TAN Books is a

traditionalist Catholic Traditionalist Catholicism is the set of beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions, and presentations of Catholic teaching that existed in the Catholic Church before the liberal reforms of the Second Vatican Council ( ...

American book distributor and publisher.

History

TAN Books was founded in 1967, as "TAN Books and Publishers," in

Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, located in the far northern part of the state. Situated on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County) ...

by Thomas A. Nelson (not to be confused with the founder of the Bible-publishing firm Thomas Nelson) to keep in print books teaching the traditional Catholic faith in the wake of the upheaval in the Church that followed the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...

. TAN was subsequently acquired by Saint Benedict Press in 2008.

Criticism and legal troubles

''Baronius Press, Ltd. v. Saint Benedict Press, LLC'' (2016–2019)

1st Complaint ''(filed 2016)'' On September 29, 2016,

Baronius Press Baronius Press is a traditional Catholic book publisher. It was founded in London, in 2002 by former St Austin Press editor Ashley Paver and other young Catholics who had previously worked in publishing and printing. The press takes its name from ...

, a British publisher of traditional Catholic books, filed a civil

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil acti ...

against TAN Books and Saint Benedict Press. The lawsuit alleged that TAN had violated Baronius's ownership of the copyright for the English translation of Ludwig Ott's ''Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma'' (''Grundriß der katholischen Dogmatik'' in the original German).

purchased the exclusive rights to the English translation from the original copyright holders in 2009, and obtained an exclusive license with the underlying owner of the German original in 2011. The English translation of ''Fundamentals'' had been in the public domain in the United States since its initial publication in 1954, as U.S. copyright law did not provide automatic copyright protection to works initially published in foreign countries (the English translation of ''Fundamentals'' was originally published in Ireland).

Imprints

* TAN Books: Publishes reprints of classic Catholic works on theology, Scripture, traditional devotions, the

Tridentine Mass The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Traditional Latin Mass or Traditional Rite, is the liturgy of Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church that appears in typical editions of the Roman Missal published from 1570 to 1962. Celebrated almo ...

, and lives of the saints, as well as new titles on these subjects by contemporary authors and a line of newly-typeset

Douay–Rheims Bible The Douay–Rheims Bible (, ), also known as the Douay–Rheims Version, Rheims–Douai Bible or Douai Bible, and abbreviated as D–R, DRB, and DRV, is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English made by memb ...

s (co-branded with Saint Benedict Press). In addition, the former "Saint Benedict Press Classics" series is now marketed under the "TAN Classics" moniker. TAN has also, in recent years, published resources aimed toward Catholic

homeschooling Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onl ...

families; the company has also released a line of

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in s ...

s for some of its new and classic titles. * Confraternity of the Precious Blood: TAN currently serves as the distributor of titles issued by the Confraternity (associated with the

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, beh ...

-based Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood), including ''My Daily Bread'', ''My Imitation of Christ'', ''My Daily Psalm Book'', and ''Christ in the Gospel''. * Neumann Press: Acquired by TAN Books in 2013, Neumann Press republishes classic Catholic children's works, history books, and novels aimed at students from primary to secondary school. * American Chesterton Society: Since May 2015, TAN Books has been the exclusive distributor of works published by the Society, which specializes in contemporary titles written in the tradition of Catholic philosopher

G. K. Chesterton Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, philosopher, Christian apologist, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Of his writing style, '' Time'' observed: " ...

References

External links