The legal predecessor of the Company was formed in December 1954 and named Corvina Arts and Foreign Language Publishing Company. Our publishing house soon earned a reputation within and outside Hungary as one of the largest art publishers in the region. We pioneered international cooperation, producing multi-language art books for several markets. From the beginning, we tried to capitalise on the advantages offered by the multiplicity of languages; therefore, several of our books were published simultaneously in English, German, French, Russian, Polish etc. One of the best examples is Jenő Barcsay’s classic Anatomy for the Artist, which has been published in twelve languages and continues to be printed today, in Hungarian and foreign languages alike. Our publishing house was also the first to publish many classical works on art history and thereby laid the foundations for art publishing in Hungarian. Our efforts have made great Hungarian artists like Csontváry, Munkácsy, Rippl-Rónai, Benczúr, Markó, Szinyei, Ferenczy and Egry well known in English, German and French markets through our albums that grace the shelves of European libraries and homes numbering in the thousands. The popular series entitled Styles and Eras, our albums of Hungarian art (Masterpieces of Hungarian painting, Zsolnay: Book of collectors), and the universal art history series in 16 volumes, will complete Corvina’s art profile.

We are also committed to popularising classical and contemporary works of Hungarian literature in foreign languages. As a result of this, Die Sterne von Eger or The Paul Street Boys are almost as popular as their originals in Hungarian. Also worth noting is Sándor Petőfi, whose selected poems are always available on retail bookshelves in German. Corvina Kiadó has published illustrated, bilingual editions of The Tragedy of Man and John the Valiant in English-Hungarian and German-Hungarian in a newly launched enterprise. In the same venture, our bilingual series of classical poetry includes an anthology of the finest Hungarian poems including poems by Attila József and Miklós Radnóti. Our foreign-language publications include many works about Hungarian history as well.

Corvina Kiadó’s traditional profile also includes tourist publications. These range from colourful albums, specifically focused booklet-form publications and narrative travel guides about Hungary, its various regions and cities and available in several languages. Marco Polo travel guides offer practical information and attached maps to help travellers in numerous places all over the world. Tourism-oriented publications also include several books on Hungarian cuisine, such as one of the most successful: Gundel’s Hungarian Cookbook. Our resident author, Júlia Frank plays a significant role in keeping our cookbook selection up to date.

As the forth profile, Corvina publishes popular science books in the field of history, politics, sociology, and rarities from the history of Eastern culture. Our course books for secondary schools feature the “Final Examination Series”, which has become very popular very quickly.