Michael Furter (died 1516 or 1517) was a printer of

incunabula In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were pro ...

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

Printing career

The first dated prints by Furter are from 1489. In 1494 he printed the ''Ship of Fools'' by

Sebastian Brant Sebastian Brant (also Brandt) (1458 – 10 May 1521) was a German humanist and satirist. He is best known for his satire '' Das Narrenschiff'' (''The Ship of Fools''). Biography Brant was born in Strasbourg to an innkeeper but eventually enter ...

for the publisher Jacob Bergmann von Olpe. Furter's workshop is notable for its illustrated prints and its large number of initial alphabets ( Haebler, ''Typenrepertorium'', 1905 lists twelve), including Etterlin's chronicle, ''Der Ritter vom Turm'' ( Marquard vom Stein) and the

Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius Written in Syriac in the late seventh century, the ''Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius'' shaped and influenced Christian eschatological thinking in the Middle Ages.Griffith (2008), p. 34.Debié (2005) p. 228.Alexander (1985) p. 13.Jackson (2001) p. ...

. In 1508 Furter and Gregor Schott jointly printed the third edition of the ''Margarita Philosophica'' by

Gregor Reisch Gregor Reisch (c. 1467 - 9 May 1525) was a German Carthusian monk and humanist scholar. He is best known for his compilation ''Margarita Philosophica'', one of the earliest printed encyclopedias of general knowledge. Life Reisch was born at Balin ...

. Further also produced numerous popular works on grammar, jurisprudence, theology and morals. He was for a short while considered the first printer of Basel due to a typo in his prints and was the first to have depicted a coat of arms of Basel jointly with two Basilisks.

Personal life

Furter is recorded as buying a house in ''Ryngasse'', Lesser Basel on 1483. He was a member of the local "Trade Union to the

Saffron Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of ''Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent i ...

". In 1491 he rented a shop for three and a half pound per year. He bought Basel citizenship for one

gulden ''Gulden'' is the historical German and Dutch term for gold coin (from Middle High German "golden penny" and Middle Dutch " golden florin"), equivalent to the English term guilder. Gulden, Gülden, Guldens or Gulden's may also refer to: Coins o ...

on 1 March 1488. In December 1500, he and his wife Ursula bought another house, called ''Zer Monen''.

Death

He died between 10 November 1516 and 2 May 1517. He had a daughter and died without a male heir. He died indebted and following his death an inventory of his possessions was made. His possessions were then split between his debtors among which were

Adam Petri Adam Petri (1454 in Langendorf (now part of Elfershausen) in Franconia – 15 November 1527 in Basel) was a printer, publisher and bookseller. Early life Petri was born ca. 1454 in Langendorf near Hammelburg. Like his uncle Johannes Pet ...

and descendants of

Johann Amerbach Johann Amerbach (1444 in Amorbach, Germany; 25 December 1514 in Basel, Switzerland) was a celebrated printer in Basel in the 15th century. He was the first printer in Basel to use the Roman type instead of Gothic and Italian and spared no expense ...

and the stepfather of

Johann Froben Johann Froben, in Latin: Johannes Frobenius (and combinations), (c. 1460 – 27 October 1527) was a famous printer, publisher and learned Renaissance humanist in Basel. He was a close friend of Erasmus and cooperated closely with Hans Holbein th ...

among others.

Printing career

Personal life

Death

References

Further reading