17% more Swiss books in the year 2006
Bern, 29.01.2007 - Over the past year, Swiss publishing firms brought out almost 12,000 new books on the market. This is attested by the annual statistics for Swiss book production drawn up by the Swiss National Library.
In 2006, the Swiss National Library registered 11,875 new publications brought out by Swiss publishing firms, which is 17% more than in 2005, when 10,128 books were registered in the Swiss national bibliography, "The Swiss Book". New publications in German increased by 16% (6,797 titles published), in French by 20% (2,374 titles), in Italian by 6% (367), in Romansh by 18% (40), and multilingual editions by 68% (930). New English language titles decreased by 0.2% (1,367 titles).
An overview in all languages shows that, with 2004 titles (+8%), literary works top the list of new publications, followed by 1,155 new music scores (+12%), 1,118 new arts books (+31%) and 977 new law books (+19%). Next come 601 new books on languages (+19%), 534 medical publications (+40%), followed by 503 new books on philosophy or psychology (+38%). Geography comprised 485 new publications (+26%), and history 450 (+25%).
The percentage of translations rose by about 6% (to 1,023 new titles) in 2006. Translations from the English increased by about 36% (to 468 titles), whereas there was a decrease of about 13% in translations from the German (243), and of about 2% from the French (159). In all, Swiss publishers translated books from 28 (last year, 32) languages.
For years now, Swiss book production has ranged between 10,000 and 12,000 new titles per year. In 2002, the Swiss National Library registered 11,226 new books; 10,376 in 2003; 11,061 in 2004; and 10,128 in 2005.
Address for enquiries
Marie-Christine Doffey, director of the Swiss national Library
Tel. 031 322 89 01
marie-christine.doffey@nb.admin.ch
Philippe Girard, Head of Acquisitions
Tel. 031 322 89 70
philippe.girard@nb.admin.ch
Publisher
Swiss National Library
http://www.nb.admin.ch
