Brazil Publishing House

The Casa Publicadora Brasileira (Brazil Publishing House) (CPB) is a publisher of books, magazines, and other denominational materials for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Brazil, which produces and distributes religious content in Portuguese.

Although it is an institution directly linked to the South American Division (SAD), its graphic park is operating in the missionary territory of the União Central Brasileira (Central Brazil Union Conference) (UCB), on the state highway SP-127, km. 106, Zip Code 18279-900, Guardinhas neighborhood, in the city of Tatuí, countryside of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The CPB's primary area of activity covers the entire Brazilian territory. However, it sends materials to other countries such as the United States, in addition to serving regions where there are Portuguese-speaking churches, such as Angola, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, Cape Verde, Spain, and Portugal. To serve the Brazilian public, the CPB has its own network of 20 bookstores in operation in the main cities of the country and also supports other stores of the Educational Service Home and Health (SELS), which work with Adventist institutions. There is also a Call Center, where 51 people work, who actively market and serve customers who prefer to contact the institution over the phone. The CPB also invests in social networks as sales channels.¹ In total, the publisher serves 60 stores and bookstores, and approximately 2.1 million customers. Nowadays, 621 servers are part of the CPB's team of employees, of whom 539 work at headquarters and 82 at branch stores.²

Developments That Led to the Establishment of the Publishing House

The beginning of the Adventist Church in Brazil coincides, in a sense, with the publishing ministry. In 1879 a literature package containing ten copies of the periodical Stimme der Warheit (The Herald of Truth, in German) was sent to the port city of Itajaí, state of Santa Catarina. This literature aroused interest in some families living in a nearby city, Brusque. The flow of the literature sent was increasing, and with the combination of the study of the Scriptures and the material sent, the first Sabbath keepers emerged in Brazil.³

In 1890 Guilherme Belz and his family decided to keep the fourth commandment after coming across the book Gedanken über das Buch Daniel (Commentary on the Book of Daniel, in German), by Uriah Smith. The first missionaries to land in Brazil were the canvassers Albert B. Stauffer, in 1893, and William Henry Thurston, in 1894. The first traveled a lot doing his job and the second settled in the city of Rio de Janeiro.⁴

The following year, in April 1895, the first baptism was performed on Brazilian soil, when Guilherme Stein Jr. went down into the water in a ceremony that took place in the city of Piracicaba, in the countryside of the state of São Paulo. The first Sabbath School class was also organized there. In June of the same year, again in Santa Catarina, this time in the city of Gaspar Alto, the first Adventist Church in Brazil was established. In November, another pioneer, Pastor Huldreich F. Graf, founded another church, in the then national capital, Rio de Janeiro, in the Meier neighborhood. This was initially a congregation for Adventist missionaries, with English being the language used in official services and meetings.⁵

After his conversion, Stein Jr. became fully involved in the service of preaching the gospel, carrying out several works related to the consolidation and expansion of Adventism in the country. From 1896 to 1898, he was a Bible instructor and teacher, and in 1899 he moved to Rio de Janeiro.⁶ There, in July 1900, the history of the CPB began. The moment that marked the beginning of the publishing work in Brazil took place when the magazine “O Arauto da Verdade” (The Herald of Truth) was launched, which was printed in the Typography and Lithography firm of Almeida Marques and Cia, headquartered on 33 Travessa do Ouvidor Street.⁷ The publication was under the direction of Guilherme Stein, Jr., the first CPB editor.

Foundation of Brazil Publishing House

In this pioneering phase, the editorial staff worked at the home of William Henry Thurston, in Rio de Janeiro, for approximately two years (1900, 1901). At the time of its establishment, there were 13 Adventist publishing houses in the world and 600 employees.⁸ Thurston believed in the power of publications and many boxes of books and magazines published by the Review and Herald and Pacific Press (North American Adventist publishers) were brought by him upon arriving in Brazil. He had made plans to launch a Portuguese-language magazine.⁹ One of the mentors of this magazine, which was only 16 pages long, was Frederico W. Spies, another SDA pioneer in Brazil. However, the editing work was done by Guilherme Stein, Jr., who would become an outstanding writer and the first editor of the future CPB. With some interruptions, this magazine changed its name several times, being called O Atalaia (Watchman), Decisão (Decision), and Sinais dos Tempos (Signs of the Times). In its early days, the publisher was called Sociedade Internacional de Tratados (Brazil International Tract Society).¹⁰

In the early 19th century, although it was a publisher, it did not have a graphic park. Therefore, in 1903, leaders like John Lipke, Huldreich F. Graf, and Frederico W. Spies discussed the need to have their own typography shop to publish Adventist literature in Brazil. Then, on a trip to Emmanuel Missionary College (presently Andrews University), in Berrien Springs, Michigan, in the United States, John Lipke obtained donations worth US $1,500 to establish a printing press. In addition to that amount, Lipke also won an old printing press that belonged to the Review and Herald Publishing Association and that had been saved from a fire that had happened the previous year. Lipke can be considered the first managing director of the publishing house.¹¹

From 1904 the publisher started to operate in the city of Taquari, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. At this time everything was very difficult. An example of this was the complicated printing of 2,000 copies of the magazine “O Arauto da Verdade” (The Herald of Truth), on May 10, 1905, in the old and slow hand-printing press. The Revista Adventista (Adventist Review) was launched in 1906, which at the time was called Revista Mensal (Monthly Review). In the following year (1907), the publisher took a further step in its development with the production of the first book printed in Taquari's printing press, entitled “A Gloriosa Vinda de Cristo” (The Glorious Coming of Christ), with 96 pages and 27 engravings. However, the publisher's location was inadequate, as it was far from the main centers of the country, and the means of communication and transportation were precarious. In this context, on February 15, 1907, in an assembly of Adventists in Rio Grande do Sul, it was concluded that the publishing house needed to change its address.¹²

History of Brazil Publishing House

Still in 1907, a new property was purchased near the São Bernardo Station, present city of Santo André, in the metropolitan region of the city of São Paulo. At the time, the village had only 1,200 inhabitants, and the publisher had 27 employees. The publishing house remained in that location for 78 years, where it also impacted the life of the community. In the first decade of its history, the CPB produced about two thousand seven hundred books, and it was estimated a consumption of around 3,234 kg of paper. In 1914 a book entitled Novo Methodo de Leitura Elementar (New Method of Elementary Reading) was published, and since then the publisher has been concerned with launching materials that are useful as educational tools. As a result, Adventist schools and their teachers can expand the teaching methods of Adventist education throughout the Brazilian territory, and sometimes beyond national borders.¹³

In 1920 the publisher received the name by which it is called today: Brazil Publishing House. In September of that same year, the book “O Destino do Mundo” (The Fate of the World) was released. This volume was an attempt to answer questions related to the end of the world.¹⁴ This decade was marked by a lot of progress at the publisher. In 1921 the old machines gave way to the first linotype machine.¹⁵ That same year there was a major editorial landmark: the launch of the book O Conflito dos Séculos (The Great Controversy). In the following year (1922), O Atalaia (Watchman) became the new name of the magazine Sinais dos Tempos (Signs of the Times). In 1929 the house's first transport truck was purchased. The truck body had been manufactured in the carpentry of Colégio Adventista Brasileiro (Brazil College) (CAB, presently Centro Universitário Adventista de São Paulo (Brazil Adventist University), São Paulo campus).

In the 1930s the offer to produce educational tools was expanded with the Bible Lessons series, which contained seven books, combining religion and education. In 1931 Revista Mensal (Monthly Review) came to be called Revista Adventista (Adventist Review). In the same year, the second volume of the book Testemunhos Seletos (Testimony Treasures) was published, and in 1934 the book Vida e Ensinos (Christian Experience and Teachings of Ellen G. White), both by Ellen White. Still in this decade, Luiz Waldvogel was appointed to take over as editor-in-chief and became the most fruitful Adventist writer in Brazil. Two more books that stood out in this era were O Raiar de um Novo Dia (The Dawn of a New Day) (1936) and Vencedor em Todas as Batalhas (Winner in All Battles) (1937), the latter by Waldvogel. At the end of the decade, in 1939, two important events took place. The first was the acquisition of the publisher's second linotype machine, and the second was the beginning of Vida e Saúde (Life and Health) magazine.¹⁶

In the 1940s 43 important works for Adventist literature were launched. Some examples in the editorial segment of that time were the books: Conselhos Sobre a Escola Sabatina (Counsels on Sabbath School Work), in 1940; O Conselheiro Médico do Lar (The Home Medical Advisor), and O Super-Homem na História (The Superman in History), in 1941; Mensagens aos Jovens (Messages to Young People), in 1942; O Desejado de Todas as Nações (The Desire of Ages) and O Ritual do Santuário (The Sanctuary Service), in 1943; A Marcha da Civilização (The March of Civilization), in 1944; A Influência Transformadora de Uma Jovem (The Transforming Influence of a Young Woman), in 1945; A Ciência do Bom Viver (The Ministry of Healing) and Conselhos aos Pais, Professores e Estudantes (Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students), in 1947; and Santificação (The Sanctified Life), in 1949. The equipment infrastructure was also developed. In 1948 and 1949 the first machine with the ability to cut trilaterally was purchased, in addition to a guillotine, another linotype machine (Model 31), a vertical printing press, a sewing machine, a folding machine, and another printing press, this time from the Kelly brand.¹⁷

In 1953 two magazines were launched: Nosso Amiguinho (Our Little Friend), which became the children's magazine of the denomination in the country, and Mocidade (Youth’s Paper), which was taken out of circulation three decades later. In that year publications of annual devotionals, known in the Brazilian Adventist environment as Morning Devotionals, also began. Still in 1953, the book O Maior Discurso de Cristo (Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing) was printed and, in the following year, Parábolas de Jesus (Christ’s Object Lessons) and Testemunhos Seletos (Testimony Treasures), all of them written by Ellen G. White. Another eventful moment of the decade was in 1956, primarily due to the further spread of Ellen White's writings, this time, of the book Atos dos Apóstolos (The Acts of the Apostles). The second milestone was the major expansion work on the publisher's building, which was carried out in the printing and warehouse areas. In that decade there was also an expansion in the institution's graphic park, due to the acquisition of more equipment. Because of the machinery updating, 56 new works of Adventist literature could be edited.¹⁸

Continuing the denominational literary development in the 1960s, the editorial production record was reached, with the publication of 111 works. For this, three Heidelberg machines and a Polygraph machine were purchased, in addition to the institution's first offset press, which brought a better look to the magazines. In 1964 the Arts Department was established, under the direction of Henrique Carlos Kaercher, who had been working at the publishing house for more than twenty-five years. This was an important step toward improving the visual quality of publications. This aspect has become so essential that the department currently has 25 designers and five illustrators, functions that were very rare in earlier periods.¹⁹

Still in 1964, Leopoldo Preuss, who had helped to establish the first printing presses in Taquari in 1905, retired. In the following year (1965), an important expansion of the structure brought about a significant improvement for the institution. It was the construction of new facilities for the Administration, Accounting, and Writing sectors, besides the Library, Art, and Layout Department, Telephone Center, Reception room, and part of the Expedition. Thus, the building started to have three floors and operated like this until the 1980s.²⁰

In the 1970s the production of literary works reached 88 works, including the translation of many religious teaching materials prepared by the church’s world headquarters.²¹ During this period new machines were acquired, bringing modernization to the house's graphic sector. Within 1970 and 1975, two guillotines and seven offset printers were purchased,²² in addition to other printers, printing presses, and folding and sewing machines. At this point in its expansion, the CPB replaced the process of linotypic composition with photocomposition.²³ In the second half of the decade, within 1976 and 1980, new color printers, automatic book jacketing machines, automatic wrapping machines, automatic plasticizing machines, and automatic display packing machines were acquired. Finally, a 21-station automatic gathering machine²⁴, a photocopier, another automatic processor machine, and telephone equipment were also purchased. The publisher's collection also included a SID computer for accounting and a set of phototypesetters.²⁵

The year 1979 has a significant dimension in the CPB’s history. Three facts denote this importance. The first took place in the editorial area, when the book Vida de Jesus (The Story of Jesus) reached an accumulated circulation of 1.4 million copies. The second event was the creation of the program “Casa Aberta” (Open House) when, during one day in the year, the publisher opened its doors to the public, with a large literary fair. Many came from all parts of Brazil, from far and near, and in later decades this occasion became a festive event that brought together about twenty-five thousand people. The third and last notable fact was the beginning of plans to move CPB's headquarters to the countryside of the state of São Paulo. As part of an expansion project, a property of approximately 534,094 m² was purchased in the city of Tatuí, about one hundred thirty kilometers from the capital. The purchase was made on May 4, 1979, and on that occasion, representatives of the publisher and the selling company, a branch of Kanematsu-Gosho in Brazil, were present.²⁶

In the early 1980s, in addition to the change of location, Brazil Publishing House had other important achievements. One of them happened in the years 1982 and 1983, when the publisher won the Brazilian Quality Award, which measures the recognition of a company's quality through public opinion. At that time the institution began to produce textbooks, harmonizing with the guidelines established by the Programa do Livro Didático Adventista (Adventist Textbook Program), under the coordination of the SAD Department of Education. That was how, in 1983, the publisher's first collection of textbooks was launched, consisting of 14 volumes. In less than two decades, one of the items in this collection, the booklet Este Mundo Maravilhoso (This Wonderful World), sold a million copies. This material helped an average of 72,000 children.²⁷

During these years preparations were made in the new property and, on November 28, 1983, the cornerstone of the new headquarters was laid. Several leaders of the Adventist organization were present, in addition to city officials. The change of headquarters occurred due to circumstantial factors, such as the high cost of land for expansion of the former headquarters, the difficulty in the transportation of employees to the workplace, and environmental pollution in Santo André. It was decided to follow the advice of Ellen G. White in order to avoid institutional functioning obstacles, which were commonly faced in big cities, in addition to seeking benefits for the servers’ health and spiritual life, and thus obtain better conditions for the publication and dissemination of the biblical message.²⁸

In January 1984 the new CPB facilities started to be built in Tatuí. In September the publisher's management was authorized to take the necessary steps to transfer all the work of the house until February or March of the following year. In December 1984 construction work on the new property was well underway. The pavilion was practically completed and about ten tons of tiles covered the building while the internal walls were being built. Meanwhile, the old facilities were being sold so that the funds raised could speed up the establishment of the new headquarters. In February 1985 the occupation of the new industrial pavilion started when dozens of trucks moved CPB’s machines to Tatuí. About 90 percent of employees followed the publisher. The building in Santo André, which had been sold in October of the previous year to Casa Anglo Brasileira S.A. (S.A. Anglo Brazilian House) (Mappin), was handed over.²⁹

The inauguration of the new premises in Tatuí took place on January 4, 1987, with the presence of the then SDA world president, Pastor Neal C. Wilson. About two thousand people attended the ceremony. Pastor Wilson cut the inaugural ribbon, and Pastors Enoch de Oliveira and João Wolff unveiled the memorial plaque for the foundation of the new CPB, which had been placed next to the institution's reception room door. The civil authorities present received copies of the book Vida de Jesus (The Story of Jesus), and Neal Wilson talked about his admiration for the growth of the publishing work in Brazil, highlighting the role of the publisher in this context.³⁰

In the 1990s the old books of religion began to be replaced by volumes written by Brazilian authors. In 1991 the publisher began to invest in its own bookstores to enhance the distribution of its production. The first store was inaugurated in the Moema neighborhood, in the capital of São Paulo. Then a branch in the city of Rio de Janeiro was established. Another innovation of the CPB was the creation, in 1997, of Casa Aberta Online (Online Open House), to offer materials at promotional prices over the Internet and the phone 0800 (free call), a service option that is still working. Usually there were two annual editions: in June and November. On the other hand, Casa Aberta Móvel (Mobile Open House), which was carried out through visits by the publisher's trucks to several locations in the country, took place in different months. During those years 17,957,540 book units were produced, and 21,512,391 kg of paper were used.³¹

When the publishing house celebrated its 100th anniversary, it had produced more than forty million units and consumed more than forty-eight million kg of paper. Furthermore, it came to employ 381 people. In 2000 its centenary was celebrated with many tributes. The then Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso sent a message with “votes of respect and admiration” to the publisher, which according to him “knew how to remain faithful to a proposal guided by the commitment to the themes of the faith, without losing sight of the concrete reality of the society in which these themes fall.” Pastor Jan Paulsen, then worldwide president of the SDA, challenged the institution “not to simply look to the past, but to develop a vision of the future and expand the potential it has.”³²

The publisher continued expanding in the first decade of the 2000s, and new challenges came. Due to difficult logistics in 2000, the “Casa Aberta” (Open House) program came to an end in Tatuí. However, public approach continued by other means made possible by the advent of technology. In the meantime the didactic portfolio was improved under the leadership of the Teaching Materials Management and the Teaching Materials Editors, aided by the skills of other teams, including several pedagogical coordinators. To produce these materials the CPB has a modern and updated graphic park.

One of the largest acquisitions of great repercussion took place in 2003 when a Heidelberg M600 rotary press arrived at the institution, with more than thirty meters in length and capacity to print 40,000 notebooks of 16 pages per hour. With the arrival of these machines, it was also necessary to hire human resources. In 2010 the staff reached 488. In 2012 the publisher's plant was expanded, with the construction of a new restaurant and an administrative building with updated architecture, which today has 27,000 m² of built area. On the occasion, the General Conference president, Pastor Ted N. C. Wilson, was present at the inauguration formalities.³³

The publisher continued growing in the following years and, despite the economic crisis that hit Brazil, it was possible to purchase new machines to replace the old ones and increase production capacity. In 2015 the number of employees reached 623. In that year and the next, the investment in the graphic park was of R $70 million, which was equivalent to about US $26 million at the time. In October 2016, monthly paper consumption reached 821 tons. In a decade, that would represent 98.5 million kg. Nowadays, annual consumption approaches 8,000 tons. From January to October 2016, 45.4 million units were produced, and 3.6 billion pages were printed.³⁴ In 2016, teaching materials represented 35 percent of CPB's income. In November 2016 the number of CPB employees reached 621, with 539 at headquarters and 82 at branches.

In these almost 120 years, the growth of the publisher has been consistent and reached a rate of 63.5 percent, although facing difficult phases during its history. This also represented an upward curve in the institution's revenue. With a good technical reserve, the publisher was able to invest in new projects and adopt a price policy more accessible to the public, readjusting its products below the inflation index. The Adventist Church currently has 62 publishers and 2,016 employees who work in these institutions around the world.³⁵ Of this total, about 30 percent work at the CPB. This shows the representativeness of the Brazilian publisher in this SDA working front. Nowadays, the CPB has 20 modern bookstores in the main cities of Brazil, a number that grows every year. Not to mention the SELS stores, which belong to the conferences and missions.

Historical Role of the Brazil Publishing House

Throughout its historical journey, the CPB has played a very important role, to the point of being confused with the history of the Adventist Church in Brazil itself. “The growth of the church is the result of the growth of the CPB, and the growth of the CPB is the result of the growth of the church.”³⁶ And to continue fulfilling its role, the organization's vision is “to be, by the grace of God, an institution recognized for its ethics and the excellence of its products and services, seeking customer satisfaction.” In parallel to this, it follows its mission to “produce and distribute Christian, educational, and health literature in order to promote the physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being of human beings.” These goals have been successfully achieved by the publisher, and this can be seen, for example, in its growing literary production.³⁷

By 2000 around one hundred new products were released each year, including books on education, health, religion, magazines, textbooks, educational books, music productions, and commercial works. Nowadays all of this production has multiplied, and the CPB has about two thousand one hundred titles in its catalog, including books, Bibles, and hymnals. As of 2010, the publisher began to invest heavily in reference works, such as a book on the history of the church in South America, entitled Terra de Esperança (A Land of Hope), the nine volumes of the Comentário Bíblico Adventista do Sétimo Dia (Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary), and the Enciclopédia Ellen G. White (Ellen G. White Encyclopedia).³⁸

The CPB's largest consumer public is the SDA Church itself, which accounts for 45 percent of its revenue. Some products that have high print runs include devotionals, published since 1953, Bible study guides and Sabbath School lessons, which altogether exceed the circulation of 700,000 copies per quarter. In total, the institution publishes 28 periodicals, including lessons for all age groups. The main ones are: Revista Adventista (Adventist Review), founded in 1906 and with a print run of 35,000 monthly copies at present; Vida e Saúde (Life and Health), released in 1939 and with a print run of 60,000 copies; Nosso Amiguinho (Our Little Friend), created in 1953 and with a print run of 65,000; and Conexão 2.0 (Conexion 2.0), released in 2007 and with a print run of 28.5 thousand. In addition to these, the Ministério (Ministry) magazine and the Revista do Ancião (Elder’s Digest) are edited and printed at the CPB, under the guidance and commission of the South American Division.³⁹

Ellen White's vision that the publishing ministry should produce and spread literature like “autumn leaves”⁴⁰ has been largely fulfilled in Brazil. The missionary books program began in 2006/2007, with the work Os Dez Mandamentos (The Ten Commandments), which had a circulation of 2,142,000 units. Several annual or biannual releases followed, such as A Única Esperança (The Only Hope) (16,788,000) and Viva com Esperança (Live with Hope) (16,973,500), reaching in 2016 the accumulated mark of more than one hundred ten million printed copies and millions of downloads of digital versions. These volumes, specifically, are part of a SAD initiative called “Impacto Esperança” (Hope Impact). It is a project for the mass distribution of literature, carried out over a period of one day and which mobilizes practically all church membership and institutions in the division's territory.⁴¹

Education is another important mission field of the Adventist Church, and the CPB has been producing teaching materials for action and direct assistance in this area. From 2003 Adventist schools in the Brazilian territory started to adopt the CPB teaching material for the study in all grades. This work is supported by the Adventist Education Portal, a website maintained by the publisher for the creation of educational content shared between institutions, teachers, and students. Besides providing “pedagogical support for the network,” the Web site “serves as a platform for the interaction of the school community.”⁴² Through this system, which was incorporated by the CPB in 2010 and relies on the direct labor of 18 employees, parents of students can monitor their children's entire academic life, including class attendance, homework, and school performance.⁴³

Distribution is another important tool needed to fulfill the mission of successfully preaching the gospel through the printed page. And in this regard, the CPB has sought to provide the Adventist and non-Adventist public with greater accessibility to the materials of the denomination. In total, the publishing house serves approximately sixty stores/bookstores and 2.1 million customers. The geographical area covered by the institution includes Brazil, United States (Portuguese-speaking churches), Angola, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, Cape Verde, Spain, and Portugal. Another distribution alternative is the Call Center, in which around fifty people work divided into shifts, serving customers who prefer to contact the publisher by telephone. When it is possible, the attendants make calls to publicize the releases, the so-called active marketing. The strong investment that has been made in social networks completes the menu of sales channels.⁴⁴

The canvassing work, a precious method of selling religious and health literature, in companies and from door to door, has gained momentum with the so-called megabooks, which are larger books, with a hard cover and colored core. Nowadays this segment of the church represents about 13 percent of the publisher's income. In meeting this and other possible means of distributing the “printed page,” the CPB has been fulfilling its missionary role as the publishing house of Seventh-day Adventists. And in addition to reaching Brazil and different parts of the world with its publications, it has also been fulfilling its evangelistic vocation in the local community. From a church with about sixty members, on the occasion of its arrival, in Tatuí, in 1985, the Adventist presence in “Cidade Ternura” (Tenderness City), as the city is known, has been expanded to 13 congregations, with more than 2.5 thousand members today.⁴⁵

Scenario

In recent years the CPB has occupied a leading position among the 62 publishing houses of the Adventist Church around the world, both in the number of employees and in the production of literary works and also in terms of revenue. This gives the CPB a growing responsibility and a unique opportunity to participate in the evangelistic mission of the denomination. The success was not achieved overnight, and neither by a few people. Many people helped write this history, including the canvassers, “most of them as true anonymous heroes.”⁴⁶

This success has also been favored by, at least, few factors: the wide and good offer of products, avoiding unnecessary stocks; a strong market, represented by a dynamic church in Brazil; excellent integration between the publisher and the different church administrative levels; the adoption of a complete line of textbooks used from elementary to high school; and a modern distribution system comprising, among other things, a network of its own bookstores, a commercial website, and a call center.⁴⁷

It is also worth mentioning the effective work of the administrative team, which seeks to privilege the philosophy of placing the right people in the right places, a care that has been corroborated by the commitment of all employees to provide a quality service. Finally, it should be remembered that, first and foremost, God's blessing has been poured out in order to enable the publisher's persistent involvement with the Adventist mission, including donations to SAD projects, TV Novo Tempo (Hope Channel Brazil), construction of temples, and sponsorship of missionaries abroad.⁴⁸

With all this, God’s hand can be noticed in the journey of the publishing house. The Adventist history in Brazil shows that an incalculable amount of people adopted Adventism through literature, and the CPB played a leading role in this process. With financial solidity and bold projects, even today the publisher has sought to give new life to the dreams of the pioneers who established it. As a matter of fact, if they could see the size of the publisher today, they would be surprised at the result of the seed they planted. Maintaining this growth, in a solid way, is the expectation and the purpose for the future. In this regard the entire CPB team and the administration work together so that the “autumn leaves” may continue to spread the Adventist message to the ends of the earth.⁴⁹

Lists⁵⁰

Official Names:

Sociedade Internacional de Tratados no Brasil (Brazil International Tract Society) (1905-1920); Casa Publicadora Brasileira (Brazil Publishing House) (1920-Present).

General-Managers or General-Directors: Augusto Pages (1905-1921); Manley Valentine Tucker (1922-1926); Frederico Weber Spies (1927-1932); John Berger Johnson (1933-1937); Emílio Doehnert (1938-1949); Domingos Peixoto da Silva (1949, 1950); Bernardo Einrich Schünemann (1951-1976); Wilson Sarli (1977-1984); Carlos Magalhães Borda (1985-1995); Wilson Sarli (1995-2000); José Carlos de Lima (2000-Present).

Chief Writers: Guilherme Stein, Jr. (1901-1904); Emílio Hölzle (1906, 1907); Guilherme Stein, Jr. (1907-1917); Emmanuel C. Ehlers (1918-1920); Henrique Luiz Zipp (1920-1922); John Berger Johnson (1922-1933); Luiz Waldvogel (1933-1965); Carlos Alberto Trezza (1966-1972); Arnaldo Benedicto Christianini (1973-1975); Carlos Alberto Trezza (1975-1977); Rubens da Silva Lessa (1978-1981); Rubem Milton Scheffel (1982-1984); Rubens da Silva Lessa (1985-2014); Marcos De Benedicto (2014-Present).

Editors-in-chief: phase without records (1906-1922); John Berger Johnson (1923-1934); Luiz Waldvogel (1934-1965); Naor G. Conrado (1965-1971); Carlos A. Trezza (1971, 1972); Arnaldo B. Christianini (1973-1975); Carlos A. Trezza (1975, 1976); Rubens S. Lessa (1976--1982); Rubem M. Scheffel (1982-1985); Rubens S. Lessa (1985-2014); Marcos De Benedicto (2014-Present).⁵¹

Sources

Annual Statistical Report. Silver Spring, MD: Seventh-day Adventist Church, 2016 and 2018.

“Aviso” [Notice]. Revista Trimensal [Trimonthly Review] 1, no. 04, October 1906.

Borges, Michelson. “Raízes da Nossa História” [Roots of Our History]. Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], no. 1328, year 112 (December 2017).

Cavalcanti, Diogo, Guilherme Silva, Michelson Borges and Wendel Lima. “Há mais de um século transformando vidas” [Transforming lives for more than a century]. Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], no. 1226, year 105 (July 2010).

Centro Nacional da Memória Adventista [Brazil National Center of Adventist History], http://bit.ly/2NUkKJh.

De Benedicto, Marcos e Michelson Borges. “Um século de história” [A century of history]. Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], no. 1, year 101 (January 2006).

Dicionário Informal [Informal Dictionary]. http://tipografos.net/.

ExpoPrint. https://www.expoprint.com.br/pt/.

Greenleaf, Floyd. Terra de Esperança: o crescimento da Igreja Adventista na América do Sul (A Land of Hope: the growth of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in South America). Tatuí, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 2011.

Hosokawa, Elder. “Da Colina, Rumo ao Mar” [From the Hill, Towards the Sea]. Master’s Thesis, University of São Paulo, 2001.

Köhler, Erton. “Uma só história” [A single history]. Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], no. 1226, year 105 (July 2010).

Lemos, Agatha. “Emoção e reencontros marcam reinauguração da Casa Publicadora Brasileira” [Emotion and reunions mark the reinauguration of Brazil Publishing House]. Notícias Adventistas [Adventist News] (Online), May 22, 2012.

Lessa, Rubens. Casa Publicadora Brasileira: 100 anos [Brazil Publishing House: 100 years]. Tatuí, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 2000.

“O Destino do Mundo” [The Fate of the World]. Revista Adventista [Adventist Review] 15, no. 9, September 1920.

Oliveira, Ivacy Furtado de. “História dos livros didáticos adventistas no Brasil” [History of Adventist textbooks in Brazil]. In: A educação adventista no Brasil: uma história de aventuras e milagres [Adventist education in Brazil: a story of adventures and miracles], organized by Alberto R. Timm. Engenheiro Coelho, SP: Unaspress, 2004.

Sarli, Wilson. “Heróis que merecem respeito e admiração” [Heroes who deserve respect and admiration]. Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], no. 6, year 96 (June 2000).

Tipografos.net [Typographers.net]. http://tipografos.net/.

Vieira, Ruy Carlos de Camargo. Vida e Obra de Guilherme Stein Jr.: Raízes da Igreja Adventista do Sétimo Dia no Brasil [Life and Work of Guilherme Stein Jr.: roots of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Brazil]. Tatuí, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 1995.

White, Ellen G. “Holyday Presents.” ARH, November 21, 1878.

White, Ellen G. Vida no Campo (Country Living). Tatuí, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 1988.

Notes

1. “Section III – Publishing Houses,” Annual Statistical Report (Silver Spring, MD: Seventh-day Adventists Church, 2018), 87.↩

2. Marcos de Benedicto (Editor-in-chief of Brazil Publishing House), e-mail message to Carlos Flavio Teixeira (ESDA assistant editor), September 20, 2017.↩

3. Michelson Borges, “Raízes da Nossa História” [Roots of Our History], Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], no. 1328, year 112 (December 2017): 6.↩

4. Elder Hosokawa, “Da Colina, Rumo ao Mar” [From the Hill, Towards the Sea], Master’s Thesis, University of São Paulo, 2001, 52.↩

5. Floyd Greenleaf, Terra de Esperança: o crescimento da Igreja Adventista na América do Sul (A Land of Hope: the growth of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in South America), Tatuí, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 2011, 38.↩

6. Ruy Carlos de Camargo Vieira, Vida e Obra de Guilherme Stein Jr.: Raízes da Igreja Adventista do Sétimo Dia no Brasil [Life and Work of Guilherme Stein Jr.: roots of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Brazil], Tatuí, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 1995, 162-163.↩

7. Rubens Lessa, Casa Publicadora Brasileira: 100 anos [Brazil Publishing House: 100 years], Tatuí, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 2000, 36.↩

8. Marcos de Benedicto (Editor-in-chief of Brazil Publishing House), e-mail message to Carlos Flavio Teixeira (ESDA assistant editor), September 20, 2017.↩

9. Rubens Lessa, Casa Publicadora Brasileira: 100 anos [Brazil Publishing House: 100 years], Tatuí, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 2000, 36.↩

10. Centro Nacional da Memória Adventista do Brasil [Brazil National Center of Adventist History], “Casa Publicadora Brasileira” [Brazil Publishing House], accessed on May 20, 2020, https://bit.ly/2TlZ2Rm; “Aviso” [Notice], Revista Trimensal [Trimonthly Review] 1, no. 04, October 1906, 1.↩

11. Rubens Lessa, Casa Publicadora Brasileira: 100 anos [Brazil Publishing House: 100 years], Tatuí, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 2000, 34-55.↩

12. Ibid ., 50-56.↩

13. Ibid., 57-65.↩

14. “O Destino do Mundo” [The Fate of the World], Revista Adventista [Adventist Review] 15, no. 9, September 1920, 16.↩

15. The linotype machine was invented by the German Ottmar Mergenthaler, in 1884. With the machine, “equipped with liquid lead, it was possible to compose an entire line of text; as soon as it was typed on the machine's keyboard, it was immediately merged and integrated into the composition of columns and pages.” Tipografos.net [Typographers.net], “Tipografia” [Typography], accessed on July 16, 2020, https://bit.ly/2TpHkMw.↩

16. Rubens Lessa, Casa Publicadora Brasileira: 100 anos [Brazil Publishing House: 100 years], Tatuí, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 2000, 78-80.↩

17. Ibid., 81-85.↩

18. Ibid., 86-90.↩

19. Ibid., 91-94.↩

20. Ibid., 91-94.↩

21. Ivacy Furtado de Oliveira, “História dos livros didáticos adventistas no Brasil” [History of Adventist textbooks in Brazil], In: A educação adventista no Brasil: uma história de aventuras e milagres [Adventist education in Brazil: a story of adventures and miracles], org. Alberto R. Timm. Engenheiro Coelho, SP: Unaspress, 2004, 109-118.↩

22. The offset printing process started in the second half of the 20th century. It consists of the interaction between water and fat, and the image is transferred from the “matrix to a printing roll (blanket) and only afterwards it is passed to the paper.” This system is capable of producing medium and large print runs with excellent quality, besides printing many types of paper and even some types of plastic, all done very quickly. ExpoPrint, “Impressão Offset” [Offset Printing], accessed on May 20, 2020, https://bit.ly/2ziEwKt.↩

23. “Photocomposition is the typographic composition made by projecting characters on photosensitive paper (or filmstrip).” Tipografos.net [Typographers.net], “Fotocomposição (1950...)” [Photocomposition (1950...)], accessed on May 20, 2020, https://bit.ly/2TrXKV0.↩

24. “A gathering machine is a device for vertically collating paper, they are trays where paper is placed. Each tray has a book page, for example, and the machine pulls a sheet from each tray, forming a game. Much faster than any human hand.” Dicionário Informal [Informal Dictionary], “Alceadeira” [Gathering machine], accessed on May 20, 2020, https://bit.ly/3bTOKhs.↩

25. Rubens Lessa, Casa Publicadora Brasileira: 100 anos [Brazil Publishing House: 100 years], Tatuí, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 2000, 109-110.↩

26. Ibid., 111-112.↩

27. Ibid., 126.↩

28. Ellen G. White, Vida no Campo [Country Living], Tatuí, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 1988, 32, 35.↩

29. Rubens Lessa, Casa Publicadora Brasileira: 100 anos [Brazil Publishing House: 100 years], Tatuí, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 2000, 116-120.↩

30. Ibid., 122-124.↩

31. Ibid., 138-139.↩

32. Ibid., 11, 39, 139.↩

33. Agatha Lemos, “Emoção e reencontros marcam reinauguração da Casa Publicadora Brasileira” [Emotion and reunions mark the reinauguration of Brazil Publishing House], Notícias Adventistas [Adventist News], May 22, 2012, accessed on November 9, 2019; https://bit.ly/357KwjI.↩

34. Marcos de Benedicto (Editor-in-chief of Brazil Publishing House), e-mail message to Carlos Flavio Teixeira (ESDA assistant editor), September 20, 2017.↩

35. “Summary of Institutions,” Annual Statistical Report (Silver Spring, MD: Seventh-day Adventists Church, 2016), 4.↩

36. Erton Köhler, “Uma só história” [A single history], Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], no. 1226, year 105 (July 2010), 4.↩

37. Marcos de Benedicto (Editor-in-chief of Brazil Publishing House), e-mail message to Carlos Flavio Teixeira (ESDA assistant editor), September 20, 2017.↩

38. Ibid.↩

39. Ibid.↩

40. Ellen G. White, “Holyday Presents,” ARH, November 21, 1878, 161.↩

41. Marcos de Benedicto (Editor-in-chief of Brazil Publishing House), e-mail message to Carlos Flavio Teixeira (ESDA assistant editor), September 20, 2017.↩

42. Diogo Cavalcanti, Guilherme Silva, Michelson Borges and Wendel Lima, “Há mais de um século transformando vidas” [Transforming lives for more than a century], Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], no. 1226, year 105 (July 2010): 13.↩

43. Marcos de Benedicto (Editor-in-chief of Brazil Publishing House), e-mail message to Carlos Flavio Teixeira (ESDA assistant editor), September 20, 2017.↩

44. Ibid.↩

45. Ibid.↩

46. Wilson Sarli, “Heróis que merecem respeito e admiração” [Heroes who deserve respect and admiration], Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], no. 6, year 96 (June 2000): 38.↩

47. Marcos de Benedicto (Editor-in-chief of Brazil Publishing House), e-mail message to Carlos Flavio Teixeira (ESDA assistant editor), September 20, 2017.↩

48. Ibid.↩

49. Ibid.↩

50. Marcos de Benedicto and Michelson Borges, “Um século de história” [A century of history], Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], no. 1, year 101 (January 2006): 8-13.↩

51. For more information about Brazil Publishing House, access the Web site: https://www.cpb.com.br/, or the social media: Twitter--@casapublicadora; Facebook and Instagram--@cpbeditora; and YouTube: Casa Publicadora Brasileira.↩