From 1477, Peter Drach continued to print at any rate to the end of the fifteenth century; but it is perhaps possible that there were a father and son of the same name, whose various books have not been separated. The Omeliarum opus of 1482 [Hain, 8789] is spoken of as ‘factore Petro Drach juniore in inclita Spirensium urbe impressum.’ The only other interesting printers at Spire were the brothers John and Conrad Hijst, whose names are found in the preface to an edition of the Philobiblon of Richard de Bury, which they, printed about 1483. They used an ornamental Gothic type, generally confused with that belonging to Reyser of Eichstadt, and their unsigned books are almost always described by Hain and others as printed ‘typis Reyserianis.’
Only one printer is known to have been at Esslingen in the fifteenth century. This was Conrad Fyner, who began to print in 1472, and continued in the town till 1480. Though the first dated book is 1472, it is most probable that several of the undated books should be placed earlier. Fyner’s first small type is extremely like one used at Strasburg by Eggestein, if indeed it is not identical, and their books are constantly confused. In 1473, Fyner printed Gerson’s Collectorium super Magnificat, the first book containing printed musical notes; and in 1475, P. Niger contra perfidos Judeos, which contains the first specimen of Hebrew type. One book in Fyner’s type [Hain, *9335] is said to be printed by Johannes Hug de Goppingen. In 1481, Fyner moved to Urach, where he printed one book, and after that date he disappears.
At Lavingen only one book is known to have been printed in the fifteenth century. It is the Augustinus de consensu evangelistarum [Hain, *1981], issued on April 12, 1473. Madden conjectures from the appearance of the type and the capital letters that the book was printed by John Zainer of Ulm. Both type and capitals, however, are different, but their resemblance is quite natural considering the short distance between Ulm and Lavingen.
At an early period Ulm was very important as a centre for wood engraving, and several block-books are known to have been produced there. An edition of the Ars Moriendi is signed Ludwig ze Ulm, whom Dr. Hassler conjectures to have been Ludwig Hohenwang. The earliest printer that we find mentioned in a dated book is John Zainer of Reutlingen, no doubt a relation of Gunther Zainer the printer at Augsburg. He issued in 1473 a work by Boccaccio, De præclaris mulieribus, illustrated with a number of woodcuts, and having also woodcut initials and borders. He printed from this time to the end of the century, many of his books being ornamented. Another printer at Ulm to be noticed is Conrad Dinckmut, who printed from 1482 to 1496. He was probably a wood engraver, for he illustrated many of his books with woodcuts, and also produced a xylographic Donatus, of which there is an imperfect copy in the Bodleian.
In 1473, printing was introduced into Merseburg by Luke Brandis, who moved in 1475 to Lubeck. In 1475, also, Conrad Elyas began to print at Breslau, and by 1480 no fewer than twenty-three towns had printing presses. Between 1480 and 1490 the art was introduced into fifteen more towns, and between 1490 and 1501 into twelve. So that the total number of plates in Germany where printing was practised in the fifteenth century is fifty.
Basle was the first city of Switzerland into which printing was introduced, but it is hard to determine when this took place. The earliest printer was Berthold Rodt, or Ruppel of Hanau, who is supposed to be the same man as the Bertholdus of Hanau who figures in the lawsuit of 1455 as a servant of Gutenberg. It is not till 1473, in the colophon of the Repertorium Vocabulorum of Conrad de Mure, that we find either his name or a date; but many books are known printed in the same type. One of these, the Moralia in Job of St. Gregory, was printed in or before 1468, for one copy contains a manuscript note showing that it was bought in that year by Joseph de Vergers, an ecclesiastic of Mainz. About 1474, Berthold began to print a Bible, but finished only the first volume, dying, it is supposed, about that time. The second volume was printed by Bernard Richel, and is dated 1475. The most important printers of Basle were Wenssler, Amorbach, and Froben. About 1469, Helyas de Louffen, a canon of the Abbey of Beromunster, began to print, and in 1470 issued the Mammotrectus of Marchesinus, finished on the Vigil of St. Martin, the exact day and year in which Schœffer finished his edition of the same book. Bernard says that the two editions are certainly different, and could not have been copied one from the other, so that the similarity of date must be looked upon as a curious coincidence. This Mammotrectus is the first dated book issued in Switzerland, and is printed in the most remarkable Gothic type used anywhere in the fifteenth century. Many of the capital letters if found by themselves could not be read, and it is a type which once seen can never be forgotten. At the foot of each column in the book is a letter which looks like a signature, but which is put there for the purpose of a number to the column. Helyas de Louffen died in 1475, having printed about eight books, some in Gothic and some in Roman type.
Before the end of the fifteenth century printing presses were at work in five other towns of Switzerland: Geneva (1478), Promentour (1482), Lausanne (1493), Trogen (1497), and Sursee (1500).