# Praenumeration

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{{short description|Form of the subscription business model}}
'''Praenumeration''' (German: Pränumeration) was an early form of the [subscription business model](/source/subscription_business_model). It was a common business practice in the 18th century book trade in [Germany](/source/Germany). The publisher offered to sell a book that was planned but had not yet been printed, usually at a discount, so as to cover their costs in advance. The business practice was particularly common with magazines, helping to determine in advance how many subscribers there would be.<ref>{{cite book
 |chapter=Praenumeration
 |editor=Severin Corsten
 |title=Lexikon des gesamten Buchwesens
 |volume=VI
 |publisher=Verlag Anton Hiersemann
 |location=Stuttgart
 |year=1991
 |isbn=3-7772-8527-7
 |page=S. 81}}</ref>

For example, when [Johann Heinrich Zedler](/source/Johann_Heinrich_Zedler) decided to issue a collection of works of [Martin Luther](/source/Martin_Luther) he advertised that the book would be for sale through praenumeration at the [Leipzig](/source/Leipzig) [Easter Fair](/source/Leipzig_Trade_Fair) in 1728, with the first volume to be available at the following [Michaelmas](/source/Michaelmas) Fair in early October.<ref>{{Cite journal
 |journal=Neue Zeitungen von Gelehrten Sachen
 |date=January 1728
 |pages=60–63}}</ref> 
When the eleventh and final volume was issued in 1733, Zedler found himself in difficulty. He had been using praenumeration payments for the future volumes to pay the bills for previous volumes, and now the last bills were due with no future payments to cover them.<ref>{{cite book 
 |first=Gerd |last=Quedenbaum
 |page=168
 |title=Der Verleger und Buchhändler Johann Heinrich Zedler 1706–1751: ein Buchunternehmer in den Zwängen seiner Zeit; ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des deutschen Buchhandels im 18. Jahrhundert
 |publisher=Hildesheim
 |year=1977
 |isbn=3-487-06241-0}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [Crowdfunding](/source/Crowdfunding), 21st-century version

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{business-stub}}

Category:Business models
Category:German books
Category:18th-century books

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Praenumeration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praenumeration) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praenumeration?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.