Orell Füssli is a Swiss banknotes printing and bookselling company,[6] established by Christoph Froschauer in 1519 as a book printer and publisher.

[13] From 1530 to 1585, the Druckerei emerged as one of the most prominent publishers in the German-speaking field[13] and in the years to follow, the business would change owners within the Zürich wealthy elite.

[13] It is not until 1744, as the Zürich Ratsherr Johann Rudolf Füssli joined the company as a partner and shifted the focus to the areas of theology, natural sciences, history and arts.

[13] Hans Conrad von Orelli and his uncle Johann Jakob Bodmer run "Orell & Cie.", a publishing house with a Druckerei.

[13] As the competitive pressure increases on the market in Germany, the publishing program moves back to Switzerland related topics and the focus of the business shifts to printing.

Switzerland's first advertisement office ("Annoncenbüro")[13] is established which would subsequently turn into ofa Orell Füssli Werbe AG.

One year earlier the advertising agency founded in the middle of the 19th century had already been transformed into a public limited company, which latterly traded under the name ofa Orell Füssli Werbe AG and was sold to Publigroupe in 1998.

[25] Orell Füssli moved from the city centre to the Wiedikon district, which was incorporated in 1893, in 1923 due to lack of space.

This effectively created the present-day company in terms of its portfolio (publishing, book retailing, security printing).

On 1 July 2008 Orell Füssli Wirtschaftsinformationen Ltd. was wholly acquired by the Axon Active Ltd. group based in Lucerne.

[30] In July 2002 Orell Füssli acquired a 76% majority interest in the Atlantic Zeiser Group Ltd, which is based in Emmingen-Liptingen (Germany) and had subsidiaries in France, Italy, Spain, the UK and the USA.

[32] Atlantic Zeiser Group AG was active in the telephone and credit card business, passport systems and numbering boxes.

[34] In 2022, Orell Füssli Ltd acquired hep Verlag AG, a Swiss publisher of textbooks and reference books based in Berne.