History

PHOTOGLOB YESTERDAY AND NOW

Photoglob AG was founded in 1889 by the then Art. Institut Orell Füssli for the international sale and distribution of photochrom pictures. It still remains in the hands of Orell Füssli Holding AG. Photochrom is a printing technique that uses litho stones to produce colour prints from black and white photos. The market for this technology took a nosedive during the First World War and the company focused instead on the business of producing picture postcards and images of Switzerland. Between the wars it merged with “Gebrüder Wehrli”, making Photoglob Switzerland’s largest producer of postcards. Photoglob AG’s aim of becoming the exclusive partner for postcards from all parts of the country was secured in 1999, when it merged with the publishing house of Rud. Suter AG, Oberrieden and Foto Geiger, Flims, as well as various publishing companies and cooperation partners.

The Photoglob publishing programme is wide ranging. Alongside its many tourist image products Photoglob AG also produces the familiar Orell Füssli city maps and geographical maps of the Edition MPA. They also offer cartography products from Michelin, the Paris-based travel publishing house. International travel guides from Travel House Media (Merian), Michelin, ADAC, Iwanowski and JPM are sold throughout Switzerland in various languages, both in bookshops and in Switzerland’s secondary markets. The travel and city guides produced in the company’s own publishing house complete the range.

The picture postcard sector produces the many images of mountains, scenery and city sights, which are primarily sold to tourists, as well as flower, animal, humorous, poster and self-adhesive cards. It has more than 20,000 contemporary postcard subjects from all over Switzerland. In terms of everyday communication requirements, whether in the form of postcards or folded cards, Photoglob AG has a great many successful card series, such as Kultura, SwissToch, SchreibLust, Cartolini. This range is completed by photograph albums, photo books, calendars, souvenir books and a wide range of other items for the tourist industry.

Photoglob AG also offers various children’s books from the Orell Füssli publishing house, walking guides from Rother Bergverlag and the publishers AT, AS and Terra Grischuna, plus the products of the Montabella publishing house in St. Moritz. Photoglob AG also provides a sales service for the Schwarzwälder Kalenderverlag (SKV) and the „Kalenderverlag“.

By using its own and external photographers, Photoglob AG strives to keep its image portfolio fully up to date at all times. The permanent topicality of the publishing products requires very high standards, which is what distinguishes these products. The company has modern pre-press methods and can therefore offer professional solutions at a reasonable price for publishing and advertising products. The experienced office staff follow the production through and respond to customer demands.

Since 2006 the warehousing and delivery has been in the hands of the logistics company Balmer-Bücherdienst, although the book products can also be ordered from the distribution centres of the Schweizerischen Buchzentrum and the Office du livre.

The sales force is divided up into regions, with representatives also in the bookshop trade and in the PBS/gift shop sector.