Asswerus Kröger

Asswerus Kröger (* Lübeck ; † 1594 at the latest ) was a German printer.

biography

Kröger became a citizen of Leipzig on October 24, 1559 under the professional title of book printer . However, he was probably not self-employed there, as no prints made by him in Leipzig are known. From 1561 he lived again in Lübeck and was probably a book printer with his own license from 1562. However, this concession did not necessarily entitle him to print independently. It was possibly restricted and only secured the right to a full license.

His print, currently known as his first own work, dates from 1564 (declaration by the Lübeck Council on the motives for the city's entry into the three-crown war , also known as the Nordic Seven Years War). He may not print from 1570 to 1574 and from 1578 to 1585. The reasons for this are not known. Possibly as a measure against increasing competition from unauthorized printers in Lübeck or from printers who had just settled outside the Lübeck area, he and Johann Balhorn the Younger had themselves registered with the trade supervisory authority (bet) as the only printers approved in Lübeck in 1584. In the years that followed, he complained to the Council several times against the increasing competition in book printing from non-approved printers despite the obligation to obtain a license. After his death, the shop was probably continued by his widow until 1602 and then passed into other hands.

About 70 prints by Kröger are known for the German and Scandinavian market: Lutheran edification literature , hymn books, sermons, funeral speeches, Alamanache , folk books and herbal books. The works for the Scandinavian market were mainly created as commissioned prints for the publishers and booksellers Lauritz Albrecht and Paul Knufflock . In addition, Kröger is said to have also printed school books, of which, however, no copies are known.

Works (selection)

• An Erbarn Radt of the city of Lübeck cause / varumb you in the current defensions war against the Künigl. W. have to go to Sweden (1564)
• Consolation from the Gospel of John with the interpretation of the Nuremberg pastor Veit Dietrich (1568)
• En liden handbog (1592)
• En Ny Psalm sheet (1593)

literature

• Booklets on the history of North German printing 1.1986: Lübeck printing in the 15th and 16th centuries . Hamburg: University of Applied Sciences, Department of Libraries.
• Alken Bruns and Dieter Lohmeier (eds.): The Lübeck book printers in the 15th and 16th centuries: Book printing for the Baltic region. Heide in Holstein: Boyens 1994. ISBN 3-8042-0668-9 .
• Reinhard Wittmann: History of the German book trade . 2nd edition Munich: Beck 1999. ISBN 3-406-42104-0 .
• Christoph Reske and Josef Benzing (first name): The book printers of the 16th and 17th centuries in the German-speaking area: Based on the work of the same name by Josef Benzing / by Christoph Reske . Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2007. ISBN 978-3-447-05450-8 and ISBN 3-447-05450-6 .