German publisher of story papers (aka dime novels or penny dreadfuls) founded by Ilse Tormin, named after the Kölner Bastei (Cologne Bastion), an expressionist building placed on the remains of a caponier near the harbour.
In 1953 Gustav Heinrich Lübbe (1918 - 1995), who had previously invested to the company, bought Bastei to rescue it from bancruptcy, moved it to Bergisch Gladbach and used it as basis to found Bastei-Verlag Gustav H. Lübbe while maintaining the label 'Bastei-Verlag' and the battlements logo.
