A 1,500-copy company history costs ¥4.5 million—where does the money actually go?
“Corporate memory” isn’t a feel-good story. It’s an investment in governance, trust, and hiring. Are print companies capturing the “extra stomach” work—editing, logistics, and digitisation?
Some company histories run ¥4.5 million (about $30,000, approximate) for 1,500 copies. And that figure is only a yardstick for printing and binding—not the full project. Budgets for company histories and anniversary books aren’t approved just to buy paper. They get funded because “company memory” becomes a shared internal language and an external trust signal—and because the job is often commissioned as one bundled package that includes distribution.
Gathered with AI. Thought through on the shop floor. Written for the future of print.
BPJ WIRE: stories selected and drafted by the BPJ desk from world news, fact-checked against the source ledger — published alongside the editor's own picks.
Translated from Japanese by AI. The Japanese original is authoritative.
Dover Corporation printed a 160-page, 15,000-copy 50th anniversary coffee-table book. In a large-run commemorative book like this, it’s not treated as a giveaway trinket. The case study explicitly states uses such as explaining the company to acquisition targets and investors.…
The rest is for members
Read the full article. Our feature reports also carry an archive-grade one-page brief (BPJ VISUAL BRIEF) — every figure with its source.
Already a member? Log in
Sources
- JPC（周年記念誌・社史の制作料金相場） / 2024-05-16
- エトレ周年事業室（制作費用例）
- ブリッジワークス（社史・周年記念誌の制作）
- 学習院大学図書館（企業史料統合DB J-DAC説明）
- Fenwick Publishing Group（Dover Corporation Case Study）
- History Associates（DuPont corporate anniversary celebration case study）
- Oxford Academic（Liverpool Scholarship Online収録章）
- IMD（ケーススタディ）
- サイバーテック（XML事例：DNP年史センター関連）
- （デジタルアーカイブ事例紹介サイト）東京海上日動火災保険 図書史料室ケース
- 内閣官房（デジタルアーカイブ戦略 PDF）
Beyond Printing Journal — read the world through print, and print the future.