The Book Trade Expansion: Books and Publishers in Sweden, 1945–1970

The post-war years were a time of expansion in Swedish publishing. The economy was growing, people became better educated, the rise of a large middle-class meant new costumers, new publishing and sales strategies added to the increasing market, and overall there was higher sales, more titles published and more people reading. Despite the success story there has been hardly any research done on the overall publishing structures of the period and the proposed article is an attempt to map ‘who did what’ in publishing. Four main aspects are considered in the article: published titles (statistics, translations, genres), material aspects (publishing formats, the importance of the paperback), the publishing houses (general structures, the position and strategies of the Publisher’s Association), and the market (very briefly on the relation to readers, sales, book trade etc.).

The article argues that the 25 years after the war were a golden age in Swedish publishing, a short phase, which is still regarded today as emblematic for the ‘good’ trade.