French publishing giant Hervé de La Martinière died on May 8. He was 78.
de La Martinière began his career at the Hachette Group at 25, working with some of the publisher’s major imprints before moving to head Éditions Nathan in 1987. Five years later, he established his own company, Les Éditions de La Martinière, specializing in art and illustrated books.
de La Martinière significantly increased his company’s global footprint in 1997 with the acquisition of Abrams Book, and made another major move in 2004 with the acquisition of Le Seuil, whose imprints included Points, Métailié, and L'Olivier, as well as a distribution business. The publisher continued to expand through a series of domestic and international acquisitions, and in 2018, de La Martinière merged his company with Média-Participations, where he became VP of one of France's largest book publishers.
Throughout his career, de La Martinière remained active in French publishing, including when he sued Google for copyright infringement in 2009. He was soon joined by the French Publishers Association in the suit, which eventually won an important copyright victory for French publishing.
Vincent Montagne, chairman of Média-Participations, called de La Martinière "an effective and demanding partner with absolute loyalty," who was also a "talented publisher and bold entrepreneur. Our group's success owes much to him."
