Joseph Klug

Printer's brand Klugs (1544)

Joseph Klug (also Kluck, Klöck, Sophos ; * around 1490 in Nuremberg ; † 1552 in Wittenberg ) was a German printer during the Reformation.

Life

Josef Klug was probably a son of Peter Klug (1478–1481 verified) from Nuremberg, who was employed in the printing works of Anton Koberger . Josef Klug's career is unknown. From 1523 to 1525 he headed the book printing workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder and his business partner Christian Döring . During this time the first edition of Luther's translation of the historical and poetic books of the Old Testament appeared there. Although the aforementioned business relationship probably ended as early as 1525, Klug represented Cranach's companies and Dörings from 1526 to 1528 at the book fair in Frankfurt am Main.

Klug later worked for Moritz Goltz , Bartholomäus Vogel and Christoph Schramm . However, from 1523 he also printed under his own name. Presumably supported by Cranach, he created title frames in the same manner and probably inspired by Hans Holbein the Younger . In particular, his name has been preserved as a hymn book printer. In 1524 he published the first print of Johann Walter's choral hymn book under the title Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn with 38 German and five Latin songs. This had been edited by Luther as editor and provided with wood-cut musical notes.

Our God is a strong castle in 1533

With his printer's mark, the "Luther Rose under the Tree of Life", six further hymnal editions were published from 1529 to 1545 ( Klugsche's hymnal ). There is currently not a single copy of the edition from 1529, but it can be reconstructed using Joachim Slüter's double hymnbook from 1531 and the next edition from 1533.

In the edition of 1533 the chorale of Luther appeared A strong castle is our god . Klug's hymn book is considered to be the earliest illustrated hymn book of the evangelical faith. The graphics contained are partly from the woodcut workshop of Georg Lemberger . Philipp Melanchthon , Johannes Bugenhagen , Justus Jonas , Caspar Cruciger , Georg Rörer and other personalities from the Wittenberg Reformation and University also commissioned the printer Klug . Writings by Urbanus Rhegius , Johann Kymeus (1498–1552), Johann Sutel and Stephan Roth were also printed in his workshop. For Hebrew grammars that appeared in 1523 and 1525, as well as for the writings of Matthew Aurogallus , Klug first used Hebrew metal letters in Wittenberg.

literature

• Jakob Franck:  Klug, Joseph . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1882, p. 248 f.
• Hans Lülfing :  Klug, Joseph (Kluck, Klöck, Sophos). In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 136 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Joseph Klug  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Works by and about Joseph Klug  in the German Digital Library