63 Years and never a dull momentSixtythree years ago, the bookseller Julius Breitschopf founded a publishing house for children’s and young peoples’ books. Since then, there’s been a lot of change within the company, but one thing has stayed the same: the name. His son, Julius Peter Breitschopf, has been successfully directing the publishing house for the past 38 years. “Everything that’s fun and enjoyable for children, and that helps them develop”, that’s how Julius Peter Breitschopf describes his publishing philosophy. Exactly sixtythree years ago to this day, his father, a bookseller, was granted his trade license. “Because my father was in Wels, Austria, at the end of the war, it was possible for him to cross from the American sector in to the Russian sector, and bring goods to the East, that’s to say, Vienna. Because of that, we could get to work fairly soon after the war ended, despite scarcity of material. Production took place in the West, where there was less war damage. My father would drive up in front of the bookstore in a truck, fully loaded with books, and before he could even turn the motor off, a queue of people had started to form, and by the afternoon, the place was sold out.” In the beginning, they published children’s and young peoples’ literature, more by coincidence than by calculation. “It was a case of the right people being in the right place at the right time.” Since then, Breitschopf publishers have worked up an impressive backlist. Not even the boss himself knows exactly how many titles have accumulated over the decades, through the purchase of Paka/ Heide/Mühlehner Publishers (1965). But sometimes Breitschopf pulls an old title out of the archive, and adapts its content and form to contemporary times, and brings it out on the market again, without disowning the original. Successful TV books So Julius Peter Breitschopf was literally born in to the publishing business, even if he didn’t always want to identify with this predetermined way of life: He began his career by training as a bookseller. After a couple of weeks in his father’s bookshop, the trainee wanted more than just to play on home ground, and so continued his training at Herder’s. As if that wasn’t enough, this all-rounder-in-the-making passed the book binding assistants’ exam and gathered production experience at Europa publishers – the groundwork required for understanding the production process. Late in the day, but never the less, he was called to do military service. After that, he supervised the popular at the time “TV books” in his father’s business. These were titles which recounted stories from American TV series. Despite German competition, Breitschopf secured the book rights for Daktari, Skippi and several licenses for the Flipper series, among others. “Daktari was really a culture shock, and changed a lot in our publishing house. TV books were unknown at that time.” The challenge grew. As his father died suddenly of a heart attack in 1972, Breitschopf had to take over at the helm, breaking off his studies in international trade. “I had to prove myself in this new leading position. Some people had already declared the publishing house for dead.” He expanded, and modernized the program. To meet the requirements of the market, Breitschopf went in search of entrepreneurial synergies; the path to an eventual partnership was preprogrammed. In 1985 came the merger with Hölder Pichler Tempsky. “Our work together developed well. We received many prestigious awards, and also sold well in Germany. Those were great times.” However, after 13 years, the association disbanded. How should it continue now? Breitschopf was faced with the decision to either reconstruct a classic publishing house with agents and distribution, or alternatively, for practical and organizational reasons, to intensify contacts to major customers, and to supply to department store chains, mail order firms, and to supply the industry with special commissioned work.
“We don’t have storage or a distribution system. We deliver to the outlets directly.” So if you are looking for Breitschopf books in the directory of available books, you won’t get very far. Our books have an ISDN number, but are not registered with the directory of available books, because at that time, we couldn’t deliver to individual retailers due to lack of storage and distribution capacity, but that doesn’t mean that it will always be that way.” Outside of the City Every year, many new books emerge from the “publishing workshop” to enhance the extensive family program. Breitschopf says “But the old picture books are also a blessing for the company, and for some of our customers, a reminiscence of their own past. Who doesn’t know ‘Puckerl and Muckerl’ by Hilde Forster, illustrated by Ernst Kutzer!” Today, along side the children’s and youth program, you can find cookbooks and herbal books, historical novels, greeting cards, audiocassettes and CDs, puzzles, painting books, and cuddly toys on offer. The license business is going well: “We are very successful in the new European countries, now we are in negotiations with White Russia. Apart from that, we sell licenses to the USA and France.” And the future? In the office in Kritzendorf, the boss is at work with his right hand Bianca Schwarz. All the other tasks have been outsourced. Depending on the volume of work, there can be up to 8 or 9 employees bustling around the office to overcome the workload. “I can master the stress better from outside the city, without having to surrender to it. When it’s necessary, I can be in Vienna city centre in thirty minutes.” Breitschopf, who is in the meantime a happy grandfather of three, is not even considering retirement yet. The future of the business will ultimately depend on personal decisions within the family. “I’m always open for new ideas.”
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Publisher’s list 1947
 Vienna International
Autumn Fair 1949  Frankfurt Book Fair 1952
The picture book with the newly developed spiral binding passes the test that Julius Breitschopf (right) and G. Rydlo put it to.
Vienna Fair 1975 Julius Peter Breitschopf (left) with Mayor Leopold Gratz
Frankfurt Book Fair 2007
Certificate of Honor
Prof.KR Michael Kernstock
Dir. Georg Glöckler
KR Julius P. Breitschopf
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