Hermann Alfred Tanner

Hermann Alfred Tanner (16 October 1873, Bern – 1 September 1961), also known as Major Tanner, was a Swiss publisher, war correspondent, and author. Born in 1873 to a publisher father, he trained as a printer, before founding a newspaper company with his father. Tanner later was the director of several periodicals, primarily concerning winter sports in Switzerland. Tanner had an interest in colour theory, and patented a device for determining colour harmony in 1920.

During the First World War, Tanner was a war correspondent, reporting first in Eastern Europe, and later Italy; in Eastern Europe, he reported primarily on Galicia, and its surrounding areas. Alongside publishing, Tanner was a hobbyist mountaineer, publishing several books on the subject throughout his lifetime. He was also a supporter of the constructed language Occidental, and translated several books into the language. Tanner died in 1961 in Bern after a period of illness and mental decline.

Career Hermann Tanner was born on 16 October 1873 in Bern, Switzerland. His father, Simon Tanner, was a publisher, printer, and head of several Swiss newspapers, including the Romansh-language . Nothing is known about his mother other than that she was Romansh.

Hermann completed secondary school in Samedan, Graubünden, then went on to study business as well as Latin, Ancient Greek, and a few Slavic languages. Thereafter, he became an apprentice, working in Leipzig and Munich where he learned typography, drafting, composition, and other skills. From 1890, after his apprenticeship, Tanner worked as a photographer for his father's publishing company in Samedan. In 1901, Tanner became the first managing director of Engadin Press AG, which he co-founded with his father. From 1904, Tanner worked as a type founder, and from 1903 to 1907 was director of several sports periodicals, including and . a weekly periodical about winter sport in Bernerland, which was supported by user-submitted advertisements, articles, photographs, and subscriptions. Eventually, Tanner left his position managing his father's firm, to move to Bern, working as a writer and publicist. from 1915 to 1918.

Tanner published his experiences under the title Front Messages of a Neutral – they were received positively, with a review in Die Gartenlaube calling his work:

alt=A circle with many radii running to the centre. Inscribed, from outer to inner, are two triangles over each other forming a hexagon, a pentagon, a circle, and a square.

Much of Tanner's work was published in the Basler Nachrichten;

Beginning in 1893, Tanner had an interest in colour theory; he formed the basis of colour standardisation.

Personal life A member of the Bernina branch of the Swiss Alpine Club, Tanner was a friend of mountain climber Christian Klucker, writing a pocket guide entitled "Forno-Albigna-Bondasca" with him in 1936. Tanner was the owner of much of the collection of the Russian baron photographer , who created around two thousand glass and celluloid plate photographs of mountains in the region of Bergell. Part of Tanner's activities as a mountaineering enthusiast included verifying first ascent; for example, in October 1932, Tanner climbed Piz Badile to search for evidence of Giovanni Lurani having climbed the mountain in 1893. He was also a member of the Schweizerischer Werkbund, a Swiss association of artists, architects, and designers, He also translated his book Ten Years of Mr Klucker's Mountain Guiding , a collection of quotes by Rydzewski, into Occidental (although this translation was not published).

Tanner was married to Clémence Tanner-Muller, who died on 30 March 1944. He died on 1 September 1961 in , Bern, after a period of mental decline and illness, partly due to chronic bone disease. Galicia and Bukowina (1916) Eastwards (1916) Mountain Journeys in Ladinia (South Tyrol), 1915–1916 (1921) Our Mountain Guides (1933) Ten Years of Mountain Guide "Mr" Klucker (1934) Anton von Rydzewski as an Artist (1934)

Reports With the Austrians in West Galicia and Southern Poland , published in fourteen parts May 1915 With the Southern German Army in the Carpathians , published in eighteen parts, starting in June 1915 On the Stryj , published in thirteen parts, June–July 1915 With the Böhm-Ermolli Army to Lemberg , published eight parts, 25 July – 4 August The Russians in retreat in Eastern Galicia , published in three articles