In 1942, Jaume Aymà i Ayala and Jaume Aymà Mayol, father and son, respectively, founded Ediciones Aymá, a name that would undergo several changes over the years. The imprint published translated works of fiction – obligatorily only in Spanish – by renowned authors (Rainer Maria Rilke, Pearl S. Buck, G. K. Chesterton, etc.) as well as a large number of works by Georges Simenon. In those early years, the publication of Margaret Mitchell’s Lo que el viento se llevó (Gone with the Wind) was a resounding success, as thousands of copies were sold out within days. They also created several collections with the city of Barcelona as the main theme.
In the 1940s as well, in addition to being a publishing house, Aymà also issued some underground books in Catalan, alternating the printer’s mark (L’aperitiu by Josep M. de Sagarra appears as having falsely been published before the Civil War and printed in Perpignan). The imprint was able to launch the Col·lecció Literària Aymà with works in Catalan in 1946, albeit with many restrictions.
+ informationJaume Aymà Mayol collection at the Arxiu Nacional de Catalunya (National Archive of Catalonia)
Jaume Aymà Mayol collection at the (Institut d’Estudis Catalans) Institute of Catalan Studies
Catalogue of publishers and booksellers from the Bergnes de las Casas collection (Biblioteca de Catalunya)
Catalogue of publishers of Catalonia from 1940 to 1975 (Biblioteca de Catalunya)
More information and documentation on the works produced
Aymà, Jordi. “Jaume Aymà i Mayol, editor”, Anuari TRILCAT, 1 (2011), p. 163-173.
Llanas, Manuel. L'Edició a Catalunya. Segle XX (1939-1975). Barcelona: Gremi d'Editors de Catalunya, 2005.
Samsó, Joan. La cultura catalana entre la clandestinitat i la represa pública. [Barcelona: Abadia de Montserrat, 1994-1995. Vol 2.
In 1942, Jaume Aymà i Ayala and Jaume Aymà Mayol, father and son, respectively, founded Ediciones Aymá, a name that would undergo several changes over the years. The imprint published translated works of fiction – obligatorily only in Spanish – by renowned authors (Rainer Maria Rilke, Pearl S. Buck, G. K. Chesterton, etc.) as well as a large number of works by Georges Simenon. In those early years, the publication of Margaret Mitchell’s Lo que el viento se llevó (Gone with the Wind) was a resounding success, as thousands of copies were sold out within days. They also created several collections with the city of Barcelona as the main theme.
In the 1940s as well, in addition to being a publishing house, Aymà also issued some underground books in Catalan, alternating the printer’s mark (L’aperitiu by Josep M. de Sagarra appears as having falsely been published before the Civil War and printed in Perpignan). The imprint was able to launch the Col·lecció Literària Aymà with works in Catalan in 1946, albeit with many restrictions.
In 1947, the Joanot Martorell Novel Prize was launched, initially by Aymá alone and later in conjunction with the Selecta publishing house.
During the 1950s, it published major works, including the first important works in Catalan since the end of the Civil War such as Les terres catalanes by Pere Blasi, L’art català, overseen by Joaquim Folch i Torres, and Les tradicions catalanes, overseen by Agustí Duran i Sanpere.
Children’s and young reader literature also had a place in the Aymà catalogue, as it published a collection of small and large-format books with Jean de Brunhoff’s character of Babar, some of them translated by Carles Riba. It also published illustrated albums with the biblical stories for children by Henri Daniel-Rops. For young readers, Aymà published adventure books like Robert Louis Stevenson’s La isla del tesoro (Treasure Island) and Daniel Dafoe’s Aventuras de Robinson Crusoe (The Adventures of Robison Crusoe).
Jaume Aymà i Ayala left the publishing house in 1962, as did his son in 1963, the year when the businessman and cultural promoter, Joan Baptista Cendrós, gained control of the publishing house and incorporated the publishing collection of Proa and Alcides and the collections Els llibres de l’óssa menor and Quaderns de teatre A.D.B. The Aymàs went on to found the small publishing house, Delos-Aymà, whose collection in the end was passed to Editorial Andorra.
The names of Jaume Amyà I Ayala and Jaume Aymà Mayol will forever be associated with the post-war recovery of Catalan literature.
Aymà published both new, unpublished authors and authors from the past, both local and international, in Spanish, and in Catalan when allowed, although in addition to the publishing house Aymà issued some underground works in Catalan with false printer’s marks.
Using a pseudonym, Ricard Giralt-Miracle illustrated the covers of the Aymà collection devoted to the works of George Simenon. The publishing house’s children’s catalogue includes Jean de Brunhoff’s drawings of his elephant Babar. Josep Narro illustrated the books in the Guió d’Or collection.
The Col·lecció Literària Aymà, Dafne and El Club dels Novel·listes were three of Aymà’s most important collections of fiction in Catalan. Órbita and La Bahía were two of the most important collections it published in Spanish. The Grandes Novelistas Modernos collection contained what became its biggest commercial success, Lo que el viento se llevó (Gone with the Wind). It devoted its Barcelona, Divulgación Histórica and Barcelona Histórica y Monumental collections to the city of Barcelona, and the Guió d’Or collection to collectors’ editions. Children’s books were issued through the collection of small and large-format books devoted to the famous character of the elephant Babar and in the series of children’s books with biblical topics by Henri Daniel-Rops. Crime novels had a collection devoted exclusively to Georges Simenon, which included a series for the works featuring detective Maigret. The Voz Imagen collection was reserved for the worlds of the theatre and cinema.
Aymà published a wide range of books by classic authors, along with previously unpublished authors and a variety of topics such as books on art, history, religion and literature, along with collectors’ editions, travel books, crime novels and children’s albums.