When Prisma Print merged with the printing house „Ühiselu“ in 2004, a link was created between the centuries old experiences and traditions and the top technology of the 21st century.
The first printing house on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea started in 1588 in Riga. The first Tallinn printing house, the municipal and gymnasium printing house, was founded by Cristoph Reusner in 1633. This printer from Stockholm was one of the first to receive special privileges on the territory of the modern day Baltic states. Reusner was free of the citizen duties, received work and living rooms free of charge and was paid 50 state thalers a year. The Tallinn representative printer's rights remained in the Reusner family line for centuries, even after Peter I's Uusikaupunki peace treaty which retained all of the privileges of the nobility in the former German lands. The privileges gained by Reusner were enjoyed by the Tallinn representative printers for a long time.
The printing house's distinctive legacy is a series of works with great importance to both the formation of the Estonian language and the Estonian cultural history. In 1637, the Reusner printing house printed the first book with Estonian sections, the so-called hand and home manual for the pastors and heads of family in the duchy of Estonia, which included also Martin Luther's Small Catechism. Reusner's printing house also printed the first grammatics book of the Estonian language and the New Testament in the 18th century – this already under Johan Kristow Prendeken. The even more important book, Estonia's first Bible, the shaper of our common written language, was printed in the same printing house (although that was now in the ownership of Jacob Johann Köler).
Only in 1922 did the publishing society „Ühiselu“ acquire the printing house – then known under the name „The Lindfors Inheritors“. The name „Ühiselu“ remained until 2005. During the first murky years of World War II, the printing house was nationalized. The number of printed works was also significantly increased and the number of copies grew to staggering amounts. The Soviet-era production of „Ühiselu“ includes the magazines „Looming“, „Loomingu Raamatukogu“, „Noorus“, „Sotsialistlik Põllumajandus“, the newspapers „Sovetskaja Estonia“, „Noorte Hääl“ etc. A baroque-like increase in the production of the Estonian printing houses followed.
In order to broaden the opportunities, Prisma Print and Ühiselu joined their forces in 2003, which culminated in the complete merger of the production in 2004. Since then, the companies jointly offer practically anything enabled by the modern printing technology. Business cards, forms, posters, leaflets, advertising printouts, flyers, stickers, brochures, magazines in staple and glue binding, product catalogues, yearbooks, calendars, maps, atlases, pressed products – limited only by the client's imagination. Today's most famous prints are high-quality magazines for both the Estonian and also the Scandinavian and Russian markets. The more popular books include perhaps the „Harry Potter“ series, “The Da Vinci Code“ and Andrus Kivirähk's „Rehepapp“. Asko Künnap's „Kõige ilusam sõda“ that won the title of Estonia's most beautiful book in 2004 was also printed with the joined forces of the former „Ühiselu“ and Prisma Print. The printing house product market lies basically all over the Europe. Books have been printed for customers in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Germany etc.
Reusner Printing House cooperates with the advertising agencies, design bureaus, printing houses and publishing houses in Estonia, many European countries and Russia, and offers its service for the extent of the whole printing process, checking it from start to finish. As a result, the printing house that has restored the name Reusner offers a service based on modern technology and supported by both the centuries old traditions of the Reusner Printing House and the 21st century skills and opportunities of Prisma Print. Unlike other Estonian printing houses, Reusner boasts an especially wide selection of products and the strong points also include the flexible and personal service and competitive pricing. The status of Reusner Printing House as a trustworthy partner is ensured by the production doubling opportunity – if a device experiences a malfunction, there is always another device that will complete the work.
