About

We are one of the most important specialist publishers of contemporary philosophy in the German-speaking world and focus on publishing books in the fields of phenomenology, philosophy of religion and practical philosophy. In addition to more than 40 series, we also carry “Philosophisches Jahrbuch”, one of the oldest philosophical journals, in our portfolio and aim to expand our academic programme in the coming years.

History of the publishing house

1910 to 1950

Karl Alber, owner of the Dorn’sche bookshop in Ravensburg, founds the Bodenseeverlag Karl Alber in 1910 and initially publishes art prints, etchings, travel books and postcards. In 1939, after Karl Alber’s death, the Herder publishing house in Freiburg i. Br. took over the company shell of the publishing house in order to publish its profane literature there, which the confessional publishing house was prevented from doing by the legislation of the National Socialists. In 1939, the Karl Alber publishing house establishes a branch in Munich and begins publishing fiction. After the Second World War, under the direction of Johannes Harling, the publishing house specialises in fine arts and scientific literature. One of the first books published is “Der SS-Staat” by Eugen Kogon in 1946. The fiction programme includes works by Werner Bergengruen, Alfred Döblin and Reinhold Schneider.

1950 to 1969

In 1950, Alber began to specialise in the humanities with a strong historical focus, as evidenced by the “Orbis academicus” series and the “Saeculum” yearbook. The Görres Society entrusts Alber with the “Historisches Jahrbuch” in 1951 (in its 70th year, published by Herder since 2018) and the “Philosophisches Jahrbuch” in 1953 (in its 62nd year). From 1958 the series “Symposion” appears; the authors of the first volumes are Michael Theunissen, Ernst Tugendhat, Karlfried Gründer and Odo Marquard.

1969 to 1994

From 1969 to 1994, the publishing house Karl Alber develops into one of the leading publishers of contemporary philosophy under the direction of Meinolf Wewel. Under Wewel, various philosophical series are founded, of which the orange “Alber-Reihe Philosophie”, “Fermenta philosophica”, and “Praktische Philosophie” are particularly noteworthy. The publishing programme focuses on contemporary philosophy, the history of philosophy and phenomenology.

2002 to 2020

After a one-year vacancy in the publishing management, the publishing house will continue with a new team under the leadership of Lukas Trabert. The existing publishing programme will be expanded. Further yearbooks (“Heidegger-Jahrbuch”, “Rosenzweig-Jahrbuch”, “Jahrbuch für Religionsphilosophie”, “psycho-logik”, “Schelling-Studien”, “Jahrbuch Praktische Philosophie in globaler Perspektive” as well as “falsafa. Jahrbuch für islamische Religionsphilosophie”) are added, as well as a large number of newly founded series, such as “Angewandte Ethik”, “Ethik in den Biowissenschaften”, “Lebenswissenschaften im Dialog”, “Neue Phänomenologie”, “Scientia & Religio”, “Seele, Existenz und Leben”, “Beiträge zur Schelling-Forschung”, “Welten der Philosophie”, “Musikphilosophie”, “Kulturphilosophie”, “Whitehead Studien”, etc. Alber also publishes the Festschrift der Freiburger Universität, the complete edition of Eugen Fink and the Martin-Heidegger-Briefausgabe. Important authors of the publishing house are, among many others, Bernhard Casper, Rolf Elberfeld, Michel Henry, Markus Gabriel, Ute Guzzoni, Emmanuel Lévinas, Burkhard Liebsch, Jean-Luc Marion, Rainer Marten, Reinhard Mehring, Ryôsuke Ohashi, Paul Ricoeur, Otto Pöggeler, Heinrich Rombach, Richard Schaeffler and Hermann Schmitz.

2021 till now

Since 2021, Verlag Karl Alber has been modernising not only its programme, but also its digital product range. Since 1.1.2022, Verlag Alber has belonged to Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH und Co. KG Baden-Baden.

Verlag Karl Alber

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Phone: +49 (0) 7221 2104-0

Email: info@verlag-alber.de

Address

Verlag Karl Alber

Waldseestraße 3-5
76530 Baden-Baden