Andreas Koch (printer)

Andreas Koch (died after May 19, 1656, presumably in Glückstadt ) was a printer.

Life

The names of Koch's parents are unknown, as is the place and date of birth. He trained as a printer, although it remains unclear where this happened. Since Danish literature calls him a “German printer”, he cannot have come from the duchies of Schleswig or Holstein.

According to uncertain information, Koch moved to Copenhagen in 1625 . In the files of the university there he is mentioned for the first time in 1626 due to unapproved prints. Prints made by him have been preserved from the following year. Koch mostly printed works in Danish. He himself stated that he did not speak the language. On the basis of allegations that he had printed a "courtly" song for students, he could also have claimed this for his own protection. During his early years he did not take on any major major assignments.

King Christian IV founded Glückstadt in the 17th century and was looking for a printer here. Koch applied for this position and prevailed against several other candidates who were presumably too demanding. In November 1632 he received the corresponding privilege. At the beginning of April 1633 he was still in Copenhagen and received his first annual salary from the pension chamber. A short time later he probably started his work in Glückstadt. In 1633 he made several prints. This included the privileges of the Sephardim and Dutch living in the city, which had existed since 1630/31, with whom the city was to be advertised.

Kochs Druckerei was the first independent company of its kind that existed permanently in a Schleswig-Holstein city. This was the result of Christian IV's decision to locate the government and justice office for the royal portion of the duchies in Glückstadt. Koch's company was financed primarily through official orders. As a printer, he received an annual salary of 100 Reichstalers , which included the creation of mandates and posters the size of a sheet. He also printed wedding poems, funeral sermons and other works for private individuals from Glückstadt and the surrounding area. He himself is not mentioned as an independent publisher and only worked occasionally with other publishers.

The largest work he printed was created by Koch in 1641/42 with the ecclesiastical armory of Johannes Rotlöben , who was court preacher in Glückstadt. The three-volume book of edification in octave format had around 1300 pages. Three books that the customs administrator Søren Terkelsen commissioned from him, probably on his own account, were also important. These were translations of the Insomnis cura parentum by Johann Michael Moscherosch , the first two books by Honoré d'Urfés L'Astrée and the first part of the Danish song collection Astree Siunge-Choer , which Terkelsen had written himself. These books are among the early titles in Denmark's baroque literature . Unusual for a production in Glückstadt was not only the Danish language, but also that it was secular, fictional works. They were also very elaborately designed: both translations contained copperplate engravings , the song collection printed sheet music.

Koch did not reach the book market with his work for the government and private individuals. He printed a lot, but only Terkelsen's books gave him national importance. His prints are an example of such products of the state administration and the bourgeoisie in the first half of the 17th century.

After Koch's death, the printing works that were left behind were almost completely closed in 1657 and 1658. The reason for this may have been the Second Northern War and its consequences. Koch's only attested son Melchior (1659–1680) took over the printing company. In 1659 he got a privilege as a royal printer. The office was taken over by Jakob Johann Augustin in 1775 and existed in the same place as JJ Augustin in Glückstadt for 350 years.

literature

• Dieter Lohmeier: Koch, Andreas . In: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, pp. 213-215.