Johann Theodor de Bry

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Johann Theodor de Bry

Johann Theodor de Bry (* 1561 in Strasbourg ; † January 31, 1623 ; also: Johann Dietrich de Bry , last name also (de) Brey, Bruy or Breh ) was a publisher , engraver , draftsman and gunsmith from the Calvinist family of artists de Bry .

In 1609 he moved from Frankfurt am Main to Oppenheim, which was more generous towards Calvinist religious refugees (Welschdorf) and worked there until his return to Frankfurt in 1619. His specialty: the richly illustrated scientific book. He took Matthäus Merian into his business in 1616 and became his father-in-law in 1617 .

Johann Theodor de Bry, Americae, Frankfurt am Main 1617, p. 200

Life

Beginnings and time in Frankfurt

Johann Theodor de Bry and his brother Johann Israel de Bry were born in Strasbourg as the sons of the Liège goldsmith and religious refugee Theodor de Bry . The family settled in Frankfurt am Main sometime between 1570 and 1588 and ran a book publisher there, which primarily published magnificent copperplate engravings. Frankfurt printers were used for the production of the prints and the printing of the copper plates .

Johann Theodor, who is considered very talented and determined, bought a copperplate printing press and, in 1598, shortly before the death of his father, from whom he had learned copperplate engraving, set up his own business with his brother Israel.

The de Brys were Calvinists and, along with other Dutch and Walloon religious refugees, had found work and bread in Frankfurt. However, in 1596 the strictly Lutheran council forbade the Reformed worship service because it saw it as a threat to the city's relationship with the emperor and to peace among the citizens. The harassed Calvinists finally tried to move to Hanau . There, Oberamtmann Johann Engelbert von Lautern had been busy since 1589 for the introduction of the Reformed Confession in the county of Hanau . In June 1597, Count Philipp Ludwig II of Hanau-Münzenberg signed a contract for the settlement of Calvinist refugees from France and the Spanish Netherlands in Hanau, the "Surrender of the New Town of Hanau". In the same year, the Reformed movement from Frankfurt began, which included numerous wealthy families. The de Brys did not take part for the time being, as the council gave in to pressure and in 1601 allowed the Reformed congregations to build a small wooden church in front of the Bockenheimer Tor .

In July 1608, the reformed church burned down for reasons that are not clear; the city council did not allow new buildings, but forbade the Reformed worship on Frankfurt territory. Johann Theodor de Bry then applied in July 1609 to leave Frankfurt "... because of the practice of religion and for the benefit of his children ...". He was granted it just three days later.

Moving from Frankfurt as a book printing center and an important trade fair center for book sales was probably not easy for him, as can be seen from his return application to the city council in 1619.

Oppenheim time

Johann Theodor had left the copper workshop and book publisher in Frankfurt and from then on called himself “Bookseller zu Oppenheim”. His brother Johann Israel stayed in Frankfurt and died there soon afterwards in December 1609. His 19-year-old stepson Lucas Jennis , who had studied engraving with the de Brys, also moved to Oppenheim, worked as an engraver and bookseller and started his own in 1616 Book publisher.

In the second half of 1616 the still young but already recognized Basel copperplate engraver Matthäus Merian came to Oppenheim. He found work at de Bry which he liked very much and shortly afterwards married his daughter Maria Magdalena in February 1617. From the more than 300 copperplate engravings produced in this period up to the middle of 1619, it can be concluded that de Bry also had a copper workshop with a copper printing press in Oppenheim.

In the 10 years from 1609 to 1619 Oppenheim must have had a lively intellectual life, encouraged by de Bry and his extensive relationships, as can be seen from de Bry's numerous book dedications.

The respected authors of the works he published and decorated with rich copperplate engravings must have stayed in Oppenheim for a shorter or longer period in order to discuss the design details with their publisher. This is documented by Wilhelm Fabricius and Michael Maier. In this context, reference should be made to the two periods of activity of the Hungarian traveling scholar Albert Molnár in Oppenheim from 1611 to 1612 and from 1615 to 1619, who first worked as a proofreader for Hieronymus Galler and then assumed the function of cantor and rector of the city school.

Return to Frankfurt

In February 1619, de Bry submitted an application to the City Council of Frankfurt to be allowed to return there, since he had left the copper workshop and bookstore there and because of his age could no longer make the trips back and forth. In July he was able to become a citizen of Frankfurt again against payment of 20 guilders.

As early as February 1618, he and his son-in-law Matthäus Merian had tried to become an academic citizen in Heidelberg , which was refused by the university .

After the death of his father-in-law (1623), Matthäus Merian continued the de Bry publishing house in Frankfurt.

Results of the publishing activity

Authors

The authors published by de Bry document his far-reaching scientific and artistic relationships. De Bry equipped the writings of these authors mostly with larger works of copperplate engravings and thus helped copperplate engraving to break through in Germany.

scientist

Alchemists, secret allies

  • Robert Fludd , British philosopher and theosophist, medic and Freemason
  • Michael Maier , doctor, alchemist and Rosicrucian
  • Balduin Clodius , preacher and alchemist
  • Paracelsus , doctor, alchemist and astrologer, mystic, lay theologian and philosopher

Humanists, Protestants

Architects, builders

writer

Other

still to be classified

Works

Johann Theodor de Bry's publishing program in Oppenheim continued the tradition of the Frankfurt company founded by his father, which continued to exist there. This is why Frankfurt often appears as the publishing location for the Oppenheimer period. The continuity applied above all to the continuation (parts 7-25) and new editions of the large and small America journeys (West Indian journeys) and the East Indian journeys (Asia), which were based on the copperplate engravings with the texts of those familiar with America at the time usually recorded under the name de Brys. De Bry had applied for a privilege for them in February 1617 from the emperor.

These include:

  • De Bry: Third Book Americae (Frankfurt, 1593)
Johann Staden von Homberg out of Hessen: Brasilia described in Teutsch out of personal experience
Ioannis Lerij: Hitoria of shipping in Brazil, translated by Newem "

A selection of the other printed works published by de Bry:

  • Helisäus Röslin: Midnight Shipping (Oppenheim, 1610)
  • Wilhelm Fabricius: Medical works
  • Marie-Louise Bourgeois: A completely new useful and necessary midwifery book ... (1626, from the French)
  • Giorgio Basta: military manuals from his experience of warfare in Eastern Europe, possibly new editions of Il maestro di Campo generale… (first Venice, 1606) and his posthumously published work Il governo della cavalleria leggiera (first Venice, 1612).
  • Kaspar Bauhinus: Vivae imagines partium corporis humani ... (1620)
  • Kaspar Bauhinus: Theatrum anatomicum (1621)
  • Jacques Perret: Architectura et perspectiva of several fortresses, towns, churches, palaces (Frankfurt, 1602 and Oppenheim, 1613)
  • Balduin Clodius: 3 books, one of them Officina Chymica . That is: Artificial spagyric preparation of animal, vegetable, metallic and ...
  • Johann Adam Lonicerus: Historia Chronologica Pannoniae: Hungarian and Transylvanian Historia ... (Franckfurt, 1607)
  • Jean Jacques Boissard: Bibliotheca Chalcographica (Francofurti: Ammonius, 1650–1664)
  • Daniel Specklin: Architectura Von Vestungen (Strasbourg, 1608)
  • Samuel Braun: Appendix to the description of the Kingdom of Congo (Franckfurt am Mayn, 1625)
  • Julius Wilhelm Zincgref: Emblematum Ethico-Politicorum Centuria Iulii Guilielmi Zincgrefii (Frankfurt Main, 1619)
  • Paracelsus: De Peste Aureoli Theophrasti Paracelsi Tractatus (Frankfurt, 1613)
  • Jan Huygen van Linschoten: II. Pars Indiae Orientalis: In Qua Johan. Hugonis Lintscotani Navigatio in Orientem, ... (Francfordiae, 1628)
  • Lorenzo Pignoria: Characteres Aegyptii, hoc est, Sacrorum, Quibus Aegyptii Utuntur (Francofurti, 1608)
  • Olivier van Noort: Additamentum Nonae Partis Americae. Hoc est, Vera Et Accurata Descriptio Longinquae, Diuturnae Ac Periculossissimae Navigationis (Francofurti, 1602)
  • Francis Drake: Historia Americae Sive Novi (Francofurti, 1625 under Merian)
  • Jacques le Moyne: Warhieftige Abconterfaytung der Wilde in America as well as The other part of the Newlich invented Landtschracht Americae (Franckfort am Mayn, 1603)
  • Bonaiuto Lorini: Five books by Vestung Bauwen (Franckfurt am Mayn, 1607)
  • Walter Raleigh: Eighth Theil Americae (Franckfurt, 1624)
  • Diego de Ufano: Archeley / This is: Thorough and eye-catching report by the gun and all belonging to it (Franckfurt, 1614)
  • Séverin Pineau: Midwives Book (Franckfurt: Merian, 1626)
  • Jacob Ulfeldt: Nobiliss (Francofurti: Merianus, 1627)
  • Hans Staden: Americae Tertia Pars Memorabile [m] provinciae Brasiliae Historiam contine [n] s (Francofurti Ad Moenum, 1592, published 1605)

See also

literature

  • Josef Benzing: The book printing to Oppenheim . In: Hans Licht (ed.): Oppenheim, history of an old imperial city (on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of the city elevation) . Oppenheim 1975, p. 163–167 (Dr. Martin Held Foundation).

Web links

Commons : Johann Theodor de Bry  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual documents and notes

  1. ↑ The year of birth seems to be uncertain in some sources, as one often sees "around 1561" given.
  2. ^ Liège according to Wolfgang Klötzer (Ed.): Frankfurter Biographie . Personal history lexicon . First volume. A – L (=  publications of the Frankfurt Historical Commission . Volume XIX , no. 1 ). Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1994, ISBN 3-7829-0444-3 .
  3. ↑ August 8, 1623 in Langenschwalbach according to Wolfgang Klötzer (Ed.): Frankfurter Biographie . Personal history lexicon . First volume. A – L (=  publications of the Frankfurt Historical Commission . Volume XIX , no. 1 ). Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1994, ISBN 3-7829-0444-3 .
  4. ↑ There is a risk of confusion with his father Theodor de Bry (* 1528 in Lüttich; † March 27, 1598 in Frankfurt am Main), who is variously referred to in the literature with the same first name Johann Theodor and Johann Dietrich.
  5. ^ Margarete Braun-Ronsdorf:  Bry, Johann Theodor de. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 692 f. ( Digitized version ).
  6. ↑ In his return request, he asserts that at the instigation of others, "quite a few people with a nose are steadily pushing and promising gulden mountains, which ultimately failed themselves" and that "a number of clever guys" decided to take this step.
  7. ↑ The assumption contradicts de Bry's request to return to the city of Frankfurt in the next section.
  8. ↑ For a brief description, see the description of the work in the article on father Theodor de Bry
personal data
SURNAME Bry, Johann Theodor de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brey; Bruy; Breh
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Publisher and engraver
DATE OF BIRTH around 1561
PLACE OF BIRTH uncertain: Strasbourg or Liège
DATE OF DEATH January 31, 1623 or August 8, 1623
Place of death uncertain: Langenschwalbach