Johannes Mentelin
Johannes Mentelin , sometimes also Mentlin , (* around 1410 in Schlettstadt ; † December 12, 1478 in Strasbourg ) was an important German printer and bookseller of the incunable period . In 1466 he published the first printed Bible in German ( Mentelin Bible ).
Life
Johannes Mentelin acquired Strasbourg citizenship in 1447. He initially worked as a "gold scribe" ( calligrapher and book writer) and also worked as an episcopal notary . When and where he learned the technique of printing is not known. Since at the end of the 1450s, when Mentelin founded his Strasbourg printing company , printing was not carried out anywhere other than Mainz , it is likely that he got his knowledge either directly there or through an intermediary. Heinrich Eggestein could have been such a mediator . It is believed that Johannes Gutenberg introduced him to the printing trade during a stay in Mainz . His own Offizin taught Eggestein but until the mid-1460s one. Due to a lack of sources, the final clarification of this question cannot be provided. From the available data, however, it can be concluded that Johannes Mentelin was the first printer in Strasbourg before Heinrich Eggestein.
The first print that mentions Mentelin's name is Augustine 's Tractatus de arte praedicandi from 1465. It is assumed, however, that Johannes Mentelin began to print much earlier, probably as early as 1458. His oldest known print is a 49- line Latin Bible ("B49"), the first volume of which is dated 1460.
Johannes Mentelin quickly enjoyed business success that made him a wealthy man. In 1466 he even had a coat of arms from Emperor Friedrich III. to lend. After about 20 years of printing, Mentelin died on December 12, 1478 in Strasbourg. He was buried in the cemetery of the (no longer existing) St. Michael's Chapel. Later his body was transferred to the Strasbourg cathedral . His two daughters married the book printers Martin Schott and Adolf Rusch . The latter, also known as the printer with the bizarre R , took over the management of the office.
plant
About 40 prints are assigned to Johannes Mentelin's Strasbourg office. His printing and publishing program consisted mainly of theological and philosophical writings in Latin, the textual purity of which was ensured by learned proofreaders . Among other things, works by Augustine, Thomas Aquinas , Aristotle , John Chrysostom , Isidore of Seville and Albertus Magnus were published. Classical texts from antiquity (e.g. Virgil's Opera and the Comoediae des Terence ) were also published. Mentelin was the only German book printer to print medieval courtly poems , such as B. the Parzival Wolframs von Eschenbach (1477) and the younger Titurel Albrechts .
Outstanding, however, was his first printing of the Bible in a vernacular in 1466 , the so-called Mentelin Bible , one of the first books to be printed in German . The Mentelin Bible was reprinted a further thirteen times by various printers in southern Germany up to the Luther Bible .
literature
- Peter Amelung: Mentelin, Johannes. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-428-00198-2 , pp. 89-91 ( digitized version ).
- F. Geldner: The German incunable printers. A manual of the German printer of the XV. Century by place of printing. Part 1. The German language area. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1968. ISBN 3-7772-6825-9
- H. Harthausen: Johannes Mentelin . In: Lexicon of the entire book industry (LGB). Edited by Severin Corsten. 2nd, completely revised and expanded edition. Vol. V. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1989. p. 145. ISBN 3-7772-9904-9
- Karl Schorbach: The Strasbourg early printer Johann Mentelin (1458–1478): Studies on his life and works . Mainz, 1932.
- Karl Steiff: Mentelin, Johannes . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1885, pp. 370-373.
- E. Voulliéme: The German Printers of the Fifteenth Century . 2nd Edition. Verlag der Reichdruckerei, Berlin 1922.
Web links
- Prints by Johannes Mentelin in the complete catalog of incandescent prints
- Mentelin in the Catholic Encyclopedia
- Incunabulum catalog of German libraries (INKA) : List of Mentelin's prints available
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mentelin, Johannes |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mentlin, Johannes |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German printer and bookseller |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1410 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Schlettstadt |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 12, 1478 |
| Place of death | Strasbourg |