Giuseppe Pomba

Giuseppe Pomba (4 February 1795 – 3 November 1876) was an Italian editor and typographer, founder of UTET.

Biography

Giuseppe Pomba was born on 4 February 1795 to Giovanni Pomba and Carlotta Boma. He was the only son, the couple also had two daughters: Luigia and Felicita, his younger brother Onorato died in early childhood. The family lived in Turin where Giovanni Pomba owned a small bookshop. He also ran a small publishing business, publishing devotional and commemorative booklets. Giuseppe Pomba graduated from the primary school and entered Liceo Imperiale, but was forced to drop the studies when his father died in 1805. With the help of an uncle, he started managing the bookshop and in 1810 renamed it ‘Vedova Pomba e figli’ (‘Widow Pomba and sons’).

In September 1814, the widow Pomba submitted a petition to the authorities on behalf of her children to open a new printing house in Turin. When the approval was granted, they installed four modern printing machines.

His first wife Rosa Filica gave him seven children. When she died in 1846, he realized that his only son, Cesare, had no interest in managing the family business, so the publisher brought his cousin Luigi Pomba over from France and arranged a marriage between his daughter Emilia and Luigi. Together they founded “Cugini Pomba e C.” in 1850. Pomba himself married Luigi's mother, Sophie Girard, in April 1851; however, she died just six months after the wedding. He returned to work and in 1854 founded the joint-stock company Unione Tipografico Editrice Torinese (UTET), which merged both “Cugini Pomba e C.” and the Tipografia sociale.

In 1869, Giuseppe Pomba was appointed president of the newly formed Italian Booksellers' Association (Associazione libraria italiana), but was forced to step down a year later due to health problems. He died in 1876 in Turin, survived by third wife Luisa Pacchiotti and numerous children and grandchildren.