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Focal Press

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Focal Press
Parent companyRoutledge (Taylor & Francis)
Founded1938
FounderAndor Kraszna-Krausz
Headquarters locationWaltham, Massachusetts
Nonfiction topicsfilm and digital video production, photography, digital imaging, graphics, animation and new media, broadcast and media distribution technologies, music recording and production, mass communications, theatre technology
Official websitewww.focalpress.com

Focal Press is a publisher of creative and applied media books and it is an imprint of Routledge/Taylor & Francis.[1]

Company history

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The firm was founded in London in 1938 by Andor Kraszna-Krausz,[2] a Hungarian photographer who migrated to England in 1937 and eventually published over 1,200 books on photography, cinematography and broadcasting.

It "published practical guides to photography at affordable prices for the general public".[3] One of the books published by Kraszna-Krausz's Focal Press was The All-in-One Camera Book by E. Emanuel and W. D. Dash, which was one of the earliest books on photography written for the general public. First published in 1939[4] it had gone through 81 editions by 1978.[5]

Book series published by the firm included Masters of the Camera and Classics of Photography.

There was a second firm named Focal Press which was founded by George Bernhard Eisler in London in 1937 and later opened a branch in New York. It is unclear if there was a connection between the two firms.[6]

Elsevier acquired Kraszna-Krausz's Focal Press in 1983.[7] Focal Press was acquired by Taylor & Francis from Elsevier in July 2012.[8]

References

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  1. ^ Focal Press, routledge.com. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  2. ^ Rossell, Deac (2008). "Kraszna-Krausz, Andor (1904–1989)". In Hannavy, John (ed.). Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-century Photography. CRC Press. p. 806. ISBN 978-0-415-97235-2.
  3. ^ Kraszna-Krausz, Andor, sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  4. ^ The all-in-one camera book; the easy path to good photography, by W. D. Emanuel and F. L. Dash, nla.gov.au. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  5. ^ W. D. Emanuel and L. A. Mannheim, All in One Camera Book, London: Focal Press; New York: Focal/Hastings House, 1978. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  6. ^ Focal Press (Eisler), lbi.org. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  7. ^ The Academic Publishing Industry: A Story of Merger and Acquisition Archived 2015-10-30 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Global Publishing Leaders 2013: Informa
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