Johann Haller (printer)

Johann Haller (* 1463 in Rothenburg ob der Tauber ; † 1525 ) is one of the founders of letterpress printing in Poland and in the then capital Krakow . The Cracow family Haller descends from him.

Life

After studying at the Cracow Academy, Johann Haller initially traded in wine, copper and tin. Haller was married to Barbara Kunosch, the daughter of a wealthy Krakow furrier . Towards the end of the 15th century Haller began to work as a publisher of printing works. His first printed products were missal books , followed by breviary for clergymen. In 1505 Haller acquired monopoly-like printing privileges for six dioceses from the king, which protected himself from competition. Haller soon expanded his business to include scientific books such as writings on astronomy, mathematics, philosophy and law, and to printing royal and ecclesiastical statutes.

In 1509, with the support of Laurentius Corvinus (Lorenz Rabe) , Nicolaus Copernicus published his Latin translation of the Greek epistles of Theophylactus Simocatta with him .

To date, around 250 books have been preserved from his workshop. Most of the texts are in Latin , but Haller is also considered to be the first to write texts in Polish - expressions, sentences and the complete national anthem of the time ("Blessed Virgin Mary, God-praised Mary", written by the Polish-Lithuanian army before the battle of Tannenberg (1410) sung) - woven into Latin books and can therefore be considered one of the pioneers of the Polish-language book.

The first illustrated book that Haller published is considered his masterpiece. It contained 354 sheets with woodcuts. Haller produced a total of 3,530 printed sheets.

According to a message from Jan Daniel Janocki , librarian of the Załuski Library , he was probably also mayor of Kraków.

literature

• Jan Daniel Janocki : News of the rare Polish books in the High Count's Załuscan Library. Johann Georg Walther, Dresden 1747.

Web links

• Prints by Johann Haller (printer) in the complete catalog of incandescent prints

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Elizabeth Armstrong: Before Copyright: The French Book-Privilege System 1498-1526. Cambridge University Press, 1990.
2. ↑ Digitized version ( memento of the original from December 2, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF, 42 MB) to Krakow, Jagiellonian Library , Cim 4092. 
3. ↑ Johann Daniel Janozky: message from those in the Hochgräflich-Zaluskischen library that are available rare Polish books. Johann George Walther, Dresden 1747, p. 38.

See also

• Haller (family)