About us
Publisher Rainer Bode was born on November 30, 1954 in Peine, Germany, near Hannover.
Even as a young boy, he was fascinated by sparkling crystals. Exploring the rich iron deposits in his home town of Peine, or in the nearby Harz Mountains, he sought out, and found, minerals. At 17, he had already bought himself a Rollei SL 66, a medium-sized 6x6 for evidence of his finds; a camera which he has used ever since. Rainer Bode deeply wished to become a miner. This would have forced him to turn his back on Peine, in order to study the techniques of the mining industry in Bochum. In the end, he decided to study photographic design in Dortmund and later founded a publishing house. Since he was 17 years old, Rainer Bode continued to photograph minerals. He learned much from his mentor, Dr. Olaf Medenbach. Today, with nearly 16,000 slides in 6x6 format and uncountable digital pictures, Rainer Bode possesses one of the largest photo archives of minerals in the world.
He started his work as an editor in 1978, with the publication of the first edition of Emser Hefte (the notebook for EMS), which was launched in the first Mineral Days of Bad Ems. The Emser Hefte was most interested in the classic mining districts, and was published quarterly. However the series, rich in tradition, came to an end in 1994.
In 1983, with MAGMA, Rainer Bode put a new, larger format, mineral magazine on the market. Renowned experts from all over Europe contributed to this specialized journal, particularly richly illustrated. However, it too was abandoned, after only seven editions. Since 1985, Rainer Bode has lived in Haltern-Flaesheim, approximately 30 km north-east of Essen, where he and his wife, Doris, were starting their small, specialized publishing house (www.bodeverlag.de) for the world of minerals and the mining industry.
Having photographed minerals in almost all of the museums in Europe, and many in the United States, Rainer Bode published, in 1984, the book “Mineralien Museen in Westeuropa” (The Mineral Museums of Western Europe). For “Kristallschätze – Mineralien Sammler im Oberpinzgau”, which appeared in November, 2001, the author and the publishing house received the Salzburg prize for cultural action. Rainer Bode is especially proud to have been able to, following the reunification in May, 1990, photograph the uranium mines of Schlema-Hartenstein, in Saxony, and Ronnenberg, in Thüringen.
In addition to the many book released, in March 1990 the specialized magazine “MINERALIEN-Welt” (The World of Minerals) (www.mineralien-welt.de) was published for the first time. Today the magazine has a print run of over 7000 issues and is ordered and read by lovers of fine minerals in over 45 countries worldwide.
During the years of 1992-1998, Bode Verlag also published another large scale magazine, addressed to 3D photographers and people interested in magic images: the so called "3D Magazin". Unfortunately, after 6 years, the quarterly came to an end, for lack of sufficient supporters. The market for such a magazine was obviously too small.
In the following years many new titels were edited, among them scientific works and illustrated books, such as the standard work on minerals from Morocco. But also topics like Norway, the Alps or other mining regions throughout Europe found their place in specific books. Since 1994 Rainer Bode is also producing the annual Show Catalogue of the Munich Mineral Show, the biggest trade fair for stones worldwide. And also in other publishing houses, you can find traces of Rainer Bodes work, for example in the booklet “Welcher Edelstein ist das?” (What Precious Stone is this?) published by KOSMOS-Verlag, with 50,000 copies in its first edition. Since then, 30,000 new copies have already been reprinted and it has been translated into more than 15 languges. With "Magic Inclusions in Quartz" in 2003, the publishing house started to issue their own bilingual book edition, followed by numerous other English versions of books (e.g. AGATES I, II & III and Namibia), with the aim to make knowledge, characteristic design and beauty of minerals available to more parts of the world.
One of the more recent and most popular projects of Bode Verlag is the creation of "Edition Schloß Freundenstein". In 2004 Rainer Bode gave the impulse for the transfer of the famous Dr. Erika Pohl Collection. In search for an adequate museum, he suggested Freiberg with its huge mining history as an ideal spot and soon the city of Freiberg started with the renovation of its old and dilapidated castle, and openened the unique Pohl exhibit as a museum on October 20, 2008 under the name "terra mineralia". Thanks to this fortunate event and in cooperation with the Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg, Saxony, the new Edition Schloß Freudenstein was founded, to publish yet unequaled illustrated books in coffee-table size, with new standards of printing quality and volume, up to phenomenal 860 pages. To this day, masterpieces about Russia (2006), Namibia (2007) and the Czech Republic/Slovakia (2008) have been edited - to be continued!
Beginn after the opening of the Krüger-Haus at Freiberg in 2012 we have started the new "Edition Krüger-Stiftung" with "SIEGERLAND & WESTERWALD", „HARZ MOUNTAINS", "NAMIBIA I + II," and "SCHWARZWALD I - IV".
Besides his work as an editor, Rainer Bode is also the expert in charge of the second-largest mineral exhibition in Germany, the Hamburg trade show, which starts in December, and for which he organizes a prestigious exposition each year since 1995. Exhibitors advanced from 240 to 420 and visitor numbers increased from 14.000 to about 23.000 during that episode of collaboration. Furthermore, since 1978, he is running his own trade show, all years in April, the Mineral Days of Bad Ems near Koblenz, celebrating its 40rd anniversary in 2018.
In 2009 the publishing house has moved back to its roots and is now located in the Hannover area, in the scenic village of Salzhemmendorf-Lauenstein. Rainer Bode now lives here with his wife Doris, the two daughters have moved out years ago, but always come back to visit and support the publishing house where and whenever needed.
During over 45 years of business, the Bode Verlag has emerged to the biggest specialized publisher in the field of minerals and mining, thanks to the great amount of books yet published.
And of course there will be more coming soon in our EDITION SACHSENSCHÄTZE, we are currently working on a masterpiece about the fascinating Ore Mountains, Saxony (Erzgebirge) - keep yourself informed on our websites and make sure you don't miss the newest must-haves to complement your bookshelf or mineral collection!