POMBA, GIUSEPPE, - Bookseller, printer, and publisher, born in Turin on 4 February 1795, died there on 3 November 1876. He began his career in 1807 as a bookseller’s apprentice in his modest father’s shop after the death of his parent; in 1810 he assumed its direct management under the name « Vedova P. e figlio » and, from 1814, with the purchase of a small printing press, became a printer and publisher, bringing out educational and religious books.
A man of organizational talent, he soon undertook extensive publishing ventures, among which should be recalled the « Collezione di classici latini » (1820-35, in 109 vols.), the « Biblioteca popolare » devoted to the best-known Italian classics (1828-30, in 100 small volumes), C. Cantù’s « Storia universale » (1838-46, in 35 vols.), the « Enciclopedia popolare » (1842-49, in 13 vols.), and quite a number of others that enjoyed wide circulation. As early as 1831 he had established the first printing company in order to give greater impetus to his growing publishing activity, which he directed and consolidated until 1849. After his retirement, the firm passed to the « Cugini P. », who, joining with various other similar firms, created in 1855 the present Unione Tipografica Editrice Torinese. G. P. should also be remembered as the founder of the Turin Civic Library, inaugurated on 22 February 1869.