Steidl

Steidl is a German-language publisher, an international publisher of photobooks, and a printing company, based in Göttingen, Germany.

Overview

The company was started by Gerhard Steidl (b. 1950). Gerhard Steidl's impetus for a career in printing came when, as a teenager, one of his photographs was used in a poster advertising a production of Brecht's Mann ist Mann. The printing company did what the boy thought was a poor job; he suggested printing the sheet twice, the company agreed to do so in order to get rid of him, and his idea worked fairly well.

The company's first book was Befragung der Documenta (1972).

Gerhard Steidl still heads the company and is in charge of the production of every book. He endeavours to follow the preferences of the particular photographer for layout, paper, and binding, and insists on working with paper, because of the importance of the feel of the book and the difference between backlighting and reflected light. Printing, binding and all other work is done within a four-storey house on Düstere Strasse in Göttingen.