Josef Richard Vilímek (14 September 1860 – 6 November 1938) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

publisher. He was owner of the famous publishing house ''J. R. Vilímek''.

Life

Vilímek was born in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. His father,

Josef Richard Vilímek (1835–1911) Josef Richard Vilímek (1 April 1835 in Vamberk – 16 April 1911 in Prague) was a Czech publisher. He established a well known publishing house and was father of publisher Josef Richard Vilímek (1860 - 1938). Vilímek had studied at German te ...

, was the head of the family-owned publishing house ''Josef Richard Vilimek''. Vilímek junior learned the business in his father's firm, as well as periods abroad. In 1885 he took over the firm, and expanded its production to become one of the best-known Czech publishers of the time (together with

Jan Otto Jan Otto (8 November 1841, Přibyslav – 29 May 1916, Prague) was a Czechs, Czech publisher and bookseller. He is best known for ''Otto's encyclopedia'', the largest encyclopedia published in Czech language, Czech. Life and work He was the son ...

and

František Topič František () is a masculine Czech and Slovak given name. It is a cognate of Francis, Francisco, François and Franz. It can be also surname (feminine: Františková). Notable people with the name include: Given name Arts *Frank Daniel (Franti� ...

). Among its most popular titles were novels by

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

(52 books in several editions),

Karl May Karl Friedrich May ( , ; 25 February 1842 – 30 March 1912) was a German author. He is best known for his novels of travels and adventures, set in the American Old West, the Orient, the Middle East, Latin America, China and Germany. He als ...

, and

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...

. In 1891 he became the first publisher in

Czech lands The Czech lands or the Bohemian lands (, ) is a historical-geographical term which denotes the three historical regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia out of which Czechoslovakia, and later the Czech Republic and Slovakia, were formed. ...

using a

rotary printing press A rotary printing press is a printing press in which the images to be printed are curved around a cylinder. Printing can be done on various substrates, including paper, cardboard, and plastic. Substrates can be sheet feed or unwound on a contin ...

. In 1899 a fire destroyed the company's building, but the company survived. In the late 1920s the building and technology were modernized. Starting in the late 1920s, the painter

Zdeněk Burian Zdeněk Michael František Burian (11 February 1905 – 1 July 1981) was a Czech painter, book illustrator and palaeoartist. Burian's artwork played a central role in the development of palaeontological reconstruction and he is regarded as one ...

illustrated many of Vilímek's books. Vilímek died in Prague in 1938, after which Bedřich Fučík managed the company. He continued running the company during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After the Communist takeover in 1948 the company was nationalised, and in 1949 it ceased operation. The building and technology were handed over to a large state publisher ''Knižní velkoobchod''. After the Communist Party fell from power (1989) the now forgotten name ''J. R. Vilímek '' was picked up and misused during a privatisation scandal (known for participation of a Czech politician

Miroslav Macek Miroslav Macek (7 December 1944 – 1 May 2024) was a Czech politician and writer. He served as a deputy prime minister of Czechoslovakia. Life and career Macek was born in Litomyšl, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. In May 2006 Macek made ...

References

*Aleš Zach, ''Stopami pražských nakladatelských domů'', Prague, Thyrsus 1996,

External links

All texts are in

. * *
More detailed biography
(PDF, pages 6–7)
History of the publishing house
(scroll to "Nakladatelství Josef Richard Vilímek" section) {{DEFAULTSORT:Vilimek, Josef Richard 1860 births 1938 deaths Businesspeople from Prague Czech publishers (people) Businesspeople from Austria-Hungary