The history of printing in Poland began in the late 15th century, when following the creation of the

Gutenberg Bible The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was the earliest major book printed using mass-produced movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the "Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of printed b ...

in 1455, printers from Western Europe spread the new craft abroad. The Polish capital at the time was in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

, where scholars, artists and merchants from Western Europe had already been present. Other cities which were part of the Polish kingdom followed later. Cities of northern Polish province of

Royal Prussia Royal Prussia ( pl, Prusy Królewskie; german: Königlich-Preußen or , csb, Królewsczé Prësë) or Polish PrussiaAnton Friedrich Büsching, Patrick Murdoch. ''A New System of Geography'', London 1762p. 588/ref> (Polish: ; German: ) was a ...

, like the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German to ...

city of Danzig (Gdańsk), had established printing houses early on. The first printing shop was possibly opened in Kraków by

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

-based

Günther Zainer Günther Zainer (or Zeyner or Zeiner) (died 1 October 1478) was the first printer in Augsburg, where he worked from 1468 until his death; he produced about 80 books including two German editions of the Bible and the first printed calendar. He ...

in 1465. In 1491, Schweipolt Fiol printed the first book in

Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...

script. The next recorded printing shop was a Dutch one known by the name ''Typographus Sermonum Papae Leonis I.'' that might have been established in 1473 on Polish territory, but its exact location has yet to be determined.Wieslaw Wydra, "Die ersten in polnischer Sprache gedruckten Texte, 1475–1520", ''

Gutenberg-Jahrbuch The ''Gutenberg-Jahrbuch'' is an annual periodical publication covering the history of printing and the book. Its focus is on incunables, early printing, and the life and work of Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the modern printed book. It has be ...

'', Vol. 62 (1987), pp. 88–94 (88) The oldest known print from Poland is considered to be the

Almanach cracoviense ad annum 1474 ''Almanach cracoviense ad annum 1474'' (Cracovian Almanac for the Year 1474) is a broadside astronomical wall calendar for the year 1474, and Poland's oldest known print. This single-sheet incunable, known also as the ''Calendarium cracoviense' ...

(Cracovian Almanac for the Year 1474) which is a single-sheet astronomical

wall calendar A calendar is used to display dates and related information, usually in a table format. Calendars are used to plan future events and keep track of appointments, and so a typical calendar will include days of the week, week numbering, months, publ ...

for the year 1474 printed and published in 1473 by Kasper Straube. The only surviving copy of ''Almanach cracoviense'' measures 37 cm by 26.2 cm, and is in the collections of the

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...

. The first text in Polish was printed in Breslau (Wrocław) in 1475. The first book printed in Polish was '' Historyja umęczenia Pana naszego Jezusa Chrystusa'' ("The story of the martyrdom of our Lord Jesus Christ"), published in 1508 by

Johann Haller Johann Haller or Jan Haller (1463–1525) is considered one of the first commercial printers in Poland. Early life Haller was born in Rothenburg, Franconia, Germany. After his studies at the Kraków Academy, Haller became a merchant in wine, c ...

's publishing house. For a long time, the first print written in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

was believed to be ''Hortulus Animae polonice'', a Polish version of Hortulus Animae written by

Biernat of Lublin Biernat of Lublin ( Polish: ''Biernat z Lublina'', Latin ''Bernardus Lublinius'', ca. 1465 – after 1529) was a Polish poet, fabulist, translator, and physician. He was one of the first Polish-language writers known by name, and the most int ...

, printed and published in 1513 by

Florian Ungler Florian Ungler (died 1536 in Kraków) and Kasper Hochfeder were printers from Bavaria that after 1510 became pioneers of printing and publishing in the Polish language. *1512 ''Introductio in Ptolomei Cosmographiam'', with maps of America *1513 ...

in Kraków. The last known copy was lost during World War II. One of the first commercial printers in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

is considered to be Johann Haller who worked in Kraków in the early 16th century, starting in 1505, and who in 1509 printed a Latin translation by

Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic Church, Catholic cano ...

of Greek poems by

Theophylact Simocatta Theophylact Simocatta (Byzantine Greek: Θεοφύλακτος Σιμοκάτ(τ)ης ''Theophýlaktos Simokát(t)ēs''; la, Theophylactus Simocatta) was an early seventh-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine historiographer, arguably ranking as th ...

, ''Theophilacti Scolastici Simocatti Epistole morales, rurales at amatoriae, interpretatione latina''. Other well known early printers in Poland are: *

Hieronymus Vietor Hieronymus Vietor (c. 1480, in Liebenthal (now Lubomierz) Silesia – late 1546 or early 1547, in Kraków)Tyszkowska, Bogusława : Hieronim Wietor - drukarz z Lubomierza', 2009. URL last accessed 2012-11-11. was a printer and publisher born in Sil ...

from

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

who worked in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and Kraków * Printers from the

Scharffenberg family The Scharffenberg family was a family of sixteenth-century printers, bookdealers and publishers, who lived in the Kingdom of Poland. They worked in various parts of the book trade, including the production of paper and woodcuts, in Kraków, Wrocław ...

In the late 16th century there were seven printing shops in Kraków, and in 1610 ten. A decline started in around 1615. Due to this fact in 1650 there remained only three secular printing shops, accompanied by a few ecclesiastical ones. Only one printing shop is recorded in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

in 1707, owned by the

Piarists The Piarists (), officially named the Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools ( la, Ordo Clericorum Regularium pauperum Matris Dei Scholarum Piarum), abbreviated SchP, is a religious order of clerics regular of the ...

. This situation improved during the realm of the last

Polish king Poland was ruled at various times either by dukes and princes (10th to 14th centuries) or by kings (11th to 18th centuries). During the latter period, a tradition of free election of monarchs made it a uniquely electable position in Europe (16th ...

Stanisław August Poniatowski Stanisław II August (born Stanisław Antoni Poniatowski; 17 January 1732 – 12 February 1798), known also by his regnal Latin name Stanislaus II Augustus, was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1764 to 1795, and the last monarch ...

, that marked political and cultural revival in Poland. Unfortunately his attempts to reform the state led to the

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place toward the end of the 18th century and ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland and Lithuania for 12 ...

carried out by

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:History of Printing in Poland Polish printers

Printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...

See also

References

External links