Steidl Verlag employees go unpaid as orders dry up around book-obsessed publisher

Gerhard Steidl is celebrated as a detail-obsessed high priest of book printing. Now, employees at his publishing house reportedly have no pay, while important commissions have disappeared.

The company’s difficulties are linked in part to the loss of work associated with major figures including Karl Lagerfeld and Günter Grass, both of whom have died. Their projects formed part of the orders that helped sustain Steidl Verlag.

As the publisher confronts the downturn, its employees are making serious allegations. The contrast is stark: a house known for painstakingly produced books is facing questions about whether it can meet its obligations to the people who work there.