In the 18th century, only the orphanage had the right to print and distribute books. However, the privilege was limited to religious writings such as hymnbooks and Bibles, school books and other teaching materials as well as a few titles on spa and bathing literature.

Wiesbaden's first publisher is the bookseller and printer Ernst Ludwig (Louis) Theodor Schellenberg. The two-volume "Lehrbuch der praktischen Rechenkunst für Schulen, angehende Kaufleute und andere Geschäftsmänner" by Wilhelm Ludwig Hülshoff opened the publishing program in 1811. A good 50 titles followed before Schellenberg's death in 1834. Schellenberg had been commissioned by the Nassau government to produce the "Herzoglich-nassauischen allgemeinen Landeskalender" (Duchy of Nassau General State Calendar) with 40 pages and an annual print run of around 50,000 copies, which kept the printers and presses busy for several months. Schellenberg's publishing program does not reveal a clear line. The spectrum of titles ranges from writings by the then well-known author Regine Frohberg (1783-1850) to titles on daily politics and scientific works in the fields of history, archaeology, German studies, mathematics and balneology (including "Wiesbaden und seine Heilquellen" by Georg Christoph Wilhelm Rullmann, 1790-1837).

The publicist Johannes Weitzel is represented at Schellenberg with a good portion of his works. Travelogues by Heinrich Christian Thilenius, Johann Isaak von Gerning or the now forgotten Gerhard Friederich were also part of the publishing program, as was Wilhelm Dorow's "Opferstätte und Grabhügel der Germanen und Römer am Rhein" or the first edition of works "J. G. Seume's gesammelte Schriften", which is now considered a rarity. The second Wiesbaden bookseller and publisher was Heinrich Ritter, once an apprentice in Schellenberg's court bookshop and a boarder with his master's family.

Up until the 20th century, there were 45 bookshops or print shops that were also involved in publishing alongside their main business. Only the bookshops Kreidel, Limbarth, Niedner, Plaum, Ritter and Staadt and the printers Bechthod, Riedel, Schellenberg and Stein published books to any significant extent. Only Schellenberg achieved supra-regional significance in the years 1811-34, but this only changed when the Wiesbadener Volksbildungsverein (Wiesbaden Folk Education Association ) published a series called Wiesbadener Volksbücher (Wiesbaden Folk Books ) from October 1900, which was distributed throughout Germany. The Gabler-Verlag publishing house (business administration), founded here in 1929, was also active in publishing nationwide.

After the Second World War, Wiesbaden's book and magazine publishing industry developed rapidly. Before American troops vacated the central German territories they had occupied in accordance with the treaty, officers from the "Information Control Division" (ICD), who were very familiar with the German publishing industry, persuaded Leipzig publishers to relocate to Wiesbaden. These were Brockhaus Verlag, Dieterich'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Insel Verlag and Georg Thieme Verlag. The music publishers Breitkopf & Härtel and Kesselring'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung followed in 1945, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag in 1948 and Oscar Brandstetter Verlag in 1950. The selected publishers or their authorized representatives were allowed to travel to Wiesbaden with close family members, a few executives and only a small amount of luggage to establish branch operations. They had no idea that their (bombed-out) Leipzig businesses would later be expropriated.

The Americans also prompted the "Börsenverein der Deutschen Buchhändler" (German Publishers and Booksellers Association) to set up a branch in Wiesbaden, the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels. The motive of the American administration was to use journalism to influence the Germans ("reeducation" or "reorientation") in order to establish a stable democracy after the Nazi regime.

The Leipzig publishers and Georg Kurt Schauer from the Börsenverein had their first home in what was then the "Tagblatt-Haus". When the Wiesbadener Kurier was founded here, they moved to the Pariser Hof. In 1945, nine publishers based in Wiesbaden were licensed by the military government, including Limes-Verlag, which was probably the most important new establishment. Six more publishers were added in 1946, but by 1947 only twelve Wiesbaden publishers still held a license. By mid-1948, 22 publishers were registered in Wiesbaden.

The granting of licenses was preceded by months of waiting, because the political reliability and professional suitability of the applicants were examined very closely by various American authorities. The publishers were not subject to direct censorship, but it was expected that no writings by authors with National Socialist leanings would be published. Failure to do so could result in the withdrawal of the license. Control was exercised by the ICD.

Almost all Wiesbaden publishers worked for the entire German-speaking world and attracted international attention. Wiesbaden had thus become a sought-after and publicly supported location for the book industry. From fall 1945 to spring 1948, 406 titles with a total circulation of two and a half million copies were published in Wiesbaden. Due to preferential treatment in the allocation of paper, US authors were conspicuously frequently represented with translations of their works. As a result, several fashion magazine and stage publishers set up shop, so that in 1953 Wiesbaden ranked sixth among publishing cities in the Federal Republic of Germany, second only to Frankfurt in Hesse.

Initially, the publishers had no worries about sales. Due to the shortage of paper, the print runs of most titles were limited to 5,000 copies, which were almost always sold out by the time they were published. As there was enough money, but consumer goods were not available, people bought books. The effects of the currency reform of July 20, 1948 were all the more glaring: now the long-lost consumer and luxury goods were competing for scarce money, and books were suddenly no longer in demand. Wiesbaden's further development as a publishing city can be traced using the trade directories in the address books.

According to statistics from the "Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels" (German Publishers and Booksellers Association), an average of 830 titles were published annually in Wiesbaden between 1965 and 2000, with a maximum of 1,255 titles in 1983, compared to only 527 in 1965. The actual figures are somewhat higher, however, because only the members of the Börsenverein are taken into account. In terms of titles, Wiesbaden ranked between 9th (1968) and 16th (1980) in the Federal Republic between 1965-96.

Of the 43 publishing houses that were based in Wiesbaden in 1950, only Brandstetter, Breitkopf & Härtel, Chmielorz, Gabler (since 2012 Springer Gabler, part of Springer Science+Business Media), Harrassowitz, Kommunal- und Schulverlag and Universum Verlag still have their headquarters in Wiesbaden. Although it is not a traditional book or magazine publisher, Deutsche Genossenschaftsverlag, which moved to Wiesbaden in 1949 and has expanded considerably here, should be mentioned for the sake of completeness.