our motto for a while now has been: We only publish bestsellers and the books we really like. With that in mind, feel free to find out for yourself which books belong in which category. And—oh, yes—Henrik Spohler’s Flatland will also be published this spring, with only a slight delay. PS: All current bestsellers are from last year and the year before!
Preview Hartmann Books Fall 2022
Romance and structure? Why is this the main idea of this publishing preview?
Perhaps because the two terms well describe the wide (photographic) field of our newly published books? Books that contain portraits with an almost classical feel, slightly nostalgic cityscapes, only rudimentarily romantic landscapes, and more or less rigorous analytical pictorial documentations — not too broad a field, we think. The terms could just as well describe the daily challenges in our publishing house (or possibly everywhere?), when we vacillate between enthusiasm for ideas, projects, and mundane organizational matters, when we have to decide what to do and what not to do and in which order or if at all…
Preview Hartmann Books Spring 2022
If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the past few years, it’s that everything is interconnected on this small planet, especially in the world of photo books. Daily proof of that insight is provided by orders from all over the world, which in recent years have become more numerous and global. Our books have gradually reached every continent, made possible by DHL – not necessarily cheap but reasonably reliable. Books and special editions now make their way from our warehouse to Australia (many), Chile, Japan, Korea, Canada, California (many), New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, and everywhere in Europe … and recently even (nearly) to Swaziland, until it turned out that Geneva is in Switzerland after all. Every once in a while someone actually visits us »for real« to have a look at the current (Ulrich Wüst) exhibition and buy a book or two. When that happens, the courtyard behind our office in Stuttgart seems less gloomy, even in winter. Suddenly we have the feeling that we are a small part of a worldwide community, giving our life some meaning!
Preview Hartmann Books Fall 2021
Over the course of the past months, we only moved back and forth between our office and garden at home. Traveling? That was out of the question!
Much like gardeners, publishers need patience. Books and plants grow slowly. Some things flourish quickly, some slowly, and some things don’t work out at all. Investments of diligence, passion, and persistence are needed so that there is a rich harvest in the fall. It was this spring that we realised that books have similar periods of gestation as do plants in a garden. However, as long as they are available (which in our case means many years) they are trusty companions of those who own them, whether it’s artists or people who buy them. In this spirit we hope that all finished and still ripening books will enjoy just the right amount of proper location, sunshine, and rain.
Preview Hartmann Books Spring 2021
Is there anybody out there?
Our more or less organized desks are symbols of the past year: this is where we have been forced to spend most of our time—and apart from ourselves and the people who deliver packages, it was quite unusual for us to meet any real people. Just about all of our ideas, projects, and books result from personal encounters—which, as we all know, have been extremely infrequent over the past year. We would be happy to communicate to the virologists our desperate need to move about freely (speaking for everyone in the cultural sector) so that our thoughts (and books) can again have free rein, even though the statistics and figures are hardly … yes, we know. Have a look at the cover of this brochure, where we have tried to subjectively balance out the number of incidences, turnover rates, sales figures, personal motivation, and wine consumption.
