Books and their makers during the Middle Ages

by George Haven Putnam

The next city in chronological order to be considered as a publishing centre is Zurich, in which printing began in 1504.

The first of the Zurich printers whose name has been preserved is Christ Froschauer, who is known principally through his association with Zwingli. Froschauer, who devoted himself earnestly to the cause of the Calvinists, had a religious as well as a business interest in securing a wide circulation for the works of Zwingli and his associates, and together with these works, he printed editions of the Bible, not only in German, but in French, Italian, Flemish, and English. Froschauer’s editions were the first Bibles printed on the Continent in the English language. For these Bibles, which were distributed at what to-day would be called popular prices, very considerable sales were secured, and the presses of Froschauer were thus made an important adjunct to the work of the Reformation.

In Augsburg, the printing business of which began to assume importance in 1468, the interests of the publishers were, on the other hand, largely associated with the cause of the Roman Church. The first book with an Augsburg imprint and date was issued by Zainer, and was an edition of the Meditationes Vitae Domini Nostri Jesu Christi. In 1470, was published by Schüssler a Latin edition of Josephus, and in 1477, Sorg, who was one of the most active of the Augsburg publishers, issued the book of the Council of Constance, which contained no less than 1200 wood-cuts, presenting the 1156 coats-of-arms which were represented at the Council.

The most famous of the printer-publishers of Augsburg was, according to Kapp, Ratdolt, whose list comprised principally mathematical works and books of religious music. His edition of Euclid, issued in 1482, constituted the first European edition of the Syracusan mathematician. The sales of the orthodox theological books, which constituted a special interest of the Augsburg publishers, were largely checked by the Reformation. George Willer, an enterprising Augsburg bookseller, who sold not only his own publications but those of other German publishers, is to be credited with the printing of the first classified catalogue known to Germany.

Among the earlier publications of Ulm, the most important was the geography of Ptolemy, issued by Holl in 1484, with important maps.

The eminence of the city of Nuremberg in the work of publishing is principally due to the scholarly enterprise of one family, that of the Kobergers, whose work began about 1470. Antonius Koberger, the first of the line, is grouped with Froben of Basel and with Aldus of Venice for the commercial importance of his undertakings, and above all for the scholarly ideal of his business operations. His active business work covered the years 1470-1503. Among his earlier important publications was an edition of Thomas Aquinas, issued in 1474, and of the Consolations of Philosophy of Boëthius, printed in 1475. The latter was the first printed edition of a book which had been for nearly a thousand years famous among books in manuscript, and which possibly shares with S. Augustine’s City of God the reputation of being the work most frequently found in the old monastery libraries. By the year 1500, Koberger was utilising no less than twenty-four presses, and undoubtedly was sending out annually more books than any other publisher of his time. He had branches or agencies in Frankfort, Paris, and Lyons, a business correspondence in the Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and England, as well as, of course, throughout Germany. In respect to the bulk of the business done by him and of the commercial success secured, he was a greater publisher than either Aldus or Froben, his two most famous contemporaries. The work of Aldus, which is considered in detail in another chapter, was, however, distinctive on the ground of the special difficulties to be overcome and of his enterprise and scholarly ambition in the production of Greek literature. The interest of the work of Froben centres partly in his close friendship and long association with Erasmus, and in the fact that, as the publisher for Erasmus, he secured the first important copyright returns for a contemporary author which had been known in the record of publishing.

Koberger gave special attention to the production of Bibles and of works in orthodox theology. The latter division of his list was largely interfered with by the increasing influence of the Lutherans.

Koberger took the initiative in the production of books containing expensive and elaborate illustrations, and his illustrated editions will compare more favourably with those of Plantin and with the other publishers of the Low Countries, than is the case with the issues of any other German publisher. Nuremberg had always been the centre of art interests, and there appear to have been in the town many designers whose services could be secured for the production of wood-cuts.

The great German Bible, published by Koberger in 1483, filled with artistic illustrations engraved on wood, compares not unfavourably with the illustrated Bible issued by Plantin fifty years later.

The Schedelsche Chronik, published in 1493, contained no less than 2000 wood-cuts prepared by the Nuremberg artists, Wohlgemut and Pleydenwurf. After the work of the Reformers became active, the presses of Nuremberg were occupied for some years in issuing controversial tracts and pamphlets upholding the orthodox views of the Church; while, under an edict of the magistrates issued in 1520, the printers of Nuremberg were forbidden to print and the dealers were forbidden to sell the writings of Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and their associates. Notwithstanding this prohibition, however, there was enough sympathy with the Reformation among many of the Nuremberg printers to keep them interested in the surreptitious production (under risk of fine, confiscation, and imprisonment) of very many of the Protestant tracts of the times. While the Catholic tracts were, however, catalogued in due course and openly sold, the Protestant pamphlets had to be smuggled in and out of the city and disposed of under various covers and precautions.