Johann Koelhoff the Elder

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Johann Koelhoff , called the Elder to distinguish himself from his son of the same name (* in Lübeck ; † beginning of 1493 in Cologne ), was a Cologne printer and publisher of the incunable period .

Life

Koelhoff originally came from Lübeck and started out as a trader in cattle, grain, wool and paper. From 1471 he ran a printer's workshop in Cologne. He had probably learned the printing trade from Wendelin von Speyer in Venice . The legible Rotunda letters and other indications he used suggest that he came to Cologne from Venice. Johann Koelhoff joined the Cologne guild of goldsmiths and worked alongside his work as a printer as publishers and booksellers . He dealt with letterpress supplies such as paper , types and wood printing blocks . He brought out his first Cologne print in 1471, the "Praeceptorium divinae legis" by Johannes Nider . Here he introduced arched signatures in which the letter denoted the position and the number denoted the leaf. In 1473 he called himself "dignus Agrippine civis Colhoff arte Johannes". On February 14, 1480, he and his wife Bilia bought "Haus Ederen" on the corner of Judengasse near St. Laurentius, and in 1486 he printed the work Franciscus dictus Plato de Benedictus . In 1490 he published the "Legenda Alberti magni per Rudolphum de Novimagio". In his Cologne office , Koelhoff also had employed contract printers work for himself. With the help of bookkeepers , the experienced businessman even managed to distribute his printed matter in distant areas such as Scandinavia , the Baltic States and Venice. According to the “Libri Institutionum magistri Nycasij de Voerda” he died during the printing process (“in ipso opere ad superos vocati”), between December 1492 and January 1493. Christoph Reske mentions July 6th 1493 as the date of his death when the executor was named were. The shrine books only mention the notarisation of the division of the inheritance to his three children Grietgyn, Johann and Peter on October 14, 1495.

His father's business was continued by his son Johann Koelhoff the Younger from 1493.

Prints

Legenda aurea , excerpt from the Dionysius martyrium, left in Koelhoff's print version (1490), right in Edition Grässes (1850)

Johann Koelhoff's printing and publishing program comprised more than 125 well-known titles. He mainly printed Latin texts of theological and philosophical content, but from 1475 also published legal writings, which were mainly intended for university use. The number of his German-language prints was significantly lower. Mainly it was about pilgrim guides and religious edification writings (e.g. comfort of soul and Christian mirror from 1489).

His printed works included “Sermones viae et veritatis super epistolas et evangelia de tempore per totum annum” by Lucas de Padua on February 8, 1483, for Johannes Koelner de Vanckel he printed the legal text “Summarium textuale et conclusiones super Sextum et Clementinas; Summaria et effectus Extravagantium ”between July and September 1488, The great and small soul's comfort was dated June 23, 1489, for the“ Historia septem sapientum Romae ”(1490) he borrowed the woodcuts from Claes Leeuw in Antwerp. The City of Cologne's indulgences and healings came out on February 18, 1492, Otto von Passau's The Golden Throne was published on May 26, 1492.

Koelhoff had a repertoire of 22 type alphabets of progressive composition (reduced number of ligatures and abbreviations ). These included missals and canon types . Furthermore, he used four different printer brands (also: logos). As a permanent innovation, he introduced printed layer signatures .

literature

  • Severin Corsten: Johann Koelhoff d.Ä. In: Lexicon of the entire book industry (LGB). Edited by Severin Corsten. 2nd, completely revised and expanded edition. Vol. IV. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1995. p. 263. ISBN 3-7772-9501-9
  • F. Geldner: The German incunable printers. A manual of the German printer of the XV. Century by place of printing. Part 1. The German language area. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1968. ISBN 3-7772-6825-9
  • Hans Lülfing :  Koelhoff, Johann d. Ä .. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 318 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Wolfgang Schmitz: The transmission of German texts in Cologne book printing of the 15th and 16th centuries . Habilitation thesis Cologne 1990 ( online ).
  • Johann Jakob Merlo:  Koelhoff, Johann the Elder . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1882, p. 419 f.
  • E. Voulliéme: The German Printers of the Fifteenth Century . 2nd Edition. Verlag der Reichdruckerei, Berlin 1922.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ s: de: ADB: Wendelin von Speyer
  2. ^ Severin Corsten: Rotunda . In: Lexicon of the entire book system , 2nd, revised edition, Vol. 6, Stuttgart 2003, p. 388.
  3. ↑ Ludwig Röhrscheid, Annals of the Historical Association for the Lower Rhine , Volumes 177–179, 1975, p. 329
  4. ↑ Christoph Reske, The Book Printers of the 16th and 17th Centuries in the German Language Area , 2007, p. 424


personal data
SURNAME Koelhoff, Johann the Elder
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German printer and publisher of the incunable period
DATE OF BIRTH 15th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Lübeck
DATE OF DEATH 1493
Place of death Cologne