You’ve made it to our final stop-A. Molling & Comp.! Go ahead, take a deep breath. Can you smell the old ink and paper in the air? No? Well, that’s for the best (my nose is still recovering from my last factory tour, trust me). Let’s step back in time and imagine what this spot was like when it was the beating heart of one of Hannover’s greatest printworks.
Picture yourself here in the late 1800s, where the streets buzz with horse-drawn carts and men in bowler hats hurrying to deliver stacks of posters, postcards, magazines, and shiny new picture books. It all started in 1887 when Adolf Molling, a Jewish banker with a keen eye for business-and probably a killer moustache-founded A. Molling & Comp. right here. In no time, his printing company became one of the largest in Hannover, churning out everything from greeting cards to colorful illustrations that would soon capture imaginations across continents.
Now, this place wasn’t just about boring business ledgers and invoices. No way! Around 1900, the presses started rolling out their own children’s books-with titles like "Aschenbrödel" (that’s Cinderella’s German cousin) and mischievous tales like “Dideldumdei.” Imagine the excitement of little ones unwrapping these books, their eyes wide with wonder.
But Molling’s real magic trick was thinking globally. By 1904, they boasted “Verlagsartikel in der ganzen Welt vertreten,” which is fancy German for “our stuff is everywhere!” Their books appeared in multiple languages and made their way from Hannover to America and beyond. Franz Rosenberg, Molling’s enterprising grandson, even hopped on steamships to New York, patting himself down for passports and-if we’re honest-probably sneaking home a few bagels in his suitcase.
Innovation was always in the air. Take their clever 1903 patent: the “everlasting calendar with colorful backs”-impressing both Kaiser Wilhelm and anyone who found themselves forgetting birthdays. In the printing rooms, you’d spot legendary artists like Walther Caspari, Hanns Anker, and the wild Kurt Schwitters, who scavenged misprints from the basement to craft his modern art masterpieces. The sound of clanking presses and busy footsteps echoed day and night.
Even during the dark years of the 1930s, A. Molling & Comp. fought to keep their international spirit alive, publishing stories for children in nine different languages-until Nazi persecution forced the family to flee and the printing house was “Aryanized.” Sadly, their global adventures almost faded into silence, with even their descendants knowing little of this once-world-famous business.
But history never really vanishes, does it? In 2012, Hannover’s museum dusted off A. Molling & Comp.’s hidden treasures, exhibiting stunning fairy-tale picture books like “Lust und Scherz für’s Kinderherz” to remind us that, in the world of printing, magic and artistry could spring from the whirr of machines and the vision of a bold family.
And so here we are at the end of our tour, standing on the ground where fairy tales, adventure, and sometimes the odd printing disaster all sprang to life. Thanks for walking with me-if you enjoyed it, don’t forget to bookmark our next adventure!
