Arnold Pannartz and Conrad Sveinheim

U-turn from the “Divine Instructions” of Lactantius , printed by Pannarz and Sveinheim in 1465.

Arnold Pannartz and Konrad Sweynheim are 15th-century Italian printers.

Pannartz died in 1476 , Swainheim in 1477 . Pannartz was probably from Prague . Sveinheim - from Eltville near Mainz . G. Zedler believes (Gutenberg-Forschungen, 1901) that Swainheim worked in Eltville with Gutenberg in 1461-1464. There is no data on where the acquaintance of Sveinheim and Pannartz occurred. It is known that the two printers were the first to bring Gutenberg's invention to Italy.

The Benedictine monastery of Subiako became the cradle of Italian printing. Perhaps the printers were invited by Juan de Torquemada , the former Commandant Abbot Subiako. The printers arrived in 1464 . The first printed book in Subiako was the work of Donatus , but the book did not survive. The first Italian printed and existing book was Cicero 's Orator, published in September 1465 . It was followed by the “Divine Instructions” of Lactantius (October, 1465) and “On the City of God” by St. Augustine (1467). These first books were printed in transition from German Gothic to Italian antiqua .

In 1467, both printers left Subayako and moved to Rome , where they stayed in the house of the brothers Pietro and Francesco de Massimi. Their editor and corrector was Giovanni de Bussi , since 1469 the Bishop of Aleria .

The books they published are listed in catalogs that they published in the 1470s and 1472s. By 1472, they had printed 28 volumes with classical and theological works: the Bible , Lactantius, Cyprian , Augustine, Jerome , Leo the Great , Thomas Aquinas , Cicero, Apuleius , Helium , Virgil , Libya , Strabo , Pliny , Quintilian , Suetonius , Ovid , etc. . (with a circulation of 275 to 300 each, a total of 12,475 volumes). However, the printers shared the fate of Gutenberg - they could not sell their books and fell into need.

In 1472, they turned to Pope Sixtus the Fourth for a benefit . From here we know that both printers were clergy: Pannartz in Cologne , Sveinheim in Mainz . In 1474, Sveinheim was ordained a canon at St. Victor's Church in Mainz. Nothing is known about where Pannartz took his place. They printed 18 more books in 1472-1473. After that they split up. Pannartz published another 20 volumes. Sveinheim engaged in metal engraving and produced excellent maps for the Cosmography, attributed to Ptolemy - the first work of this kind, but died before he brought it to the end.