Johannes Oporinus

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Hans Bock the Elder Ä .: Portrait of Johannes Oporinus, around 1580–1587 (Kunstmuseum Basel)
Printer's stamp of Johannes Oporinus

Johannes Oporinus , also Johannes Oporin , Greco - Latinized from Johann Herbster or Johannes Herbster ( Johann Herbst ), actually Hans Herbst (born January 25, 1507 in Basel ; † July 6, 1568 ibid), was a Swiss humanist, teacher, printer and publisher.

Life

Johannes Oporinus was born in Basel as the son of the painter Hans Herbst . He completed his academic training for almost four years in Strasbourg and then in Basel, but gave up his studies again for financial reasons. After working as a teacher in the Cistercian monastery of St. Urban , he returned to Basel, where he worked as a proofreader for Johann Froben , the most important Basel printer of the early 16th century. He also taught at the Basel Latin School from 1526 . From 1527 to around 1529 he was assistant (amanuensis) to Paracelsus . In later years he described his negative memories of the doctor in a letter to Johann Weyer. Around 1535, Oporin founded together with Thomas Platter , Robert Winter and Balthasar Ruch (Lasius) an apparently rather loose printing and publishing community, which existed until 1544 and whose most famous printing was the first version of Calvin's Christianae religionis institutio from 1536. From 1537 Oporin taught Greek at the University of Basel. In 1542 he gave up his teaching post in order to be able to devote himself entirely to his printing office . Probably his first major work, the first print of the Latin Koran from 1542/43 ( digitized version ; only an Arabic edition printed in Venice, which has remained virtually unknown), caused Oporin considerable difficulties. The Basel Council wanted to prevent the pressure, but gave in as a result of the intervention of Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon .

From 1545 onwards, Oporin's shop was located in the “beautiful house” on Nadelberg. With six presses, it was one of the largest printing houses in Basel, and the print runs were up to 2,000 copies. Oporin has printed books almost exclusively in Latin and Greek. His good knowledge of the ancient languages ​​benefited the quality of the text editions; he set great store by good paper, careful typesetting, clean printing and detailed registers. Oporin has also repeatedly published writings by controversial and hostile authors, for example works by Sebastian Castellio and Guillaume Postel , and has therefore repeatedly come into conflict with the authorities. His printer's stamp , which he used in several versions, shows the mythical lyre player Arion of Lesbos being carried across the sea by a dolphin .

  • Printer's marks of Johannes Oporinus
  • Johannes Oporinus mark - BEIC.jpg
  • Johannes Oporinus mark 2 - BEIC.jpg
  • Johannes Oporinus mark 3 - BEIC.jpg

Oporin's business success wavered and he went through several financial crises. One of the reasons for his difficulties was that books were usually delivered to dealers on credit and only paid for later. Oporin's accounting was not up to the complicated circumstances, and he overestimated his stock of unsold prints. He often lost track of his true financial situation. In 1559 his shop was placed on the papal index, which had a negative effect on sales. Probably on the New Year of 1568 he sold the company and property to a company which continued the business as “Officina Oporiniana”. Oporin stayed with the company to ease the transition and not least to collect outstanding balances. He died in July of the same year and was honored to be buried. As a result, it became apparent that he had left behind huge debts.

Parts of Oporin's manuscript collection and his extensive correspondence have been preserved in the University Library of Basel and elsewhere.

Oporin was married four times, first with Margarethe Feer, the second with Maria Nochpur, the third with Elisabeth Holzach, daughter of the doctor Eucharius Holzach and widow of Johann Herwagen, and the fourth with Faustina Amerbach, daughter of the humanist Bonifacius Amerbach and widow of Law professor Ulrich Iselin. In January 1568 she gave him their son Immanuel, his only offspring.

Editions

Oporin has published numerous classic editions, historiographical works, theological pamphlets and much more. The most important print of the magazine was the basic anatomical work De humani corporis fabrica ( digitized version ) by the humanist Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564), which appeared in 1543. In October 1546, Oporin published a text on the murder of the Spanish Protestant Juan Díaz with the title Historia vera de morte sancti viri Ioannis Diazii Hispani [...] per Claudium Senarclaeum , which is attributed to Francisco de Enzinas . He later published the church history works by Matthias Flacius ( Catalogus testium veritatis 1556 and 1562) and the Magdeburg Centuries (1559–1574, only centuries 1–13 were carried out). A number of fundamental Byzantine historians, which he first printed in Greek, also became famous.

meaning

In Basel, Oporin's shop was one of the largest and most productive of its time. It published books from various fields, often in large editions. The editions of Greek and Latin authors were valued for their correct texts and found distribution across Europe. Oporin has also repeatedly printed fonts that did not fit into the common denominational conventions and could hardly have appeared elsewhere.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gundolf Keil: Oporinus, Johannes. 2005, p. 1075.
  2. ↑ Scholia & Observationes quaedam perutiles in Macri Poemata de Virtutibus Herbarum, & c. quas Ioh. Oporinus (dum per triennium aut ultra Theophrasti esset Amanuensis) ex ore dictantis studiose exceperat. (Useful comments and observations on the Macer poems about the powers of medicinal plants, which Johannes Oporinus, Paracelsus scribe for three years or more , has eagerly selected from the heard.) Huser edition of the works of Paracelsus, Basel 1590, part 7, page 237-277. Bavarian State Library digitized
  3. ↑ Heinz Pächter . Paracelsus. The archetype of Doctor Faustus. Gutenberg Book Guild, Zurich 1955, pp. 184–189.
  4. ↑ Udo Benzenhöfer : On the letter of Johannes Oporinus about Paracelsus. The oldest known letter transmission to date in an 'Oratio' by Gervasius Marstaller. In: Sudhoff's archive. Volume 73, 1989, pp. 55-63.
  5. ↑ Angela Nuovo: Il Corano ritrovato . In: La Bibliofilia 89 (1987), pp. 237-271; Angela Nuovo: A lost Arabic Koran rediscovered . In: The Library 12 (1990), pp. 273-292.
  6. ^ Carlos Gilly: The manuscripts in the library of Johannes Oporinus . 2001.
  7. ^ Not quite a complete list of the correspondence with Martin Steinmann: Johannes Oporinus. A Basel book printer around the middle of the 16th century (= Basel Contributions to History. Vol. 105). Helbing & Lichtenhahn, Basel et al. 1967, pp. 121–142.
  8. ^ Fritz Husner: The editio princeps of the "Corpus Historiae Byzantinae". Johannes Oporin, Hieronymus Wolf and the Fugger . In: Festschrift Karl Schwarber . Benno Schwabe, Basel 1949, pp. 143–162.
personal data
SURNAME Oporinus, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Oporin, Johannes; Herbster, Johann; Herbster, Johannes; Herbst, Johann; Herbst, Hans (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss humanist, printer, publisher, secretary and teacher
DATE OF BIRTH January 25, 1507
PLACE OF BIRTH Basel
DATE OF DEATH July 6, 1568
Place of death Basel