Phaidon Press

Phaidon-Verlag was founded in 1923 in Vienna, Austria, by Ludwig Goldscheider, Béla Horovitz, and Frederick "Fritz" Ungar. Originally operating under the name "Euphorion-Verlag", the founders settled on Phaidon (the German form of Phaedo), named after Phaedo of Elis, a pupil of Socrates, to reflect their love of classical antiquity and culture. The company's distinctive logo derives from the Greek letter phi, which represents the golden ratio, employed by artists, architects, and designers since the fourth century BC. Originally, the publisher's backlist was mainly literary in nature. Its first two publications consisted of a thin, four-volume print edition of the works of Shakespeare and a two-volume edition of Plato. Horovitz took over sole ownership in 1924. From 1923 to 1925 it largely published classics, e.g. works by William Wordsworth, Jonathan Swift, Ovid, Novalis, Friedrich Schiller, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Theodor Storm or Heinrich von Kleist (including again a thin print edition of Kleist's Complete Works, with text arranged by Goldscheider). In the years that followed, the program was expanded to include works by more contemporary authors such as Thomas Mann, Hanne Back, and translations by Samuel Butler, until finally, from 1927/1928, the program turned largely towards only publishing contemporary literature. Works by the German writer Alfred Henschke (Klabund) were printed in high numbers, as were works by Arnold Zweig, Hugo Salus, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Knut Hamsun, Heinz Liepmann, and Richard Specht. From its offices in Schulerstraße 10, Phaidon also eventually became known throughout Europe for its affordable, high-quality books about art and architecture. Its large-format art books first emerged in 1937 with the publication of books featuring works by Vincent van Gogh, Sandro Botticelli, and the French Impressionists.