"?La dictionary and encyclopedia publishing house wiped out by Covid?" headlines the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera. Utet Grandi Opere (Grandes Oeuvres), a historic publishing house of dictionaries and encyclopaedias founded in Turin in 1791, was declared bankrupt on 15 October.
But if the pandemic has accelerated things, the bankruptcy of the publishing house is, according to the Italian media, part of the general crisis of dictionary and encyclopaedia publishing houses, mainly due to the spread of the Internet.
Until 2013 Utet Grandi Opere was part of Utet, which belongs to the Italian printing and publishing group DeAgostini. However, DeAgostini had decided to sell it. The Utet publishing house has therefore made it clear that it is not affected by this development and is continuing its business as usual.
The announcement of its bankruptcy was not officially announced at first. It was revealed by Italian linguist Raffaele Simone in a post on social networks.
" ?Je received today (10 November 2020, editor's note) the information that the Utet Grandi Opere has been declared bankrupt. After years of difficulties and serious management errors, Italy's oldest publishing house (1791) is closing. We owe it magnificent collections of classics of all the arts, sciences and a tradition of dictionaries, treatises and encyclopaedias that is second to none in the world, not to mention collections that have made the cultural history of Italy la Scala of Oro?." he announced.
