Seix Barral

Description

In 1911, Industrias Gráficas Seix y Barral Hnos. was founded from the merger of Litografia Seix and Barral Hermanos. During the first half of the 20^th century, it was famous for its historical and school publications. It solicited the contributions of illustrious educators and intellectuals such as Pau Vila and Artur Martorell, along with the designer Ricard Giralt-Miracle. After 1954, when Carlos Barral became the literary director, he effected a radical change and the company began to add more outstanding works from European and Latin American literature into its catalogue. It was accompanied in this process of transformation by such prominent intellectuals as Joan Petit, Jaime Gil de Biedma, José Agustín Goytisolo and Josep Maria Castellet.

The first book published in the new era led by Carlos Barral was Frederick K. Hoffman’s La novela moderna en Norteamérica (The Modern Novel in America), translated by Josep Maria Castellet and published as part of the legendary Biblioteca Breve collection. All the historical collections, in addition to the books, manuals and school materials that had characterised the publishing house in the previous decades, gradually disappeared.

Carlos Barral’s closest colleague, Víctor Seix, died in 1967, leaving their shared project truncated. Shortly thereafter, Carlos Barral left the company to found Barral Editores (1970-1977). Joan Ferraté, Josep Maria Carandell and Pere Gimferrer are just some of the literary directors that succeeded him in Seix Barral.

In 1974, Seix Barral merged with the Ariel publishing house. The former continued to primarily issue fiction and creative works, while the latter targeted the world of universities. An internal crisis ended with both companies being acquired by Grup Planeta in 1982, although they kept publishing separately under their respective names.

The Biblioteca Breve Prize created in 1958 and resumed in 1999 is one of the publishing house’s most important awards.

Seix Barral

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Seix Barral

Illustrators and photographers

Seix Barral

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Barral, Carlos, 1928-1989

Seix Barral

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Seix Barral

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From its founding in 1911 until the Civil War, Seix Barral specialised in school books and materials, an undertaking for which it enlisted the expertise of some of the leading educators and intellectuals of the era. It also published works targeted at children and scholarly cultural studies. In 1954, Carlos Barral became the literary director and shifted the editorial line. The Biblioteca Breve and Biblioteca Formentor collections became the spearheads of change with fiction, poetry and essay. With Pere Gimferrer as the literary director, fiction continued to reign in its most important collections, with both original texts and translations.

First page of the Resumen de historia de España, a work from the publishing house’s early days, when it was characterised by publishing textbooks, school books and educational works. As it was such an important press, it had some of the top designers in the country, including Ricard Giralt-Miracle.
Resumen de historia de España. Barcelona: Industrias Gráf. Seix & Barral Herms., cop. 1917.

Illustrations by Mercè Llimona from the book Cartilla silabario español, which exemplifies the publishing house’s early days when it specialised in school books and materials.
E.P.E. Cartilla silabario español. Primera parte. Barcelona: Seix y Barral Hnos., 1942.

Illustrations by Joan Junceda from the book Las minas de Salomón.
Haggard, H. Rider. Las minas de Salomón. Barcelona: I. G. Seix y Barral Hnos., 1945.

Illustrations from Salmo 103 by Ricard Giralt-Miracle, who got his start in the graphic arts at Seix Barral, where he worked as the director of the graphic arts studio.
León, Luis de. Salmo 103. [Barcelona]: Industrias Gráficas Seix y Barral Hnos Sociedad Anónima, 1946.

First work published as part of the Biblioteca Breve collection, one of Seix Barral’s most emblematic collections, with a translation by Josep Maria Castellet.
Hoffman, Frederick. La novela moderna en Norteamérica: 1900-1950. Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1955.

The work La ciudad y los perros received the Biblioteca Breve Prize in 1962 and the Premio de la Crítica in 1964. Along with other Latin American authors, this started what was known as the boom llatinoamericà (Latin American boom).
Vargas Llosa, Mario. La ciudad y los perros. Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1964.

Últimas tardes con Teresa won the Biblioteca Breve Prize in 1965 and was brought to the cinema by Gonzalo Herralde in 1984.
Marsé, Juan. Últimas tardes con Teresa. Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1971.

One of the works published in the Biblioteca Formentor collection, which along with Biblioteca Breve, was one of the publishing house’s most important prizes from its very founding.
Faulkner, William. Banderas sobre el polvo. Barcelona [etc.]: Seix Barral, 1981.

Mazurca para dos muertos, published by Seix Barral as part of the Biblioteca Breve collection shortly after Planeta purchased the publishing house in 1982. It was a bestseller and won the National Fiction Prize in 1984.
Cela, Camilo José. Mazurca para dos muertos. Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1983.

Illustration by Miquel Barceló from the book in the Biblioteca Breve collection.
Bowles, Paul. Muy lejos de casa. Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1992.

First title in the collection, launched in 2004, with facsimiles which show the author’s writing and proofreading techniques.
Martín-Santos, Luis. Condenada belleza del mundo. Barcelona: Seix Barral, 2004.

One of the titles in the Los Tres Mundos collection.
Barthes, Roland. El imperio de los signos. Barcelona: Seix Barral, 2007.

Catalogues from the publishing house in different time periods

Seix Barral

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