Johann Spies

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Title page of the Faustbuch, edited by Johann Spies

Johann Spies , also Spiess or Spieß (* around 1540 in Oberursel in the county of Königstein ; † 1623 , buried on February 21, 1623 in Gera ), was a German printer and publisher .

Life

In Oberursel, Spies attended the local Latin school and trained as a typesetter . In 1572 he acquired the citizenship of the city of Frankfurt am Main , became a contract printer and had been self-employed since 1579.

From 1582 to 1585 he was active in Heidelberg , where his mostly theologically oriented program sold dedicated Lutheran works such as the formula concordiae . From 1585–1607 Spies lived again in Frankfurt, where he pursued his pronounced activity as a printer-publisher, primarily theological works, including those of Nikolaus Reusner and Nicodemus Frischlin . At the book fair in Frankfurt am Main in autumn 1587, Spies presented his best-known printed product, the Historia by D. Johann Fausten . The title became a notable success, which was followed by at least four unauthorized reprints in the same year. As early as 1588 Spies himself published a second edition together with the printer Wendel Homm . This success lasted for about a decade. In 1610 Spies sold his printing company and moved to Gera , where his son Martin Spieß lived. When he died in 1611 at the age of 32 (baptized on March 31, 1579; buried on September 19, 1611), Johann Spies took over the son's printing works, which in 1606 was the first verifiable printing works in Gera.

Johann Spies died in Gera in 1623, where he was buried on February 21, 1623.

Johann Spies had a family member, Johann Philipp Spies , who also worked as a printer-publisher in Speyer and Ettlingen .

literature

  • Füssel, Stephan / Kreutzer, Hans Joachim (editor): Historia by D. Johann Fausten. Text of the print from 1587 . Stuttgart: Reclam 2006.
  • Kastner, Fritz: Valentin Kobian and Johann Philipp Spies, two forgotten Ettlingen book printers . In: Gutenberg yearbook 1985 . Edited by Hans-Joachim Koppitz. Mainz: Gutenberg-Gesellschaft, 1985. pp. 186–201.
  • Publications by and about Johann Spies in VD 17 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Füssel, Kreutzer, Reclam 2006, p. 182.
  2. ^ Füssel, Kreutzer, Reclam 2006, p. 330.
  3. ↑ Gera Chronicle
  4. ^ Füssel, Kreutzer, Reclam 2006, p. 183.
  5. ↑ Kastner, Fritz: Valentin Kobian and Johann Philipp Spies, two forgotten Ettlingen book printers . In: Gutenberg yearbook 1985 . Edited by Hans-Joachim Koppitz. Mainz: Gutenberg Society, 1985. pp. 195 and p. 201.
personal data
SURNAME Spies, Johann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Spiess, Johann; Spit, Johann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German printer and publisher
DATE OF BIRTH around 1540
PLACE OF BIRTH Oberursel , County of Koenigstein
DATE OF DEATH buried February 21, 1623
Place of death Gera