De Harmonie is a Dutch publishing company best known today as the publisher of the

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

series of books since the 1990s, though their largest success didn't come until the 2000s and since 14 February 2008 they are located on

Herengracht The Herengracht () is the second of four Amsterdam canals belonging to the canal belt and lies between the Singel and the Keizersgracht. The Gouden Bocht (Golden Bend) in particular is known for its large and beautiful canal houses. History Th ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. The company was founded in 1972 by Jaco Groot and his wife Elisabeth, and publishes 30-40 new titles per year, mostly visually-oriented material such as illustrated children's books, comics and art books, but also poetry and prose. Choices whom to publish are still made by the founders, though from an attic room on the

Singel The Singel is one of the canals of Amsterdam. The Singel encircled Amsterdam in the Middle Ages, serving as a moat around the city until 1585, when Amsterdam expanded beyond the Singel. The canal runs from the IJ (Amsterdam), IJ bay, near the ...

they have come a long way since Harry Potter. Other authors besides

J.K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( "rolling"; born 31 July 1965), also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume children's fantasy series published from 1997 to 2007. The ser ...

whose works they have published are

Wim de Bie Willem Philippe "Wim" de Bie (; born 17 May 1939) is a Dutch comedian, writer and singer. He formed the comedy duo Van Kooten en De Bie with Kees van Kooten. G.J. van Bork,Bie, Wim de, ''Schrijvers en dichters'', 2002. Retrieved on 17 December ...

, Jan Blokker,

Hugo Brandt Corstius Hugo Brandt Corstius (29 August 1935 – 28 February 2014) was a Dutch author, known for his achievements in both literature and science. In 1970, he was awarded a PhD on the subject of computational linguistics. He was employed at the Mathemat ...

Arjan Ederveen Arjan Ederveen Janssen (born 9 September 1956) is a Dutch actor, comedian, TV scriptwriter and TV director. He participated in the TV series '' Theo en Thea'', '' Kreatief met Kurk'' and '' 30 minuten'' and played in the musicals ''Hairspray'' a ...

Karel Eykman Karel Eykman (1 March 1936 – 30 August 2022) was a Dutch writer of children's literature. Early life Eykman started studying theology in 1956. Career In 1969, Eykman published his first book ''De werksters van half vijf en andere gelij ...

Jonas Geirnaert Jonas Geirnaert (born July 28, 1982) studied animation at the KASK in Ghent. In May 2004 he won the Short Film Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival with his animated short ''Flatlife'' (11 min). Of the copy he sent in for selection only the fir ...

Elma van Haren Elma van Haren (born 29 August 1954) is a Dutch poet. Career In 1988, she made her debut as poet with ''Reis naar het welkom geheten''. She won the very first C. Buddingh'-prijs for this collection of poems. She went on to publish various p ...

Elke Heidenreich Elke Heidenreich (née Riegert; born 15 February 1943) is a German author, TV presenter, literary critic and journalist. She has written audio plays, a magazine column, scripts for television plays and books. Heidenreich is known as the ''Kabarett ...

Willem Frederik Hermans Willem Frederik Hermans (1 September 1921 – 27 April 1995) was a Dutch author of poetry, novels, short stories, plays, as well as book-length studies, essays, and literary criticism. His most famous works are ''The House of Refuge'' (novella, ...

Judith Herzberg Judith Frieda Lina Herzberg (born 4 November 1934) is a Dutch poet and writer. Life and work Judith Herzberg is the daughter of lawyer and writer Abel Herzberg. During World War II Herzberg went into hiding on various locations. Since 1983 Herz ...

Isol Marisol Misenta (born 6 March 1972), known professionally under the mononym Isol, is an Argentine creator of children's picture books and a pop singer. For her career contribution to "children's and young adult literature in the broadest sense" ...

Freek de Jonge Frederik "Freek" Jan Georg de Jonge (born 30 August 1944) is a Dutch cabaret performer and writer. Biography Early life and career De Jonge was born in Westernieland as son of a pastor. His family moved to Workum, and later to Zaandam and G ...

Kamagurka Luc Zeebroek (born 5 May 1956), better known as Kamagurka, is a Belgian cartoonist, playwright, comic strip artist, painter, comedian, comedic singer and television producer, known for the absurd nature of his work. He created various comic st ...

Hanco Kolk Hanco Kolk (born 11 March 1957, Den Helder) is a Dutch cartoonist and comics artist. He is best known for his collaborations with Peter de Wit, with who he made '' Gilles de Geus'' and ''S1NGLE' Kolk married author Isabelle Rosselin in 2016. Bi ...

Kees van Kooten Cornelis Reinier "Kees" van Kooten () (born 10 August 1941) is a Dutch comedian, television actor, and writer. He formed the duo Van Kooten & De Bie with Wim de Bie from 1972 to 1998. Biography Cornelis Reinier van Kooten was born on 10 Augus ...

Kim van Kooten Kim van Kooten (born 26 January 1974 in Purmerend, North Holland) is a Dutch actress and screenwriter. In international cinema, she is best known for the 2003 Dutch/US co-production ''Phileine Says Sorry'', filmed partly in New York City, in wh ...

Gerrit Kouwenaar Gerrit Kouwenaar (9 August 1923 – 4 September 2014) was a Dutch journalist, translator, poet and prose writer. Biography Kouwenaar was born in Amsterdam, North Holland. In the early 1940s, during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, he w ...

Jhumpa Lahiri Nilanjana Sudeshna "Jhumpa" LahiriMinzesheimer, Bob ''USA Today'', August 19, 2003. Retrieved on 2008-04-13. (born July 11, 1967) is an American author known for her short stories, novels and essays in English, and, more recently, in Italia ...

David Leavitt David Leavitt (; born June 23, 1961) is an American novelist, short story writer, and biographer. Biography Leavitt was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Harold and Gloria Leavitt. Harold was a professor who taught at Stanford University and G ...

Nicolaas Matsier Nicolaas Matsier (born Krommenie, 25 May 1945) is a Dutch novelist. Nicolaas Matsier is a pseudonym of Tjit Reinsma. Prizes * 1987: Zilveren Griffel for ''Ida stak een zebra over''. * 1995: Ferdinand Bordewijk Prize for his novel '' Gesloten hui ...

Colum McCann Colum McCann is an Irish writer of literary fiction. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, and now lives in New York. He is a Thomas Hunter Writer in Residence at Hunter College, New York. McCann's work has been published in over 40 languages, and ...

Ian McEwan Ian Russell McEwan, (born 21 June 1948) is an English novelist and screenwriter. In 2008, ''The Times'' featured him on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked him number 19 in its list of th ...

Rebecca Miller Rebecca Augusta Miller, Lady Day-Lewis (born September 15, 1962) is an American filmmaker and novelist. She is known for her films '' Angela'', '' Personal Velocity: Three Portraits'', ''The Ballad of Jack and Rose'', ''The Private Lives of Pipp ...

Joshua Mowll Joshua Mowll (born 1970) is a British writer of children’s fiction. His award-winning '' The Guild of Specialists trilogy'' has been published in 20 countries worldwide. Mowll's book ''The Great Space Race'' was published in the UK on 2 Augu ...

Carel Peeters Carel Peeters (born 5 June 1944, in Nijmegen) is one of the leading Dutch literary critics and since 1973 a writer and editor at ''Vrij Nederland''. Peeters grew up in Nijmegen but moved, with his parents, to Amsterdam at age 14. In 1964 he enrolle ...

Daniel Pennac Daniel Pennac (real name Daniel Pennacchioni, born 1 December 1944 in Casablanca, Morocco) is a French writer. He received the Prix Renaudot in 2007 for his essay '' Chagrin d'école''. Daniel Pennacchioni is the fourth and last son of a Cors ...

Ethel Portnoy Ethel Portnoy (March 8, 1927 – May 25, 2004) was a Dutch writer of prose, who wrote essays, columns, short stories, travel stories and several novels. Biography Ethel Portnoy was born in Philadelphia but grew up in the Bronx in New York City ...

Frederick Reiken Frederick Reiken (born 1966) is an American author from Livingston, New Jersey He has published three novels to critical acclaim, and he teaches creative writing at Emerson College. Early life and education Reiken was born in New Jersey in 19 ...

Keith Ridgway Keith Ridgway (born 2 October 1965) is an Irish novelist. An author, he has been described as "a worthy inheritor" of "the modernist tradition in Irish fiction." Writings ''Horses'', Ridgway's first published work of fiction, appeared in ''Faber ...

Jess Row Jess Row (born 1974 in Washington, D.C.) is an American short story writer, novelist, and professor. Early life He received a B.A. in English from Yale University in 1997. He later taught English in Hong Kong for two years. He completed his Mas ...

Wim T. Schippers Willem Theodoor "Wim T." Schippers (; born 1 July 1942) is a Dutch artist, comedian, television director, and voice actor. During the 1960s, he worked mostly as a visual artist, associated with the international Fluxus-movement. As a television w ...

Herr Seele Herr Seele, the pseudonym of Peter Van Heirseele (Torhout, Belgium, 13 April 1959), is a Flemish cartoonist, author, actor, piano tuner and piano collector. He is mainly known for the absurd humor comic strip ''Cowboy Henk'', for which his col ...

Tom Sharpe Thomas Ridley Sharpe (30 March 1928 – 6 June 2013) was an English satirical novelist, best known for his '' Wilt'' series, as well as ''Porterhouse Blue'' and ''Blott on the Landscape,'' all three of which were adapted for television. Life ...

Posy Simmonds Rosemary Elizabeth "Posy" Simmonds MBE, FRSL (born 9 August 1945) is a British newspaper cartoonist, and writer and illustrator of both children's books and graphic novels. She is best known for her long association with ''The Guardian'', for wh ...

Matthew Skelton ''Endymion Spring'' is a children's fantasy novel by English Canadian author Matthew Skelton. It was first published in 2006. Origins and publishing history At some point during the drafting of his Ph.D., the character that would later become ...

Ronald Snijders Ronald Snijders (born April 8, 1951) is a Dutch jazz musician and author of Surinamese origin. The flute is his main instrument. Biography Snijders was born in Paramaribo as son of Surinamese composer Eddy Snijder. He began learning the flute ...

Art Spiegelman Art Spiegelman (; born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman on February 15, 1948) is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel ''Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines ''Arcade (comics maga ...

Peter van Straaten Peter van Straaten (25 March 1935 – 8 December 2016) was a Dutch cartoonist and comics artist. He is best known for his political cartoons as well as his satirical observations of everyday people. He also had a newspaper comic strip '' Vader ...

Joost Swarte Joost Swarte (born 24 December 1947 in Heemstede) is a Dutch cartoonist and graphic designer. He is best known for his ligne claire or ''clear line'' style of drawing, a term he coined. Comic series and characters by Swarte include ''Katoen en ...

Jacques Tardi Jacques Tardi (; born 30 August 1946) is a French comic artist. He is often credited solely as Tardi. Biography Tardi was born on 30 August 1946 in Valence, Drôme. After graduating from the École nationale des beaux-arts de Lyon and the Éco ...

Stefan Themerson Stefan Themerson (25 January 1910 – 6 September 1988) was a Polish writer of children's literature, poet and inventor of Semantic Poetry, novelist, script writer filmmaker, composer and philosopher. He wrote in at least three languages. With ...

Franciszka Themerson Franciszka Themerson (28 June 1907 - 29 June 1988) was a Polish, later British, painter, illustrator, filmmaker and stage designer. Biography Themerson was born in Warsaw in 1907, the daughter of the artist Jakub Weinles and pianist Łucja ( n� ...

, Oyvind Torseter,

Henny Vrienten Henny Vrienten (27 July 1948 – 25 April 2022) was a Dutch musician best known as the singer and bassist of the popular 1980s ska pop band Doe Maar. He also composed television and film scores. Biography Early days Vrienten began his career ...

Elly de Waard Elly de Waard (born September 8, 1940) is a Dutch poet. She was born in Bergen and was educated at the Murmellius Gymnasium and the University of Amsterdam. From 1965 to 1984, she was a rock music critic for the Dutch daily newspaper ''de Volkskr ...

Wallace & Gromit ''Wallace & Gromit'' is a British stop-motion comedy media franchise, franchise created by Nick Park of Aardman Animations. The series consists of four short films and one feature-length film, and has spawned numerous spin-offs and TV adaptation ...

, Ursus Wehrli,

Micha Wertheim Micha Wertheim (; born 1972) is a Dutch stand-up comedian and satirist. He has also the author of three children's books. Career After finishing his MA in Cultural Sciences Micha Wertheim moved to Amsterdam and started working as a freelance rad ...

, and

Peter de Wit Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

. The name of the company, which is a Dutch term for a marching band, resulted from an open naming contest in the Dutch paper

Vrij Nederland ''Vrij Nederland'' (Free Netherlands) is a Dutch magazine, established during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II as an underground newspaper. It has since grown into a magazine. The originally weekly and now monthly magaz ...

and the poet

Remco Campert Remco Campert (28 July 1929 – 4 July 2022) was a Dutch author, poet and columnist. Early years Remco Wouter Campert was born in The Hague, son of writer and poet Jan Campert, author of the poem ''De achttien dooden'', and actress Joekie Bro ...

won with his suggestion. Ever since he has received yearly a copy of all the books that the company produces. Campert's works are published by their literary competitor

De Bezige Bij De Bezige Bij ("the busy bee") is one of the most important literary publishing companies in the Netherlands. History The company was founded illegally in 1943, during the German occupation of the Netherlands by ; its first publication was a poem ...

, which became part of the Weekbladpersgroep in 1997. Other Amsterdam-based competitors

De Arbeiderspers De Arbeiderspers is a Dutch publishing company, started as a socialist enterprise. The name means 'The Workers' Press'. History The company was started in 1929 as a combination of the publishing firm N.V. Ontwikkeling and the Dutch Social Dem ...

and

Querido Emanuel Querido (6 August 1871 – 23 July 1943) was a successful Dutch publisher as the founder and owner of N.V. Em. Querido Uitgeversmaatschappij, which published Dutch titles, and of , which published titles of German writers in exile from N ...

have also become part of this larger publishing conglomerate. De Harmonie managed to stay afloat as an independent publisher during the 1990s mostly because they had only expanded their small staff from 2 to 4 over the years, and have experimented early with new media such as cd-roms and internet media.22 November 2003 Dutch article ''Uitgever Potter is stille speurneus'' in ''

Algemeen Dagblad The ''Algemeen Dagblad'' () or ''AD'' () (English: "General Daily Paper") is a Dutch daily newspaper based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. History and profile ''Algemeen Dagblad'' was founded in 1946. The paper is published in tabloid format and is ...

'' They maintain the Dutch Harry Potter website and the online archive of

Gaberbocchus Press The Gaberbocchus Press was a London publishing house founded in 1948 by the artist couple Stefan and Franciszka Themerson. Alongside the Themersons, the other directors of the Press were the translator Barbara Wright and the artist Gwen Barnard ...

References

Official websiteGaberboccus
website
Harry Potter
website
22 November 2003 Dutch article ''Uitgever Potter is stille speurneus''
in

Publishing companies established in 1972 Book publishing companies of the Netherlands Literary publishing companies Mass media in Amsterdam 1972 establishments in the Netherlands {{publishing-company-stub