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21. German speaking area to 1550
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Mainz. Printing introduced c.1452.
After the early presses Mainz ceased to be important. Fust and Schöffer were the only significant printers.
Mainz. Fust, Johann. 1455-1466. Printer. Died 1466. The financier, a wealthy goldsmith who had backed Johann Gutenberg since about 1450 and foreclosed on him in 1455, continuing in partnership with Peter Schöffer.
Mainz. Fust, Johann, and Schöffer, Peter. 1455-1466. Printers. They continued in partnership after foreclosing on Johann Gutenberg in 1455 and were probably responsible for publishing the 42-line Bible although their first signed work did not appear until 1457.
1457. Psalterium. The Mainz Psalter, with canticles, hymns, capitula, preces maiores and minores. Fust dated and signed this book in a Latin colophon: "The present copy of the psalms, adored with the beauty of capital letters, and abundantly marked out with rubrics, has been thus fashioned by an ingenious invention of printing and stamping without any driving of the pen and to the glory of God has been diligently brought to completion by Johannes Fust, a citizen of Mainz, and Peter Schoeffer of Gernsheim in the year of our Lord 1457 on the vigil of the feast of the Assumption (14 August)". A folio of 143 leaves, 20 and 24 lines to the page, there is a fuller edition of 174 leaves which also includes the vigils of the dead. Five copies of each edition survive, all on vellum. The Vienna copy is known as the "virgin copy", and only on this copy does the printer's device appear, perhaps stamped in later. The book is printed in two excellently cut fonts with 292 impressions of initials cut in metal and printed in red and blue. The register is prefect and they were probably printed in one pull with sections of the initials picked out and separately inked before being reinserted. Some copies are printed entirely in black, some letters seem to have been printed by more than one pull, and some seem to have been stamped in by hand. Many corrections were made in the press and no two copies are identical. There are at least three variations in the typography of the first page. It is also the first book designed to contain music but space was left for the staves and notes to be inserted by hand. The whole production is brilliant, painstaking and expensive and was probably based on a specific commission. The two types are the largest used so far and may have been partially prepared by Gutenberg. Schöffer, the artist and technician, originally a scribe, probably designed the initials. He later married the daughter of Fust, the financier of the whole project. .
1458. Missale. Canon Missae employed the type and initials of the Psalter. Two copies on vellum survive, in the Bodleian Library and the National Library in Wien. It contained the part of the Mass that was most used and liable to wear.
29 Aug. 1459. Psalterium Benedictinum cum canticis et hymnis. A second edition of the Psalter (folio 136 leaves, 23 lines). Thirteen copies survive, all on vellum. Unlike the earlier edition this was intended for use in monastic houses and was printed in accordance with the reformed monastic breviary of the Union of Bursfield. According to the colophon it was "printed to the glory of God and in honour of Saint James", the Benedictine monastery of Saint james in Mainz who probably bore the expense. It had the same type and initials as the first edition and this edition has been described as the "glory of Fust and Schöffer's press" but there were three later editions in the same type, in 1490.1502 and 1516. Some initials were also used in the Missale Vratislaviense (Breslau missal) of 1483.
6 Oct. 1459. Durandus, Guillelmus. Rationale divinorum officiorum. (Folio, 160 leaves, 63 lines in two columns). Produced only five weeks after the Psalter, this is an explanation of church services by a Dominican monk. It has three initials in red and blue and several small capitals in red. A smaller type was introduced, the "Durandus type", the first to be based on a rounded hand, giving more white on the page and better differentiation between letters than textura, the precursor of the fere-humanistica or "lettre de somme" group of type faces. It was widely copied within Germany but less so outside.
25 June 1460. Clement V. Constitutiones. The first boo of canon law, set in two narrow columns of large type, a smaller more legible type than the 42-line Bible but larger than Durandus, in which the commentary was set around the text itself.
14 August 1462. Biblia Latina. Printed with 48 lines to the page in a new elegant type. Headings and initials were printed in red and it was the first work to use the printer's device of the twin shields; on the 1457 Psalter it had been stamped on later.
The sack of Mainz may have driven Fust and Schöffer to Frankfurt for a while but they had returned by 1463.
1463. Pius II. Bulla cruciata sanctissimi do-/mini nostra contra Turchos ("Ezechielis prophetae". 22 Oct. 1463). This has the earliest title-page, a label title in two lines.
1465. Cicero, De officiis. This includes the first use of Greek type, a crude attempt, made up on many roman sorts approximating to the Greek letters. Printed in the Durandus type, it is the first dated edition of any classical author.
During the ten years of the partnership the business prospered. Foreign contacts were made but in 1466 Fust died of the plague while on a business trip to Paris. They had printed 115 editions together. Fust's widow married the bookseller Konrad Henkis in 1468
Mainz. Schöffer, Peter. 1455-1512. Printer. Died 1512. Originally a scribe, educated in the Sorbonne. He was probably taken on as a technical advisor and continued in partnership with Johann Fust after the latter foreclosed on Gutenberg in 1455. After Fust's death in 1466 he continued alone.
6 March 1467. Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae. The first work printed after Fust's death 60 lines to a page in two columns, using the smallest type so far. A second illustrated edition appeared in 1471.
24 May 1468. Justinian, Institutiones. Two Johns and a Peter were mentioned in the colophon as inventors of printing.
1470. A Donatus still using the 42-line Bible type has been assigned to this period.
1475. Conrad von Zabern Incipit opusculum [… de monochordo]. One of the earliest books dealing exclusively with music, a twelve leaf tract on the use of a musical instrument called the monochord written by a professor of theology at Heidelberg university in about 1462.
1482 Herbarius latinus with 150 woodcuts was one of the earliest printed herbals. Many wooducts followed manuscript illustrations which had become stylised through copying but some were clearly drawn from life.
1485 Gart der Gesundheit a German herbal with 380 blocks.
1486 Bernard von Breydenbach, Peregrinatio ad terram sanctam. Printed on Schöffer's press but supervised by the illustrator Erhard Reuwich. The author, a canon of Mainz cathedral made the journey to the Holy Land as penance for the sins of his youth, taking Erhard Reuwich as artist along with about 150 others. He wrote the book on his return and although Reuwich made the illustrations he probably did not cut the blocks. The result is one of the earliest books with drawings from life rather than imagination. They are the first book illustrations to us cross-hatching and the first to be associated with a named artist. William Morris claimed they were the best illustrations to any early printed book. The work is a folio with 148 leaves, five of them extended by paste-ons to accommodate large maps or views, that of Venice being 164cm long. Other illustration occupy two leaves. They include six plates illustrating various races, cuts of exotic alphabets and a fine allegorical frontispiece. It is the first printed book to contain folding plates.
Schöffer was able to establish agencies in Paris and Angers for the sale of his own and others' books. He seems to have acted as a purchasing agent for the university of Paris through an associate Guimier, a member of the Paris guild. Lawsuits show the extent of his business from Basel to Lübeck. One lawsuit against Bernard Inkus of Frankfurt relates to the violation of property rights in a series of books vested in himself and Conrad Henki.
In 1479 Schöffer moved his publishing headquarters to Frankfurt, already an important trading and publishing centre, paying to become a citizen of Frankfurt, but he continued to live in Mainz and direct the printing side there. He became a citizen of note in Mainz, honoured by being appointed a judge. He was a fine printer, although many works were simply produced, often with the lines unjustified. He made extensive use of colour printing – according to the British Library to 1485 there was hardly a book without a touch of red, although after that date it was mainly confined to missals. He was proud of his type founding; in the colophon to Justinian's Institutiones in 1468 he writes: "every nation can now procure its own kind of letters for he [Schöffer] excels with all prevailing pen". He was responsible for many first, including the colophon, the dating of books, marginal notes, Greek type (equal first). He was a skilled businessman, producing the first surviving printed advertisement in 1470 which also includes the first type specimen: Hec est litera psalterij.
He died in 1512 having produced 59 works after Fust's death. His son Johann had succeeded to his business in 1503.
Mainz. Schöffer, Johann. 1503-1559. Printer. Son of Peter Schöffer, printer of Mainz. He succeeded his father in 1503 and was the only printer to keep 16th century Mainz from typographical oblivion. Until 1531 he was the unofficial printer to the university. Classical scholarship was his main interest, and his love of archaeology and ancient history was largely inspired by his Protestant friend Ulrich von Hutten.
1501. Livy. A German edition with 214 woodcuts. Seven reprints were made before the firm's closure in 1559. The 1505 edition has a tribute to Gutenberg.
1515. Johannes Tritheim on the origin of the Franks.
1518-19. Livy. A Latin edition of great accuracy.
1520. Peutiner, Inscriptiones vetustae romanae is a catalogue of Roman inscriptions around Augsburg.
1520. Collectanea antiquitatum Moguntinensium deals with ancient monuments near Mainz.
1526. Liber imperatorun Romanorum contains reproductions of original Roman coins, not imaginary Renaissance knights.
Bamberg.
Probably the second German town to receive printing in about 1459 but it was never an important printing centre.
Bamberg. Printer of the 36-line Bible. 1458/60. Printer. This unidentified probably completed the 36-line Bible here, having come from Mainz.
Bamberg. Pfister, Albrecht. 1461-1464. Printer. Pfister is the first named printer in Bamberg. He used the 36-line Bible type and may have been employed in the workshop that produced the Bible. However his workmanship is cruder, so he is not normally identified as the printer of the 36-line Bible. He is the first printer to use woodcut illustrations, but these are not of a high standard. It has been suggested that local woodcutters refused to work for him, so he was forced to use amateurs. Seven out of the nine editions attributed to him have illustrations, often roughly coloured by hand, probably in his own workshop. His works are of a popular nature, so little survives in good condition.
1461. Boner, Ulrich. Der Edelstein Dated 14 February 1461, this is the earliest dated printed book with illustrations, and also the earliest dated book in German. The rhymed colophon states: "this little book is completed in Bamberg in the year of or Lord Jesus Christ 1461 on St Valentine's day. The author was a Dominican monk in Bern and the 61 woodcuts were printed after the text and coloured in the printer's workshop. A second edition dated 1462/4 contains two extra woodcuts.
1462/3 Biblia pauperum. Three editions are recorded, one in German and two in Latin. This is a sherter version of the text with 34 leaves instead of 40. There are 136 woodcuts, including many repeats.
1463? Johannes von Tepl Der Ackermann von Böhmen. There are two editions of this text, one surviving in a single copy has no illustrations, but spaces for the woodcuts to be inserted later and is sometimes considered to be Pfister's earliest work, although it may be a trial run for the other edition, which has five full-page cuts of which three complete copies and five fragments survive. The text also has less Bavarian features than the unillustrated edition. The work is one of the earliest vernacular texts and a fine example of medieval rhetoric.
1462. Historie von Joseph, Daniel, Judith und Esther. Dateable to after 1 May, this collection of four Biblical histories illustrated with 61 woodcuts has a rhymed colophon which has been translated as follows:
Each man with eagerness desires
To learn, and to be wise aspires
But books and masters make us so
And all men cannot Latin know.
Thereon I have for some time thought
And histories four together brought:
Joseph and Danil and Judith,
With good intent, Esther therewith.
To these did God protectin give,
As now to all who godly live.
If by this we our lives amend,
This little book hath gained its end,
Which to be sure in Bamberg's town
By Albrecht Pfister's press was done
In fourteen hundred sixty-two
As men now reckon, that is true,
Soon after good St Walbourgh's day
Whom to procure for us we pray
Peace and eternal life to live
The which to all of us God give. Amen
1464? Jacobus de Theramo, Von der zeit der gedonten urteil. A German version of Consolatio peccatorum, seu Processus Belial, this may be Pfister's last imprint.
After Pfister there was no further printing in Bamberg until about 1481 when Johann Sensenschmidt arrived.
Bamberg. Sensenschmidt, Johann. 1480-1495. Printer. The surname means "typecutter". He arrived from Nürnberg in about 1480, his first work being an almanac for 1481. His outstanding work was the Bamberg Missal of 1481 with letters 2cm high. In Bamberg he produced 57 works to 1495, many of them in association with Heinrich Petzensteiner who arrived from Nürnberg about the same time.
Strasbourg.
Strasbourg may have benefitted from the presence of workmen of Gutenberg before his return to Mainz in the 1440s and this may explain some primitive features of the work of the first printer.
Mainz. Mentelin, Johann. 1460-1477. Printer. Mentelin was originally an illuminator and episcopal notary. According to Lignamine in Chronica summorum pontificorum (Rome, 1474) Mentelin was printing 300 sheets a day in 1458. His grandson, Martin Schott, claimed in 1502 that Mentelin had invented printing.
1460. Bible. Mentelin's first publication was a Latin Bible in two volumes with 49 lines to the page. The copy in Freiburg im Breisgau University Library has at the end of vol. 1 the date of rubrication 1460, at the end of vol. 2 1461. It is the third published Bible, issued n competition with Mainz and occupied 854 pages of text as opposed to the 1,286 of the 42-line Bible, making it more economical.
1466? German Bible. The first Bible in the vernacular, in 812 pages, the text was not always accurate but set a standard until the arrival of Martin Luther.
Mentelin published some classics, such as an early edition of Vergil c.1469 and philosophy (Aristotle c.1468) but his main works were theological, for example St Jerome c.1468 and other church fathers. They are mostly large folio volumes in large type, often in German. As they are unwieldy volumes they tend to survive well. He was a shrewd business man, the first to issue lengthy catalogues of his publications. He catered for the laity in his use of the vernacular, leaving others to risk ruin by publishing the classics, and publishing more popular works. Most of his works were undated.
1473. Vincent de Beauvais Speculum historiale, one of his dated works, is an immense encyclopaedic work in eight volumes. Its type was one of the earliest to have roman tendencies.
1478. Wolfram von Eschenbach Parsifal and Titurel, two epic poems, were probably published at the instigation of his patron Bishop Ruprecht who had earlier ordered manuscript copies.
1478. Mentelin died on 12 December and was buried in Mainz cathedral. He had produced some 40 editions and had been honoured by Kaiser Friedrich who had granted him a coat of arms.
Strasbourg. Rusch, Adolf. 1467-1480. Printer. Also known as the R-printer from the distinctive form of the upper case R in one of his fonts. He never signed a book and his identity was long unknown. He assisted Mentelin and later married his daughter Salome, succeeding his father-in-law on his death in 1478. About 27 editions have been assigned to him.
1467? Hrabanus Maurus De sermonum proprietate, sive opus de universo, a medical work, was the first German publication in a roman font.
1480. Latin Bible in four volumes, probably his last and his main work, was printed for Koberger.
Rusch also carried on an extensive business as a publisher and paper merchant, supplying Nürnberg and Basel as well as Strasbourg.
Strasbourg.
Eggestein, Heinrich. 1466-1483.
Printer.
1466 Latin Bible
1470 Advertisement
Strasbourg. Pruss, Johann. 1482-1510. Printer.
Strasbourg. Flach, Martin. 1487-1500. Printer.
Strasbourg. Knoblauch, Johann. 1491-1528. Printer.
Strasbourg. Knoblochtzer, Heinrich. 1476-1484. Printer.
Strasbourg. Schott, Martin. 1481-1499. Printer.
Strasbourg. Schott, Johann. 1500-1548. Printer.
Strasbourg. Reinhardt, Johann. 1483-1522. Printer.
Sack of Mainz 1462.
Strasbourg. Reinhardt, Johann. 1483-1522. Printer.
Cologne. Printing introduced 1464. largest German town, important centre for
NW Germany, much printing in Latin, influence of churchmen at university.
Cologne. Zell, Ulrich. 1465-1494. Printer. From Hanau
Cologne. Hoernen, Arnold ther. 1470-1482. Printer.
Cologne. Koelhoff, Johann. 1472-1493. Printer.
Cologne. Koelhoff, Johann [2]. 1493-1502. Printer.
Cologne. Quentell, Heinrich. 1479-1482, 1486-1501. Printer.
Cologne. Quentell, Peter. 1524. Printer. Leading
anti-Lutheran printer started Tindale's translation of New Testament 1524-5 but
unfinished when editors had to flee.
Basel Printing introduced c.1468. Basel was only part of Switzerland from 1501; prior to that it formed part of the Holy Roman Empire.
Printing was introduced by Berthold Ruppel, pupil of Gutenberg. First recorded strike settled
by arbitration Christmas Eve 1471. Reputation for scholarly printing, home of
scholar printers Amerbach and Froben
Berthold Ruppel was a pupil of Gutenberg and probably introduced printing in about 1468. USTC records 24 titles between 1468 and 1482, few of thm signed or dated.
Johann Amerbach USTC records 120 titles between 1477 and 1505.
Johann Besicken was born in Besingheim, Germany and, in 1469, he matriculated at the University of Basel but never completed his studies. He became a citizen of Basel in 1478. He printed in Basel from about 1480 to 1483. In 1493 he established a printing press in Rome with Sigismundus Mayr; the two printed together, especially the works of theologians Giuliano Dati and Raynaldus Monsaureus, until 1499. About 1501 Besicken entered a partnership with Martinus de Amsterdam when they released a joint publication entitled Dialogus de dolore cum tractatu de ulceribus in pudendagra. After a brief, but prolific period spent with Martinus de Amsterdam, Besicken began to print independently in 1502. His primary area of focus concerned the printing of Roman guidebooks, city law and oratory, and papal court proceedings. The latest work attributed to Besicken is Bernardinus Carvajal’s Homelia doctissima cardinalis Sancte Crucis from 1508. It is believed that Stephanus Guillereti took over his typesets and press in 1509. The USTC records 304 items during his career.
Basel. Amerbach, Johann. 1475-1513. Printer. (Latin Johannes Amerbacensis, Born around 1440 in Amorbach ; died 25. December 1513 in Basel. Son of the mayor Peter Welcker. He studied at the Sorbonne in Paris , where he was a pupil of Johannes de Lapide , who had recently introduced book printing in the French capital. There he acquired the academic degree of a baccalaureus in 1461, and that of a magister artium liberalium in 1462 . Probably he stayed for a short time in Venice , the center of humanistic book printing. This is concluded from the fact that he is called by contemporaries Johannes de Venetiis , Hans Venediger or Hans of Venice. His presence in Basel has been guaranteed since 1477. There, Amerbach began to work as a printer shortly after his arrival. His first imprint was probably a German almanac for the year 1478, which must have appeared at the beginning of this year at the latest. The first major work may have been the Latin lexicon Vocabularius breviloquus , written by Johannes Reuchlin .
In August of 1481, Johann Amerbach became a member of the Basler Zunft zu Safran , which, in addition to spice traders, included numerous other occupations. Anno 1482 he acquired his own house and in May 1484 the Basel civil rights . It is evident from the tax records of that time that Johann Amerbach, as a book printer and merchant, quickly became extraordinarily successful. The entrepreneur initially worked with Jakob Wolff of Pforzheim , later with Johannes Petri and Johann Froben .
Johann Amerbach married in 1483 Barbara, the widowed daughter of Basle ruler Leonhard Ortenberg. The sons Bruno (1484-1519), Basilius (1488-1535) and Bonifacius emerged from this marriage . Only Basil, for a short time, exercised his father's profession.
Johann Amerbach died in Basel on 25 December 1513 and was buried in the St. Margaret's Charterhouse.
Johann Amerbach had good personal contacts with important humanists such as Johannes Reuchlin, Beatus Rhenanus and Sebastian Brant . These scholarly friends also worked closely with the Basel printer as proofreaders of his prints. It is regarded as a permanent merit of Johann Amerbachs to have played a decisive role in the formation of the ties between humanism and book-printing, which were extremely fruitful for the Basler intellectual life of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The text bases for many of his works were found in the rich manuscripts of the Basel Charterhouse. In return, he undertook to give the first fruits of his prints to the monastery library.
His printing and publishing program was marked by the values and goals of the humanist spirit. He printed folio editions of Latin Bibles, scholastic writings, dictionaries, and scientific editions of the works of the Church Fathers (including Augustine and Ambrose ). In addition, excellent editions of the antique classics of his officinal descended . Amerbach devoted special attention to the works of contemporary humanists. Thus he brought out writings by Petrarch, Enea Silvio Piccolomini, Marsilius Ficinus, Baptista Mantuanus and Franciscus Philelphus. On the other hand, the number of his German-language prints was comparatively low.
Johann Amerbach had a rich stock of different typefaces. Thus he had only half a dozen antiquarian writings, chiefly for the pressure of the Church fathers and humanists. Through his printing activity, Amerbach has contributed much to the spread of the roman type in the German area.
Amerbachkorrespondenz, edited by Alfred Hartmann, 11 vol. published by the University Library, Basel, 1942-2010.
Barbara C. Halporn (Eds.): The correspondence of Johann Amerbach. Early printing in its social context. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 2000, ISBN 0-472-11137-X (edition of selected letters with English translation and commentary)
Basel. Bergmann de Olpe, Johann. 1494. Printer. Johann Bergmann von Olpe was a scholarly printer who had studied in Basel and printed the works of humanists there between 1494 and 1500.
Brant, Sebastian. Das Narrenschyff. Sebastian Brant was born in Strassburg 1457 or 1458. Educated at Basel University, doctor of law 1489, lecturer. Knew humanists there including printer Amerbach. He wrote Latin verse and edited legal works but is best known for his Narrenschiff. In 1501 returned to Strassburg when Basle separated from the German Empire. In Strassburg he was town clerk until his death in 1521. In Strassburg where he made several petitions to the Emperor Maximilian urging him to drive back the Turks.
Das Narrenschiff was one of the most famous German poems of period. A party of fools is assembled on a ship bound for Narragonia. A fool is at the helm so they drift aimlessly, as does the poem: a disordered collection of satires on 112 different types of fool in blunt rhymed verse. Occasional ostentation of classical learning. Perhaps suggested by carnival masquerades and reflects the strong vein of didactic satire in German literature at that time manifested in beast fables such as Reynke de Vos (1498) and popularity of Aesop's fables which reached 80 Latin and 50 vernacular editions by 1500. Brant's work reflects the moral uncertainty of the time, the clash of old and new ideas and the declining respect for many ecclesiastical institutions which led to the Reformation. Brant himself was a moralist but had little desire to reform learning or religion. He satirised the pedantry of the scholastics but suggested nothing better. He attacked abuses in the monasteries but remained true to the church. He looked back to a golden age rather than forward to a new intellectual order.
The Ship of fools was published in German and Latin editions by Johann Bergmann de Olpe in 1494 and immediately became extremely popular, with at least six authorised and seven pirated editions published before 1521. It was imitated in Germany by Thomas Murner (1475-1537) in Die Narrenbeschmeerung (1512) a coarser and more direct work.
It was also widely translated. A Latin version by Locher was printed by Bergmann von Olpe in 1497 (8 eds by 1498). It was also translated into Dutch in 1500 (Paris : Guy Marchant) and into French in three versions in 1497 (by Paul Riviere - Paris: for Geoffroy de Marnef), 1498 (by Jean Drouin - Lyon: Guillaume Balsarin), and 1499. In 1509 two rival English translations appeared, that of Henry Watson, printed by Wynkyn de Worde (2nd ed 1517) and Alexander Barclay's printed by Pynson. Both editions contained woodcuts based on the German edition, which also served as models for the Paris edition of 1497 and the Lyons edition of Drouyn's version of 1498. Watson used the French version of Drouyn.Johann Bergmann von Olpe was a scholarly printer who had studied in Basel and printed the works of humanists there between 1494 and 1500. Basel was the home of scholarly printers, Amerbach, Froben, and Oporinus.
It was illustrated by a series of 112 woodcut illustrations, which have been attributed by some to the young Albrecht Durer. Whether or not he was responsible for some or all of them, the hands of up to six different cutters have been recognised. In the 1495 edition three woodcuts replaced repeats and one new cut appeared in the 1497 edition. Bergmann handed over set of blocks to Lamparter of Basel by 1509 and they were last used in Strassburg in 1512. Copies were made for Riviere's Paris translation in 1497 and these were well copied by Pynson. Wynkyn de Worde's cutter produced cuts of a much cruder quality and other copies were made for printers in Paris and Lyons (1498). Interesting in showing the interpretation of craftsmen who were copying woodcuts.
Basel. Durer, Albrecht. 1490-1528. Illustrater.
Basel. Froben, Johann. 1491-1527. Printer.
Basel. Froben, Hieroynmus. 1527-1563. Printer.
Basel. Oporinus, Johannes. 1541-1568. Printer.
Augsburg. Printing introduced 1468 active centre with many illustrated books.
Augsburg. Zainer, Gunter. 1468-1477. Printer. called to Augsburg by abbots of SS Ulric & Afra, seat of
famous scriptorium. Use of illustrations led to opposition from guilds. 1471-2
Jacobus de Voragine Leben der Heiligen first large-scale illustrated
work. Erhardt Ratdolt (1447-1527) Augsburg's finest printer, in Venice 1476-86,
including first edition of Euclid (1482). Excellent initials and borders, first
displayed title-page 1476, woodcuts printed in colour. Introduced italianate
style for theological and scientific works alike. Johann Schönsperger the Elder
(1481-1523) first printer to receive court recognition. Printer to Maximilian I.
Ambitious programme of prestigious printing, special types cut (including first
Fraktur), artists like Dürer used. 1513 Maximilian's prayerbook, 1517 Melchior
Pfinzing Theuerdanck illustrated allegorical chivalrous romance.
Augsburg. Schussler, Johann. 1470. Printer.
Augsburg. Bamler, Johann. 1472-1495. Printer.
Augsburg. Zorg, Anton. 1475-1493. Printer.
Augsburg. Ratdolt, Erhardt. 1487-1527. Printer.
Augsburg. Schonsperger, Johann. 1481-1523. Printer.
Augsburg. Steiner, Heinrich. 1530-1532. Printer.
Nurnberg. Printing introduced 1470.
Nurnberg. Sensenschmidt, Johann. 1470-1481. Printer.
Nurnberg.
Koberger, Anton. 1470-1513.
Printer. (1445-1513)greatest entrepreneur. At height of operations 24 presses,
100 workers, also worked with other printers. Produced 236 editions including:
1483 German Bible, 1493 Hartmann Schedel
Liber chronicarum with 1809
illustrations from 645 woodcuts (69 cities from 22 cuts). Illustrators include
Michael Wohlgemuth, to whom Dürer was apprenticed. Final account book for volume
(1509) shows Europe-wide extent of business contacts.
University of Maryland
website.
Ulm. Printing introduced 1472.
Ulm. Zainer, Johann. 1472-1479. Printer.
Ulm. Holle, Leonhard. 1482-1486. Printer.
Zurich. Printing introduced 1479
Zurich. Froschauer, Christoph [1]. 1521-1564. Printer.
Zurich. Froschauer, Christoph [2]. 1564-1590. Printer.
Lubeck. Printing introduced 1475
Lubeck. Arndes, Stephan. 1486-. Printer.
Lubeck. Snell, Johann. 1480-1520. Printer.
Lubeck. Gothan, Bartolomaeus. 1486. Printer.
This page last updated 18 September 2020
