Joan Rosembach

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Vocabolari: Dictionary Catalan - German by Joan Rosembach, 1502 Perpignan

Joan Rosembach - Johann Rosembach - (* around 1470 in Heidelberg , † November 1530 in Barcelona ) was a German priest and printer of the Gothic style living in Catalonia . About 90 of his numerous works are known. They begin in the 15th century and continue for almost 40 years to the first third of the 16th century. He is considered the most important book printer of his time in Catalonia.

biography

Joan Rosembach was born as Johann Rosembach in Heidelberg. The exact date of birth is unknown due to the great fire of 1693 that destroyed the archives. He moved to Catalonia at an early age and was one of a notable number of Germans who successfully introduced the art of printing to Catalonia. He stayed there and Catalanized his first name.

After working in Valencia for a few years , he moved to Barcelona in early 1492 . Among other things, Lo càrcer d'amor, the first illustrated book of the Catalan printing press, and in early 1494 the Constitucions , the “constitution” that Ferdinand II of Aragon granted the Corts Catalanes to , was created there in 1493 . He made a name for himself as a printer of liturgical writings , so that from 1497 he had a contract with the diocese of Tarragona . Between 1498 and 1500 he stayed in this city for a long time.

Page from the Catalan-German dictionary from 1502, on which mainly German and Catalan names of birds are compared

Between 1500 and 1503 his stay alternated between Barcelona and Perpignan, also Catalan . There he printed an important incunable for the diocese of Elne in 1500 with the Breviarium Elnense , followed in 1502 by the bilingual dictionary Vocabolari molt profitos per apendre La Catalan alamany i Lo Alamany Catalan ("A very useful dictionary, whereby Catalans can learn German and Germans Catalan" ). The original is kept in the Biblioteca de Catalunya in Barcelona.

It is not surprising that the first book printing in the Catalan language was a Catalan-German dictionary, considering that with the expansion of the territory of the County of Barcelona and the subsequent Catalan-Aragonese federation into the Mediterranean, the Catalan influence in European trade had risen sharply and communication across language barriers became increasingly important.

Back in Barcelona, ​​he printed all kinds of works: liturgical, religious , medical , musical , grammatical , legal and official (e.g. the Consolat de Mar , 1514). But the first popular prints were also there.

Between 1518 and 1521 and between 1523 and 1524 he set up a workshop at the Montserrat monastery , which he ran parallel to the one in Barcelona. The monastery, with which he had been contracted for a long time, had assigned him a house in Olesa de Montserrat . Large quantities of religious prints were made in this workshop. His last known print is from February 7, 1530.

Rosembach died in November 1530.

Works

  • Joan Rosembach: Vocabulari molt profitós per apendre Lo Catalan Alamany y Lo Alamany Catalan , Perpinyà , 1502. (This work exists in facsimile editions from 1916 and 1991: Tilbert D. Stegmann (editor): Catalan - German vocabulary from 1502 - reprint of the Facsimile edition from 1916, provided by Pere Barnils , Vocabulari Català - Alemany de l'any 1502, Frankfurt 1991, Domus Editoria Europaea, ISBN 3927884235 )

Footnotes

  1. ^ Information from the preface to the facsimile edition by Tilbert D. Stegmann, Frankfurt am Main 1991, p. 8

literature

Web links

Commons : Joan Rosembach  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Rosembach, Joan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rosembach, Johann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Catalan priest and printer
DATE OF BIRTH 15th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Heidelberg
DATE OF DEATH November 1530
Place of death Barcelona