Brepols Publishers
| Founded | 1795 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Pieter Corbeels and Philippus Jacobus Brepols |
| Country of origin | Belgium |
| Headquarters location | Turnhout |
| Publication types | Books, journals, databases |
| Official website |
www |
Brepols is a Belgian publishing house. It was once one of the largest printing companies of the world and one of the main employers in Turnhout (Belgium). Besides its printing business, Brepols is also active as a publisher. In former days the company well known for its missals, but now it is more renowned for its agendas.
In 1795, Pieter Corbeels, a printer from Leuven moved together with his assistant Philippus Jacobus Brepols, to Turnhout, possibly to flee the French military which occupied Belgium at that time. Corbeels rapidly became the town printer, and he printed passports and pamphlets for the city of Turnhout. In the summer of 1798 Corbeels went to fight against the French as one of the leaders of the ‘’Boerenkrijg’’. He was caught and executed.
Because of Corbeels' fight against the French his apprentice, Philippus Jacobus Brepols, had to take over the responsibility for the printing company. The widow of Corbeels managed the business for short while, but from 1800 onwards P. J. Brepols gradually took over the house and the business.
Soon the printing business was expanded with bookbinding, a shop and paper-trade were added to the business. Initially P. J. Brepols traded the most diverse goods, from leatherware to hats. The first years especially religious work and schoolbooks were printed. In 1817, Brepols acquired the company Le Tellier in Lier of which he had bought for a long time comics for children. Between 1817 and 1930, Brepols published about 623 comics for children.
Playing cards, at the time, were printed in Antwerp, Brussels, and mainly in Dinant, but from 1826 Brepols started printing playing cards and soon became the most important producer of cards. Brepols also started to produce special types of paper. The then still rather new method of lithography was introduced at Brepols in 1829. When Belgium became independent in 1830, the business to the Netherlands was lost. On 5 July 1834 the company started the first magazine of the Kempen (E: Campine), the ‘’Algemeen Aenkondigingsblad’’, which would be printed by Brepols up to 1875.
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Wikipedia