PUSTET

A family of Catholic publishers, whose original home was the Republic of Venice. Probably in the 17th century they emigrated to south Germany, where Anton became a bookbinder in the lower Bavarian borough of Hals, near Passau. He married Anna Scheuerocher, by whom he had a son, Friedrich, on March 25, 1798. Having learned bookbinding under his father, Friedrich started a small bookstore in 1818, and in 1822 founded a separate printing establishment.

As his business prospered, Friedrich founded a publishing house in Regensburg in 1826, which developed into a worldwide enterprise. Its first catalogues show great diversity, with a leaning towards history and religious literature. Regensburg Liturgical Publications achieved wide reputation when in 1845 they issued an altar missal and shortly thereafter a breviary for use by traveling priests. In the 1850s Friedrich associated the firm with the budding reform of German church music being urged by Karl Proske and Franz Xaver Witt and the Pustet Publishing House became its most important organ. Friedrich's zeal earned for him in 1870 the title "Typographus S. R. Congregationis." Among other distinctions, his firm was entrusted by the Vatican with the Editio Typica of all its liturgical works. In 1860 Friedrich turned the business over to his sons, Friedrich (1831–1902), Klemens (1833–98), and Karl (1839–1910). Friedrich the elder died on March 5, 1882. The firm consistently adhered to the policies and goals set by its founder.

[r. tapke]