Koberger, Anton

Anton Koberger was born in the family of Nuremberg bakers. There is no data about his early years, education and formation. His name first appears in the Nuremberg city documents in 1464. From 1470, he was married to Ursula Ingram, and after her death in 1491, Margarete Holtschuer became Koberger's wife. Both his wives came from the families of the Nuremberg patricians and gave birth to 25 children, of whom 13 survived their father.

In 1470 Koberger founded a printing shop, which later became the largest in Europe: with 24 printing mills, where about 100 apprentices worked (printers, typesetters, word castors, illustrators). These figures are named by Johann Neiderfer in his book Nachrichten von den vornehmsten Künstlern und Werkleuten von Nürnberg (Reports of the Most Famous Artists and Workers of Nuremberg, 1546). Gebhardt argues that 24 presses could not fit in the Coberger house in Nuremberg, and therefore this figure, like the story about 100 workers, is probably an exaggeration ^[5] .

With increasing production, the Koberger workshop gained a value that goes beyond one region. He established contacts with other companies and opened branches of his workshop throughout Europe (in Venice , Milan , Paris , Lyon , Vienna ). Koberger guaranteed himself regular sales by publishing popular books. Reducing production costs, he sought the unification of the font and typing ^[6] . In addition, Koberger owned at least two mills , which produced paper.

In 1488 he was "called" to the Grand Council of the city of Nuremberg and, thus, became one of the patricians of the city. Since 1504, Koberger mainly engaged in the book trade. He commissioned the publication of books to foreign companies.

Anton Koberger died on October 3, 1513, and was buried at John's Cemetery in Nuremberg. The heirs could not continue his business as successfully. In 1526, the printing house was closed ^[6] , and six years later Koberger’s book trade ceased to exist.

By the year 1500, about 250 books were printed in the Koberger Nuremberg printing house. Despite the fact that it was only in 1473 that the name of a typographer appeared on the products of his workshop for the first time, it is assumed that the publishing house of books began shortly after the foundation of its printing house in 1470 The earliest known edition of the company Koberger Manuale confessorum of Johann Nieder (1471).

Koberger published, first of all, theological, philosophical, canonical and legal works in Latin. He also printed historical works (for example, Vitae pontificum Platinum ), liturgical (Dominikanerbrevier 1485; Missale Ratzeburgense 1493) and the Bible. Classical and humanistic literature was printed in its printing press only occasionally.

German editions printed by Koberger’s printing house are not so numerous, but are nonetheless significant. One of the most important editions is the two-volume Bible, published in 1483, called it. Koberger (Koburger) -Bibel . It is printed by a mop and illustrated with woodcuts from the Kölner niederdeutschen Bibel. Schatzbehalter (full name “The Treasury, or the Collection of the True Wealth of Salvation and Eternal Bliss”) by Franciscan Stefan Fridolin , a 96-leaf biblical review, is also considered one of the most important works of the Coberger workshop. To illustrate the book of Fridolin Koberger attracted Nuremberg Michael Wolgemut . The collaboration of the printer and the artist continued: Wolgemut, together with his stepson Wilhelm Playdenworf , worked on illustrating the Hartmann Schedel Chronicle Book ^[7] ,. For this edition (published in German and Latin) 1809 engravings were made.

The outstanding work is considered the Apocalypse (1498) with fifteen whole-leaf prints made by Albrecht Durer . The work on this edition brought the artist wide fame outside his native city. The Koberger printing house also printed German-speaking Arzneibuch (1477) and the two-volume edition of Heiligenleben oder die Schwäbische Chronik.

• Nemirovsky E. Mir books. From ancient times to the beginning of the XX century / Reviewers A. A. Govorov , E. A. Dinerstein, V. G. Utkov . - Moscow: Book, 1986. - p. 97. - 50,000 copies.
• Severin Corsten: Anton Koberger. In: Lexikon des gesamten Buchwesens (LGB). Hrsg. von Severin Corsten. 2., völlig neu bearbeitete und erweiterte auflage. Bd. Iv. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1989. S. 256. ISBN 3-7772-9501-9
• Fritz Funke: Buchkunde. Ein Überblick über die Geschichte des Buch- und Schriftwesens. Verlag Dokumentation: München 1969
• Walter Gebhardt: Nürnberg macht Druck! Von der Medienhochburg zum Printzentrum. In: Marion Voigt (Hg.): Lust auf Bücher. Nürnberg für Leser. Nürnberg. 2005; S. 11-43
• F. Geldner: Die deutschen Inkunabeldrucker. Ein Handbuch der deutschen Buchdrucker des XV. Jahrhunderts nach Druckorten. Teil 1. Das deutsche Sprachgebiet. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1968. ISBN 3-7772-6825-9
• Oskar von Hase (Bearbeiter): Verlagsverzeichnis der Koberger. 1885
• Oskar von Hase (Hrsg.): Brieffbuch der Koberger zw Nurmbergk. Breitkopf, Leipzig 1881
• Oscar von Hase: Die Koberger. Eine Darstellung des buchhändlerischen Geschäftsbetriebes in der Zeit des Überganges vom Mittelalter zur Neuzeit. Van Heusden, Amsterdam; Breitkopf und Härtel, Wiesbaden 1967; 3. Auflage, Neudruck der 2. neugearbeiteten Auflage 1885
• Albert Schramm: Der Bilderschmuck der Frühdrucke. Band 17: Die Drucker in Nürnberg. Teil 1: Anton Koberger. Hiersemann, Leipzig 1934
• Early books. Koberger's First Book, The New Testament, The Roman Law Transformed Into The Law, The Abdication Of The Saxily, The Pureranian And Breton Pirckheimer's Juvenal, humanism in Poland, Michelangelo's Sonnets, the prototypographer of France, Petrarch's coronation, Tritheim, library, first illustrated Bernard Quaritch Ltd., London 1997
• E. Voulliéme: Die deutschen Drucker des fünfzehnten Jahrhunderts. 2. Auflage. Verlag der Reichdruckerei, Berlin 1922.
• Georg Wolfgang Karl Lochner: Koberger, Anton (Drucker). In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Band 16, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1882, S. 366–368.
• Ingrid Münch: Anton Koberger. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Band 4, Herzberg 1992, ISBN 3-88309-038-7 , Sp. 196–200.