Fratelli Fabbri Editori

Fratelli Fabbri Editori is an Italian publishing house founded in 1947 by the brothers Giovanni, Dino and Ettore 'Rino' Fabbri. Today Fabbri forms part of RCS Libri, which in turn is 100% controlled by RCS MediaGroup.

Origins

Coming from a family of small bourgeois merchants Forlivesi, the brothers Fabbri started with little more than a love for art and culture inherited from their father Ottavio Fabbri.

The eldest, Giovanni, just graduated from medical school joined the partisan of the Val d'Ossola. After the war, preferring books to the medical profession, he decided to take up a career of the editor, managing to involve his brothers.

The "Fratelli Fabbri Editori" found immediate success printing text books for schools and, later, became the leading publisher in this area. They took a leap in the quality of printing to publish regular, large classical works such as The Divine Comedy and The Bible. The approval of the public encouraged them, and at the end of the fifties remain in the history of publishing with works such as "Masterpieces in the Centuries" and, particularly, "The Masters of Color." (I Maestri del Colore).

The 1960s

In the 1960s "Fratelli Fabbri Editori" published Conoscere, an illustrated encyclopedia for children that entered the homes of millions of Italians. The encyclopedia was sold in bound volumes, with payment by installments. During those years, the publishing house sold approximately a billion and a half books, published in dozens of countries with translations into 14 languages, including Hindi, Urdu, Afrikaans, Turkish and Bulgarian.

They were also the first Italian publisher to market multimedia products; producing the new series "The Stories of Sound" and "The History of Music, which combines the book and the record, addressing issues unknown at the time. For example, for "The History of Music" in order to fall within the standard packaging industry, they commissioned Philips Records to produce 10 million of the LP Special, of 20 centimeters in diameter.

Towards the end of the sixties, due to the saturation of the market and social unrest, the brothers Dino and Rino sold their shares to engage in other activities abroad, thwarted by the refusal of the elder brother.

The 1970s

In 1971 the Istituto Finanziario Industriale (IFI)[1], purchased 53% of the shares of Fabbri Editori on behalf of the Agnelli family. Dino & Rino relocated abroad, but Giovanni remained on as chairman; the operational role was entrusted to Piero Stucchi Prinetti, acting as managing director.

Towards the end of the 1970s Giovanni Fabbri entered the viewfinder of the Red Brigades and decided to move to Lugano, Switzerland, where he resides today. Rino Fabbri chose Paraguay. Dino Fabbri died following a long illness of "ALS" Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis on 10 December 2001 at his home in Aventura, Florida. Ettore Rino Fabbri died in Asunción, November 2012.

The 1980s and today

"Fabbri Editori," now forms part of the "Gruppo RCS - Rizzoli Corriere della Sera", RCS MediaGroup and continues to be active in the publishing of textbooks and publications. With the spread of 'home-video (especially with the arrival of the DVD) Fabbri concluded agreements that allow it to distribute through the network of kiosks a monographic series on actors (such as the series of films of 007) and collections of the movies of Alberto Sordi and Gilberto Govi, directors and genres of film.

Notes

This article originated as a translation of its counterpart on the Italian Wikipedia.

References

• ‘Italy: Installment Culture’. Time Magazine, 7 February 1964.
• http://www.FabbriEditori.it

External links

• www.fabbrieditori.it
• Fabbri Editori, RCS Libri.
• http://www.exor.com/?p=&s=&lang=en
• it:Conoscere
• Scuola di editoria, ‘Fabbri’, L’editoria in Italia dal ‘900 ad oggi, Associazione Formazione Giovanni Piamarta, 2008.
• Righetti Donata, ‘Dino Fabbri, il D’Artagnan dell’editoria che portò i classici in edicola’, Corriere della Sera, 12 December, 2001.