Marcus Brandis

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marcus Brandis (* around 1455 in Delitzsch ; † after 1500 in Magdeburg , also written Markus Brandis) was a German book printer who worked in Merseburg and Leipzig and in the latter city produced the first documented printed book.

life and work

The Brandis family, from which Marcus, his brothers Lucas , Matthäus and Moritz also emerged as book printers, came from the small town of Delitzsch. From 1474 to 1476, Marcus Brandis studied at the University of Leipzig , after which he learned the printing trade from his brother Lucas in Lübeck .

He first settled as a printer in Merseburg for about a year in 1479 (the first three prints by Marcus Brandis are known from this period) before moving to Leipzig. There he printed on September 28, 1481 the first book that was documented in Leipzig ( Giovanni Nannis Glosa Apocalipsim ), presumably on behalf of the Dominicans . Although only the place and date are noted in the printer's note, the book can be clearly assigned to Marcus Brandis due to the letters used. Up to 1487 he distinguished himself for the publication of more than 60 other titles, of which a third represented works on behalf of the church and university . Brandis' most important work is a missal for the diocese of Havelberg (around 1489). During his time in Leipzig, Brandis was also active in Meißen in 1483 ; in that year he also trained his brother Matthäus as a printer.

Although he is no longer mentioned in his works as a printer from 1487 on, there are indications that he and his brother Moritz Brandis, with whom he had worked since around 1485, maintained a printer's workshop in Leipzig for three more years.

There is no reliable information about the further life of Marcus Brandis. It can be assumed that he followed his brother Moritz to Magdeburg around 1490 after his brother Moritz was ruined after the Sachsenspiegel had failed to print , where Moritz Brandis ran an important printing company until 1504.

A total of around 80 prints can be assigned to Marcus Brandis, some of which were probably created together with his brother Moritz.

literature

  • Ursula Altmann: The beginnings of book printing in Leipzig . In: 500 years of Leipzig as a book city . Fachbuchverlag, Leipzig 1981
  • Ursula Altmann: The achievements of the book printer named Brandis in the context of the book history of the 15th century . Diss. Berlin, Humboldt-Univ., 1974. ( Text as PDF file )
  • Ferdinand Geldner:  Brandis, Marcus. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 526 ( digitized version ).
  • Volker Title: History of the Book City Leipzig. An overview . In: Sabine Knopf, Volker Title: The Leipziger Gutenbergweg. History and topography of a book city. Sax-Verlag, Beucha 2001, ISBN 3-934544-04-5

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ISTC no. ia0016190 in the British Library's Incunabula Short Title Catalog (accessed March 13, 2008)
  2. ↑ BSB-Ink 642 in the incunabula catalog of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (accessed on December 26, 2013)
  3. ↑ PPN 146753747 in the GBV catalog (accessed on March 13, 2008)
personal data
SURNAME Brandis, Marcus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German book printer
DATE OF BIRTH around 1455
DATE OF DEATH after 1500