{"id":2947,"date":"2026-09-28T09:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T07:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jmcastellet.bnc.cat\/publisher\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T13:27:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T11:27:18","slug":"publisher","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jmcastellet.bnc.cat\/en\/publisher\/","title":{"rendered":"Publisher"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The publisher<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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15 min read<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Beginnings<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The making of a publisher<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The literary director of Edicions 62<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Iconic collections from the early catalogue<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Reorienting the catalogue<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Beginnings<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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It must be said that the publishing house\u2019s editorial office, in those early days, was a chaotic hub of activity. We were all primarily dedicated to politics, an activity that was, at the time, unfortunately futile or, at the very least, merely symbolic. The office was a place of constant conversation, frequented by writers, amateur politicians and figures of ambiguous background\u2014who later faded into obscurity\u2014all proposing implausible or impossible literary and subversive projects. For every minute of productive publishing work, we spent hours on political gossip, drafting protest documents and gathering signatures, and, worst of all, engaging in endless ideological debates that, naturally, led nowhere. Nevertheless, that experience was part of our political education… and, looking back years later, a cherished memory. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Interview with Josep M. Castellet, L\u2019Aven\u00e7, 300 (March 2005)<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The making of a publisher<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Castellet\u2019s first venture into the printed book sector was the founding of the <\/span>Impremta Frontis<\/b> printing house, alongside publisher Joaquim Horta and Francesc Tod\u00f3, who handled the graphic design. They set up the print shop in the David Building on Barcelona\u2019s Carrer Aribau in 1956. They were forced to close in 1963 due to financial difficulties.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Beneyto, Maria. Poemas de la Ciudad.<\/em> Barcelona: Joaqu\u00edn Horta, 1956. (Fe de Vida. Poes\u00eda y Ensayo ; 1). Directed by Josep M. Castellet<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"2002-8-150\"
Riba, Carles. M\u00e9s els poemes: notes sobre poetes i poesia<\/em> (1956), Barcelona: Joaqu\u00edn Horta, 1957. (Signe; 5). Directed by Joaquim Molas<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Foix-8-3035\"
Greene, Graham. La sala d\u2019estar<\/em>. Barcelona: Joaquim Horta, 1962. (Quaderns de Teatre ADB ; 10-11). Directed by Joaquim Horta, from no. 3 onwards<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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He achieved the financial independence that would finally allow him to marry Isabel Mirete and break away from his father\u2019s law firm for good in 1956\u201357, thanks to a former university classmate, Joan de D\u00e9u Trias de Bes, who offered him the directorship of a legal publishing house, <\/span>Praxis<\/b>, which was to focus on updating legal reference works, following the model of a French publisher of the same name, with funding provided by Ramon Guardans.<\/span> <\/p>

However, he would acquire his true training as a publisher by serving\u2014between 1955 and 1967\u2014on the <\/span>editorial board of Seix Barral<\/b>. Following the model of publishers like Einaudi and Gallimard, Carlos Barral organized an editorial board for a publishing house that was beginning to publish two series that played a key role in transforming the literary tastes of the era: Biblioteca Breve (1954) and Biblioteca Formentor (1960).<\/span><\/p>

The editorial board consisted of Carlos Barral, Joan Petit (the publishing house\u2019s literary director), Jos\u00e9 M. Valverde, Antoni Vilanova, Margarita Fontser\u00e8, Gabriel Ferrater, Jaime Gil de Biedma and Josep M. Castellet.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"UGF-4-C238-23\"
Meeting of the Seix Barral editorial board, in the absence of Gabriel Ferrater, 1960. Josep M. Castellet, Jos\u00e9 M. Valverde, Joan Petit, Carlos Barral and V\u00edctor Seix. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"UGF-4-C239-1-2\"
Josep M. Castellet speaking at the 10th Biblioteca Breve Prize ceremony, with Joan Vinyoli, Juan Garc\u00eda Hortelano, Gabriel Garc\u00eda M\u00e1rquez and, behind on the right, Carlos Barral and Mario Vargas Llosa. Barcelona, March 1970 <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Goytisolo, Luis. Las afueras<\/em>. Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1958. (Biblioteca Breve)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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Garc\u00eda Hortelano, Juan. Tormenta de verano. Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1962. (Biblioteca Formentor), <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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The literary director of Edicions 62<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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When Max Cahner and Ramon Bastardas founded Edicions 62 in 1962, they asked the controversial anthologist for a work on Catalan poetry equivalent to his <\/span>Veinte a\u00f1os de poes\u00eda espa\u00f1ola<\/span><\/i> (1959). Castellet could not undertake the project alone, as his knowledge of the subject was insufficient for such an ambitious venture. His previous approaches to Catalan literature had been primarily sociological; he had not yet analysed specific authors and texts. It was then that he sought the collaboration of Joaquim Molas; together, in 1963, they published <\/span>Poesia catalana del segle XX<\/span><\/i>, a work that became the definitive text for critics aligned with the realist movement. And Castellet, this time accompanied by Molas, found himself once again at the centre of controversy.<\/span> <\/p>

This initial collaboration with Edicions 62 culminated in 1964 when Cahner, drawn to Castellet\u2019s profile due to his ties to the cosmopolitanism of Seix Barral and the Formentor Prizes, offered him the role of literary director at the fledgling publishing house, which at that time had released no more than twenty titles. Castellet was embarking on an adventure that he found far more interesting and appealing than the security offered by Praxis, the legal publishing firm where he had earned his living until then. It was certainly a complicated undertaking, too: in late 1969, the management of the Gran Enciclop\u00e8dia Catalana, Edicions 62\u2019s flagship project, triggered the company\u2019s first major financial crisis, which was resolved through a complete separation of the Enciclop\u00e8dia from the publishing house. Castellet and Bastardas remained at Edicions 62, where they had to tackle the company\u2019s recovery through a vital reorientation of the catalogue necessitated by the new economic situation. <\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Edicions 62. Mil llibres en catal\u00e0<\/em>. Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1979. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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Vint-i-cinc anys (1962-1987)<\/em>. Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1987. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Iconic collections from the early catalogue<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\"Foi-8-3528\"
Llibres a l\u2019abast (the general-interest and most accessible collection, origin of the company)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"2008-8-7148\"
El balanc\u00ed (contemporary world fiction)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"80.41=49.9
El trapezi (young adult fiction)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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La cua de palla (crime fiction, directed by Manuel de Pedrolo)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Foi-8-3832\"
Estudis i documents (a scholarly collection devoted mainly to the history of the Catalan Countries)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"2008-8-2031\"
Biblioteca B\u00e0sica de Cultura Contempor\u00e0nia (international philosophical and scientific thought, 25 volumes between 1966 and 1967)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Foi-8-179\"
Hist\u00f2ria Social de la Cultura (Arnold Hauser, John D. Bernal, Bertrand Russell)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Reorienting the catalogue<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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While Castellet had previously been a salaried literary director, in this second phase he would become a business-minded publisher. He undertook a major reorientation of the editorial strategy: on one hand, he had to slow the pace of the most prolific series (Antologia Catalana, El Balanc\u00ed, Llibres a l\u2019Abast), halving the number of titles published annually, and scale back world literature in favour of publishing almost exclusively Catalan authors. On the other, he radically overhauled the catalogue, discontinuing several series and introducing others along two concurrent lines: bookstore sales and instalment-plan sales. In the bookstore market, the focus shifted to low-cost books; meanwhile, a new editorial line was launched in 1973: illustrated books. Although they required a much larger investment, these large-format, high-priced volumes opened up a crucial new sales channel for the company: instalment-plan sales. <\/span><\/p>

With Joaquim Sabri\u00e0 taking charge of the commercial division, this line received a major boost, leading to the creation and production of works such as <\/span>Hist\u00f2ria de l\u2019art catal\u00e0<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Hist\u00f2ria de Catalunya or Hist\u00f2ria de la cultura catalana.<\/span><\/i><\/p>

Finally, Edicions 62 found itself in an ideal position to launch the ambitious Les Millors Obres de la Literatura Catalana (MOLC) collection, a long-standing project of Joaquim Molas\u2019s that, until then, no one had felt ready to undertake: a finite series of one hundred titles, released at a rate of one volume per month, offering a comprehensive overview of the Catalan literary tradition, effectively a canon. <\/span><\/p>

Within a few years, Castellet and Bastardas succeeded in relaunching the publishing house, maintaining the vision with which it had been founded: to address the fundamental gaps in the Catalan publishing market and to align with a European, cosmopolitan publishing model by creating a multidisciplinary catalogue that embraced all fields of culture and every format of the book. By the time Castellet retired as literary director in 1996, the catalogue had reached 3,500 titles. His connection to the company continued through his role as chairman, starting in 1999, of the new Grup 62. <\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"2014-8-7009\"
Escorp\u00ed\/Poesia<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"2011-8-2521\"
Escorp\u00ed\/Teatre (directed by Xavier F\u00e0bregas)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"2007-8-18071\"
El cangur (the first pocket-book series in the Catalan publishing market)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"2005-Fol-2709\"
Hist\u00f2ria gr\u00e0fica de la Catalunya contempor\u00e0nia<\/em> by Edmon Vall\u00e8s<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"2006-Fol-264\"
Hist\u00f2ria gr\u00e0fica de Catalunya dia a dia<\/em> (coordinated by Marisa Trigo)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"R7\"
Hist\u00f2ria de l\u2019art catal\u00e0<\/em> (coordinated by Francesc Miralles)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"2009-8-20791\"
Hist\u00f2ria de Catalunya<\/em> (directed by Pierre Vilar and coordinated by Josep Termes)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"2019-4-731\"
Hist\u00f2ria de la cultura catalana<\/em> (directed by Pere Gabriel)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"2008-8-9784\"
MOLC (directed by Joaquim Molas)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Tru-8-336\"
Biografies i mem\u00f2ries (Castellet\u2019s most personal collection)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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