Two years later, in addition to their book-publishing business, the brothers began lithographing religious pictures, as well as coloring them by hand, before the introduction of chromolithography.

Charles also took an active part in public life, and served as president of the Swiss canton of Schwyz.

1808, d. 1864), who took charge of the technical part of the business, proved himself a pioneer, introducing to the mountain village of Einsiedeln a series of improved trade methods from the great mercantile centers of Europe and the United States.

In 1867, the Alte und Neue Welt, the first illustrated popular Catholic German magazine on a large scale, was begun.

[1] Although Benziger Brothers had established offices in New York City in 1853, the company's development as a publishing house did not begin until 1860 when J.N.

The publishing of English Catholic books was vigorously undertaken, and the company's catalog covered the field of devotional, educational and juvenile literature, as well as works of a theological theme.

In 1971, it was merged with three other companies: Bruce Publishing, founded in Milwaukee in the 1890s, P. J. Kenedy & Sons of New York (excluding the Official Catholic Directory) and Glencoe Press, which began in Beverly Hills in 1966.

[4] In July 2007, the Benziger name and product line were purchased from McGraw-Hill (which had acquired Macmillan's educational division) by CFM Publishing and merged with Texas-based Catholic publisher RCL (Resources for Christian Living), founded in 1964 by Richard C. Leach, to form RCL Benziger.

At the peak of its expansion in the 1890s, Benziger published books and magazines in 20 languages[7] and had more than 1,000 employees in Switzerland alone, making it one of the largest Swiss companies at the time.

After the Second World War, the theological program was supplemented by a wide range of books for children and young people.