About us
cARTEm is a publishing house founded in 2007, specializing in facsimiles and luxury books that reinterpret, with the utmost fidelity and excellence, some of the most extraordinary works of universal heritage.
Illuminated manuscripts, codices, historical atlases and major art editions The catalog is conceived for those who understand the book as a work of art in itself.
At cARTEm we have worked with original editions preserved in institutions and libraries of international prestige, among them the National Library of Spain, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Vatican Apostolic Library and the Royal Collection Trust..
Our Book Atelier is the core of creation, each edition takes shape through handcrafted binding processes carried out by master bookbinders, where the tradition of craftsmanship and material excellence come together to give life to works conceived to elevate any collection.
History year after year
2007
Under the name of CM Editores, the company undertook in Biscay an ambitious project of reproduce facsimiles of authentic jewels of our graphic heritage. In the same year, the The Legend of the Santa Faz, the monumental series Artistic and Monumental Spain by Jenaro Pérez Villamil, Abraham Ortelius' iconic Atlas and the detailed views of the Civitates Orbis Terrarum.
Thanks to the exceptional authorization from the Vatican Apostolic Library to reproduce one of his valuable manuscripts; The Legend of the Santa Faz, a rare manuscript that was not only religious, but also a legend - a medieval literary genre, forerunner of the novel - that first catalog became a a landmark for collectors around the world.
2008-2010
The warehouse is moved to Salamanca and people are added to the growing team. During this period, the first facsimile edition of the incunabula Apocalypse by Albrecht Dürer became a bestseller in collaboration with National Library of Spain, while the staff - already split between Bilbao and Salamanca - worked on the reproduction of the volumes of the Civitates Orbis Terrarum and the Ortelius Atlas y Mercator with the academic support from the University of Salamanca.
2011-2014
Driven by collector demand, the publishing house worked on a ambitious series on Dürer's work (Great Passion, Little Passion, Master Engravings, Life of the Virgin Mary) and the decision was taken to publish one book a year of Albrecht Dürer's engravings. continued the work on the Orbis Terrarum cartographic collection.
During 2013, Santander will present the following facsimiles of the «Theatrum Orbis Terrarum».» and the first volume of the «Civitates Orbis Terrarum».», at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Santander and Cantabria. The event was attended by José Luis Casado Soto and cARTEm representatives Daniel Díez and Pedro Iribarnegaray.
In 2014, the 2014 edition of the Books of Montserrat Hours -presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair- projected the firm into the international arena. The public was enthusiastic about the fact that, in a single box, presented in root wood, they could have a small presence or sample of three schools of illumination of books of hours from the late 15th and early 16th century. It was presented on an “altar” which caused other publishers and people in the industry to make a pilgrimage to the stand and ask for «il coffanetto, the chest, where was the chest?». Everyone wanted to admire the Montserrat collection.. The quality, the presentation, the importance of the manuscripts and the illuminators meant a boost in the international market.
We are starting to think about other types of projects that did not fit under the CM Editores brand, Códices Medievales, so we took the strategic decision to create cARTEm, to encompass an ever-expanding catalog.
2015-2017
The Dürer series culminates with The Life of the Virgin and the overwhelming success of Prophecies of the Sibyls. This period also saw the creation of the atelier in Bilbao, The company was headed by a master bookbinder who gave absolute autonomy to the handcrafted process. On the tenth anniversary, two reference projects were launched: the facsimile of the Papyrus of Ani and the monumental Absolute Dürer.
2018-2019
cARTEm presented the Papyrus of Ani, Absolute Dürer and the Book of Hours of the Dauphin of France, in addition to Leonardo da Vinci. A Life in Drawings, strengthening its global projection.
2020
Not even the 2020 pandemic slowed the pace, the Speculum Humanae Salvationis and titles such as Picasso on Buffon's Natural History, the emotional Ribeira Sacra Travel Notebook y Tolkien, Journey through Middle Earth.
2021-2022
In 2021, all of the banners were integrated under cARTEm, the historical bibliophile club Versol was acquired and cARTEm COMICS was born, inaugurated with works such as Dracula and The Making of Aliens. In the same year, the Book of Hours of Frederick III of Aragon and the Ottoman Bible of Suleiman the Magnificent went into pre-publication. In 2022, coinciding with its fifteenth anniversary, the house launched nineteen new comic and graphic novel releases while finalizing the Ottoman Bible y the Book of Hours of Frederick III.
2025
At present, cARTEm keeps its pioneering spirit alive by working on new works of great relevance. -among them the long-awaited facsimile of The Cloisters Apocalypse- y regularly participating in the most prestigious book fairs in Spain and Europe.. Thanks to a constantly updated catalog, designed to satisfy the most demanding collectors, the publishing house reinforces its commitment each season. with historical rigor, aesthetic excellence and high-level craftsmanship..
Thus, with an entirely handmade process -selected paper, calibrated printing, manual stitching and binding in their own atelier-, cARTEm continues to unite tradition and the avant-garde to offer limited editions that place print culture at the heart of contemporary creation.
Our headquarters
Derio, Biscay
48180
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