Hervé de La Martinière, a leading figure in publishing, dies at 78

Hervé de La Martinière, former founder and CEO of La Martinière publishing house, died on Thursday at the age of 78, the publishing house and the Media-Participations group announced in a press release on Saturday.

It was his publishing house that published La Terre vue du ciel , by Yann Arthus-Bertrand in 1999, "a global success, with 3.5 million copies sold", according to the press release, as well as the majority of his photographic work.

He is also the editor of Not All Men Inhabit the World in the Same Way by Jean-Paul Dubois, which won the Prix Goncourt in 2019 (Éditions de l'Olivier). He also edited the Fait Maison series by chef Cyril Lignac (starting in 2020).

He joined the Hachette group at the age of 25 and worked for several companies (Grasset, Fayard, Chêne, etc.) before taking over the management of Nathan in 1987, according to the press release.

"In 1992, he set out to create his own publishing house, Éditions de La Martinière, dedicated to fine and illustrated books." This was followed by "ambitious acquisitions, the most notable of which was the New York-based Abrams Books in 1997."

In 2004, he took over Seuil and associated publishing houses (Points, Métailié, L'Olivier, etc.), making the group "one of the major players in French publishing, controlling its distribution and circulation."

In 2006, he launched a lawsuit against Google, which was massively digitizing books without publishers' permission and against the wishes of rights holders. He was joined by the National Publishing Union (SNE) and fellow publishers. The dispute ended in 2011 after a digitization agreement was reached with the internet giant.

In 2018, Hervé de La Martinière integrated his publishing house into the Média-Participations group, and became its vice-president.

"He was above all a fervent admirer of his authors, to whom he devoted unfailing loyalty and friendship (...); a lover of literature who was keen to create a literary department named after his publishing house; a defender of the bookstore and of a certain idea of ​​publishing," according to the publishing house and Media-Participations.