History
Alfred Benteli, the great-grandfather of the present managing director Till Schaap, founded the printing company Benteli in Bümpliz near Berne on February 21, 1899. With the most modern printing technique of the time and a large efficient typesetting department the company quickly became one of the leading printing houses in Europe.
Already in 1902 the printing company was enlarged by the foundation of a publisher. BENTELI Publishers was created, publishing political books and documents of Switzerland at first. Under the management of Alfred Benteli´s son-in-law, Dr. Hans Meyer-Benteli, the publisher focused more and more on the publication of art books in the Forties and Fifties. Mainly due to the personal relationship with Klee and Kandinsky the first high- quality prints of their work appeared.
In 1962 Eduard Schaap, after marrying Meret Meyer-Benteli, took over the management of publisher and printer. The cartoonist and artist – later internationally renowned under his alias Ted Scapa – broadened the program significantly. Humorous and cookery books especially as well as fiction were published. The edition of comprehensive catalogues for important international art exhibitions made the publisher internationally known. At this time numerous publications appeared about Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle, but also about Hodler, Picasso, Chagall, Miro and others.