“Imagine Barcelona in 1868.” That’s the year Editorial Montaner i Simó was founded. It became a leading force in the Catalan and Spanish publishing industry. By the mid-20th century it was also an international reference point.
Editorial Montaner i Simó specialized in publishing monumental works. These were often aimed at bibliophiles and printed in Spanish. In 1886, the publishing house inaugurated its headquarters. This was located on Carrer d’Aragó 255. The building was designed by the young architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner. He was the nephew of Ramon Montaner.
Let’s talk about the founders of Editorial Montaner i Simó. They were Ramon de Montaner i Vila and Francesc Simon i Font. The publisher excelled in high-quality printing. Its illustrations were exquisite. These publications catered to a well-off bourgeois audience. The headquarters was one of Barcelona’s first Modernist buildings.
Editorial Montaner i Simó’s building was designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner. It was declared a national heritage site in 1993. Since 1990, it has housed the Fundació Antoni Tàpies.
Montaner i Simó publishing house was a large operation. On the ground floor of the Aragó street building alone, 240 workers were employed. The company used half a million kilograms of paper annually. It had over 800 correspondents. Agreements existed with 14 South American companies. Exports to America were valued at half a million pesetas per year. During the first quarter of the century, the catalog contained more than 250 titles.
During the 1940s and 50s, the company focused on publishing books for bibliophiles. This new direction required a significant investment. It coincided with payment problems from the South American market. Due to these difficulties, the publisher went bankrupt. It was acquired by José María González Porto. He was the founder of Unión Tipográfica Editorial Hispanoamericana. This new owner maintained the editorial lines. He continued publishing encyclopedic works. These were more accessible. There were dictionaries and technical manuals. Also scientific books and works of literature were published.
González-Porto died in 1975. Eventually, Editorial Montaner i Simó closed its doors in 1981. Much of the documentation was destroyed. Some of it has been preserved by collectors.
In 1994, the Biblioteca de Catalunya acquired a collection of woodcut matrices from the publisher. In 2000, a small part of the documentation arrived. This was through the Ramón Borrás collection of autographs. Together with the collection of brochures and catalogs from publishers. These were preserved in the Biblioteca Bergnes de las Casas collection. The trajectory of this company can be analyzed.
Editorial Montaner i Simó published authors of great value. It also had established recognition. Figures of the moment were also used. One such person was Apel·les Mestres. He was the artistic director of the publishing house.
The publisher selected top-tier illustrators. It was a pioneer in new printing techniques. Editorial Montaner i Simó also had highly qualified personnel for printing.
Montaner i Simó created a line of collections. These were aimed at an erudite reader with demanding taste. There were collections in fields such as literature. Also science, history, biographies, and books for young people. From the sixties and seventies, a more accessible approach was incorporated. This was into the editorial line of the collections. Throughout its existence, it published 38 collections.
Montaner i Simó published two magazines. These were La ilustración artística and El salón de moda. Both were innovative in printing mechanisms. These were based on electroplating techniques. Also the reproduction of chromolithographs by photomechanical means was new. La ilustración artística used the halftone method. This was in 1883. Just one year after this system was patented by Georges Meisenbach in Munich.
The first stage of Montaner i Simó left a legacy of works of extraordinary quality. You can perceive the taste for style and editing. Montaner y Simó stands as a testament to Barcelona’s rich publishing history.