Walter de Gruyter GmbH ( or ; brand name: De Gruyter) is a scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. The company has its roots in the bookstore of the Königliche Realschule in Berlin, which had been granted the royal privilege to print books by King Frederick II of Prussia in 1749. In 1801 the store was taken over by Georg Reimer. In 1919, Walter de Gruyter (1862–1923) merged it with 4 other publishing houses into the company that became Verlag Walter de Gruyter & Co in 1923, and Walter de Gruyter GmbH in 2012.