The Éditions Philippe Picquier are a

publishing house Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

created in 1986 and specialized in the publication of books coming from

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

, that is translated books which coming from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

History

Its creator, Philippe Picquier, founded his own publishing company despite not knowing any Asian language. He currently still serves as the company's CEO. He decided to venture into the publishing industry after a chance meeting: " publishing is like life, everything is question of meetings ..and a real publishing house, that is that : a permanent meeting place. " Choosing originally on Chinese literature and

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, he widened his literary horizon field in

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

then, with the idea that "

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

is huge enough so that we take care only of it." On the other hand, the house doesn’t stick to a specific domain, proposing at once

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

human sciences Human science (or human sciences in the plural), also known as humanistic social science and moral science (or moral sciences), studies the philosophical, biological, social, and cultural aspects of human life. Human science aims to expand our ...

essays An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

, beautiful books..., because it is in question for the publisher “to create links between the genres ". It is addressed at a time to an adult public, and to a younger public made up of teenagers and children. The Éditions Philipe Picquier is distributed in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Harmonia Mundi Harmonia Mundi is an independent record label which specializes in classical music, jazz, and world music (on the World Village label). It was founded in France in 1958 and is now a subsidiary of PIAS Entertainment Group. Its Latin name ''ha ...

which sells especially their works in the sale agency

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. They also have branches in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and accordingly have some international presence. Located in

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...

, the company employs nine staff members and holds a financial asset of €9000. The publisher shares his premises with his distributor

. Since 1993, following money troubles of the house,

holds 60% of the house parts, while leaving at the disposal of Philippe Picquier a part of its general services. The magazine Livre Hebdo classified it in October in 122nd position in the ranking of two hundred first ones

publishers Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

of France.Livre hebdo n°836 du vendredi 8 octobre 2010, article « les 200 premiers éditeurs français » It shows that in around thirty years the house knew to grow on slowly and make it a name in the

publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

world.

Catalog

Philippe Picquier accepts all the genres if they are relative at

. The house proposes from now on about 1210 titles in catalog, on account of 50 titles by year. The backlist contains more than 350 works in paperback. Whether it is at the youth backlist, or at the adult backlist, the Éditions Philippe Picquier care a lot at its book covers. The iconographic search is made by one famous

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

, Dominique Picquier, the sister of Philippe Picquier. Her book covers guarantee a catalog coherence, and give meaning to the editorial policy. The images are always relative at

, oscillating between

modernity Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissancein the " ...

and antiquity. According to the works, book covers illustrate them of Japanese or Chinese embossements, of photos more recent putting in scene persons of Asian origin. ''Adult Domain'' Adult collections is based on a department dedicated to

proposing works of

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

ethnological Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). ...

, dealing with the

sociological Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation and ...

news. They offer in particular studies of the life, of the behavior and of the civilization of these countries. In another domain, beautiful books are also present, to art books such as

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

and

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

at cookbooks. Among graphic arts, the house proposes from now on

comic strips A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...

and

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

. Through the essays, the writers try to study literature, art, the Asian thought, and their history to offer to the reader the aesthetics of the thought, of the philosophy and of the

Asian culture The culture of Asia encompasses the collective and diverse customs and traditions of art, architecture, music, literature, lifestyle, philosophy, politics and religion that have been practiced and maintained by the numerous ethnic groups ...

. At the literature level, the house catalog offers to the reader a huge choice, novels (literary or popular), crime novels, historical novel ... The Éditions Philippe Picquier also developed a domain dedicated to eroticism, strongly illustrated and informed in a collection named " Du pavillon des corps curieux ". They also leave a beautiful part to tales, often relative to classics, as well as short story of all kinds: fantasy, eroticism, crime writing and ... poetry. Through biographies and testimonies, they are all the strong personalities of writers who express themselves, going to certain countries like China at a certain shape of liberation of the censorship. ''Youth Domain'' In 2003, the Éditions Philippe Picquier creates a youth catalog named "Picquier Jeunesse". “Tales, poetry, illustrated book, childhood and teen narratives, at youngs to the teenagers, to laugh or think, to question or have fun, they also show the reader and culture vitality. Here is thus a new collection of books to pass through the borders to the children and to discover

with new eyes.” So, the house enlarges it readership proposing illustrated books, novels and saga in several volumes for the olders. It is a question for the house of reach the most possible domains so as to give at the reader the best overview of Asian culture.

Authors

The Éditions Philippe Picquier works with a whole series of diverse origins: Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, Japanese like

Edogawa Ranpo , better known by the pen name was a Japanese author and critic who played a major role in the development of Japanese mystery and thriller fiction. Many of his novels involve the detective hero Kogoro Akechi, who in later books was the le ...

and

Seichō Matsumoto was a Japanese writer, credited with popularizing detective fiction in Japan. Matsumoto's works broke new ground by incorporating elements of human psychology and ordinary life. His works often reflect a wider social context and postwar nihil ...

, Indians, Koreans, Indonesians reflecting the Asian cultural diversity that the house tries to make known.

Publications

Among the works published by Editions Philippe Picquier are ''Memoirs of a Geisha'' by Yuki Inoue, ''Memoirs of a Eunuch in the Forbidden City'' by Dan Shi, and ''

Coin Locker Babies , 1980, is a novel by Ryū Murakami about coin-operated-locker babies, translated into English by Stephen Snyder. The translation was published in 1995 by Kodansha (講談社 Kōdansha) International Ltd and republished in 2013 by Pushkin Press ...

'' by

Ryū Murakami is a Japanese novelist, short story writer, essayist, and filmmaker. His novels explore human nature through themes of disillusionment, drug use, surrealism, murder, and war, set against the dark backdrop of Japan. His best known novels are ''Al ...

. Each of these titles had editions of more than 40,000 copies.

Notes

References

Article sur les éditions Philippe Picquier

Rencontre avec Philippe Picquier

External links

Le site officiel des éditions Philippe Picquier
{{Authority control Book publishing companies of France