Alma Zsolnay (1930 – 2010, both in Vienna), after her marriage in 1954 Germany-Zsolnay, was registered at HFBK Hamburg for just one semester, the winter semester 1951/52, namely in the typography/book printing class of Richard von Sichowsky. She may possibly not even have attended the University; the online biographical notes on Alma Zsolnay make no reference to a time spent in Hamburg.1
Yet it may also be that this episode was simply eclipsed by the tales around her unconventional childhood and her family’s fame – Alma Zsolnay is the granddaughter of Austrian composer Gustav Mahler and daughter of sculptress Anna Mahler and publisher Paul Zsolnay. After Austria’s so-called “Anschluss,” Alma Zsolnay followed her father into emigration to London. Other than her father, however, who managed to recover his business after the war had ended, Alma Zsolnay only returned to Vienna in 1955 when the Austrian State Treaty was signed. Back in Vienna, she worked in her father’s company which represented, among others, authors such as Graham Greene, Bertrand Russell, and Truman Capote.2
After her father’s death in 1961, she became what is described as “a gentle co-regent in the publishing house."3 Given this vocation, a fleeting visit to a book printing class is at least plausible.
This article was published in February 2025.