In the context of Maria Theresa’s educational reforms, the article analyses the introduction of new school textbooks in Bohemia as an attempt to build a new type of state economic enterprise. For the first twenty years after compulsory education was introduced in 1774, a balance had to be struck for the publication of textbooks between standardization and adaptability, in order to over- come the obstacles and conflicts inherent in the reforms. In implementing the reforms it was thus necessary to deviate from certain fundamental principles - dirigism, uniformity and centralization. An economic system based on the awarding of privileges was faced with the challenge of meeting public order on an unprecedented scale. Moreover, an economic model for publishing schoolbooks had to be devised that could function as an instrument of social policy while remaining financially sustainable. The new publishing house had to ensure regular high-volume distribution of the new product throughout a territory that lacked any commercial infrastructure in the field of bookselling., Claire Madl., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy