IN DEPTH


In Memoriam Hessischer Hof


In Memoriam


am


Last orders: Book fair staple Hessischer Hof bids f


the hthe hotel was a rights centre of sorts—it was certainly the place to meet and be seen to be meeting. The lThe lobby bar, with its sofas and intimate tables, was at its best in that hour before dinner when you might see publisher Ivan Nabokov(cousin of Vladimir) with Christopher MacLehose of Harvill; translator Carol Janeway with Knopf’s Sonny Mehta (both no longer with us); agent Georgina Capel with Weidenfeld’s Alan Samson; eponymous publisher Antoine Gallimard chatting with e…


ghts c nt eet an bes


ting as


es, was a it e dinn


ght s (c


f’s Sonn o long


th us); ag el


gin


Ant ine Gallimard chatting with Faber’s Stephen Page…


For alm dec


ecades the swanky hotel has kept th gr


r almost se es th


great, the good and the tipsy f


e g y fed and


watered after a day aty at , b


Hof has hosted its fin


final trade knees-up...


the fair, but Hessischer Hof h


anky t the t seven A s o Foun us en gl


stayed at the hotel—among them the Dale Dalai Lama and the Belgian royaroyal couple. Shall we say, an Ibis the Hessischer Hof was not. Twenty years ago, downstairs in Jimmin Jimmy’s Bar, one of Hodder’s regular author soirées might be getting under way, for Jodi Picoult or Jeffery Deaver perhaps, at


A particular sort of person ong th


perso ai Lam s ag d the Belgi


Ibis the Hessischer H en


y’s Bar egul ting un r J s th


s the industry p for the first digital Frankfurt Book F


r th


closure in th ning t


try prepares git


news of a permanent physical t begin-


Frankfurt Book Fair, ysi al


closure in the city is just begin ning to be absorbed. Frankfurt’s fam us H


opposite the Messe complex’s e, will sh


amous Hessischer Hof hotel, opposi


undation group. “The economic l


ankfurt’s el,


main entrance, will shut “in the fourth quarter of 2020”, according to i


o its owner, the Hessian House tion group


by coronavirus are sogreat that there is no other choice,” says Jens Huwald, spokesman for Hessian House. The cancelling of all trade fairs at the Messe has made Fr


e economic losses caused gre t th


es caused


there is n al


ys J an f r H elling o


Frankfurt “a very difficult environ- ment for hotels”.


ery di r h


hist ry. For almost 70 y f h


part o the rights c an kine c s By By Roger Tagholm TheBookseller.com edi


And so another piece of the global book industry slides into history. For almost 70 years, the Hessischer Hof has been as much a part of the Frankfurt Book Fair as the rights centre, the Hammering Man kinetic statue and the little buses that trundle between the halls. Indeed, for many publishers, editors and agents, the lobby of


s, th ankfurt Book F ering d the litt eed, f r m dis


which they could meet their inter- national publishers in the famous, discrete basement lounge. Later, someone might take to the grand piano: “You must remember this, a deal is just a deal…” Most fa


al p ght t an al…” died in 2001, y t is s


Most famouslusly, the party which has always acted as the unofficial opener to the fair took place at the Hessischer Hof. It was firsts firs hosted by Little, Brown, and it was the brainchild of John Lyon (who died in 2001, yet is still fondly remembered by many), m.d. of Time Warner’s trade publishing international division. Later, its it new owner Hachette continued the tradition.


, the party whi pen ook pla e a f. I ublishing on.


Guests ascended the curv staircase to the upstairs balls ball- room, where almost everyone you wyou wanted to see was on the guesguestlist. The party was a mini- Messe in ie in its own right—like a


Guests ascendedthe curved ed t s on th s a mini- ts own right—lik


For th e wh thing


al f


small Hall 6 (or depending on your year of reference, Hall 8, or 4.1, 4.2 or 4.3), but with chandeliers. For those who care about such things, the wallpaper here is from is from the Royal family of Hessen, and


re eren 4.3), b about ch e fam us, ung e gran ght be as not. dimir) t up ds farewell from afar as Covid forces its closure the Second W d W r.


shadows of the city’s famous clus ter of banking towers downtown. Of cour e, thurse, the hotel’s most avid fan for many years was the late Ed Victor. The agent told Publishing News in 2006 that he managed to ecurea room “bec


destroyed by bombing, and rebuilt during 1951/52. When it opened for business as Frankfurt picked iitself up after the war, it was the city’s first skyscraper, a fact that seems comiomical now as it sits in the us-


provides a link with the hotel’s past: the Hessen family used the hotel as a city residence until the Second World War. It was ing, an


y used as


uring 1951/52. When it o r b


ed ankfurt picked


cal now a t sits in th ty’s f


banking towe an f r m e ag


to secure a room “because I did a ur f r an ol


favour for an old pal, the legendary g R


I dida en


German publisher Ledig Rohwalt”. He recalled: “Many years ago, Is ag walked into the beautiful lobby, full o gr


armchairs, and saw Ledig sitting in solitary splendour, dressed immaculately, contentedly puffing on his perpetual Havana cigar and sipping a gl


full ofgreen leather couches and g si ting


ffing


sipping a glass of champagne. “He a


pagne. pr at that


oom at the Hessisc er H “He l“He looked at me for what seemed a very long time with those shrewd eyes of his, and said: ‘Th‘That is a very big favour’. But he e i


g f


did manage it, and I have been a happy resident of the hotel, during book f


book fairs, for over 20 years,” Victor said; the agent’s run at the residen e s be


s, f r o


residence spanned until 2016, before he passed away prior to the German f


ed until 2016, e h an fair in 2017. The saThe sadness of this year’s this y


closure is that many industry folktry f y g


won’t be able to say goodbye. Is this to be too sentimental about bri


ricks and mortar? Perhaps, but many people have lived a gooded a g deal of their lives in that building.ding If those walls could talk….


ps, b If th alk…. 23 uring


“He asked me if I knew about a certain book he was trying to track down, and I was able to say, proudldly, that I represented it. I delivered a copy to his room, and Rohwolt Verlag bought the rightsghts at that fair. Ledig asked me what favour he could do for me in return,turn, and I blurted out: ‘Pleaseget me a room at the Hessischer Hof’. or wh


s trying to , th ag bo et m wntown.


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