Nicolaus Laurentii (–1486) is the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

form of the name of Niccolò di Lorenzo, also known as Niccolò Todesco ("Nicholas the German"). He was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person or a company * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James ...

who lived in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

, Italy in the late fifteenth century. He was among the first printers to use copper plate

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...

s and printed a number of works of importance to the

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

Biography

Laurentii moved to Florence from Wroclaw (today

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 populou ...

). He worked with Johannes Petri of

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

in a nunnery of the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of ...

. The sisters there served as compositors and printers. Among the works printed by Laurentii are

Cristoforo Landino Cristoforo Landino (1424 in Pratovecchio, Casentino, Florence – 24 September 1498 in Borgo alla Collina, Casentino) was an Italian humanist and an important figure of the Florentine Renaissance. Biography From a family with ties to th ...

's commentary to ''

The Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature an ...

'' by

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

(which had been printed for the first time in 1472) and the ''Septe Giornate della Geographia di Francesco Berlinghieri'' by

Francesco Berlinghieri Francesco Berlinghieri (1440–1501) was an Italian scholar and humanist who lived during the fifteenth century. He promoted the value of classical Greek learning and was one of the first to print a text based on Ptolemy's '' Geographica''. Ber ...

, which was one of the first printed works based upon Ptolemy's '' Geographica''.

Works printed

Nicolaus Laurentii's printed works include: * Marsilio Ficino, ''De christiana religione'' (1476) *

Antonio Bettini Antonio Bettini (13 June 1396 – 22 October 1487) was an Italian clergyman, diplomat and writer. Bettini was born in Siena in 1396. He joined the convent of San Girolamo in Siena in 1439 and worked closely with Pope Pius II. Pius made Bettini b ...

, ''Monte Santo di Dio'' (1477) *

Aulus Cornelius Celsus Aulus Cornelius Celsus ( 25 BC 50 AD) was a Roman encyclopaedist, known for his extant medical work, ''De Medicina'', which is believed to be the only surviving section of a much larger encyclopedia. The ''De Medicina'' is a primary source on ...

, ''De medicina'' (1478) *

, ''La Commedia'' (1481) *

, ''Septe Giornate della Geographia di Francesco Berlinghieri'' (1482) *

Leon Battista Alberti Leon Battista Alberti (; 14 February 1404 – 25 April 1472) was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer; he epitomised the nature of those identified now as polymaths. H ...

, '' De Re Aedificatoria'' (1485)

References

*"Printers and Printing, 15th Century." ''Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science''. Vol. 23. CRC Press, 1978. *Roberto Ridolfi. “Contributi sopra Niccolò Todesco,” ''La Bibliofilia'', vol. 58, no. 1, 1956, pp. 1–14. *Roberto Ridolfi. “Le Ultime imprese tipografiche di Niccolò Todesco,” ''La Bibliofilia'', vol. 68, no. 2, 1966, pp. 140–151. Italian printers Printers of incunabula 15th-century Italian businesspeople {{italy-business-bio-stub