Hans Weinreich (1480/1490 – 1566) was a publisher and printer of German, Lithuanian and Polish language books in the first half of the sixteenth century. Weinreich was originally from Danzig (Gdańsk) in

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 ...

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to: Historical political entities * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031 * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exi ...

, and then moved to

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was name ...

(Królewiec) in

Ducal Prussia The Duchy of Prussia (german: Herzogtum Preußen, pl, Księstwo Pruskie, lt, Prūsijos kunigaikštystė) or Ducal Prussia (german: Herzogliches Preußen, link=no; pl, Prusy Książęce, link=no) was a duchy in the region of Prussia establishe ...

at the invitation of

Albert of Prussia Albert of Prussia (german: Albrecht von Preussen; 17 May 149020 March 1568) was a German prince who was the 37th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, who after converting to Lutheranism, became the first ruler of the Duchy of Prussia, the s ...

Biography

Weinreich was most likely born in Danzig sometime between 1480 and 1490, to a well-to-do family. His grandfather shared his name and had four sons, of whom one was Hans' father. Weinreich's printshop in Königsberg was supposedly located by the castle steps in the city's Old Town.

Printing activity

Weinreich issued his first works in either 1512 or 1513 and moved to Königsberg in 1524. In 1524 he began issuing works in Polish. In 1530 Weinreich published the first translation of Luther's Small Catechism made by an anonymous author. However, the language of the translation was poor, and in 1533 Weinreich printed a second edition made by the Polish philologist Liboriusz Schadlika. Weinreich also issued several works by the Polish Lutheran theologian and translator Jan Seklucjan, although some of these were actually translations done by Stanisław Murzynowski. The published works were translations into Polish of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

and the Catechism, as well as literature and song books. Seklucjan's works printed by Weinreich included the first Polish language hymnal. Weinreich also printed the first

Lithuanian language Lithuanian ( ) is an Eastern Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the official language of Lithuania and one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.8 mill ...

and

Old Prussian language Old Prussian was a Western Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European languages, which was once spoken by the Old Prussians, the Baltic peoples of the Prussian region. The language is called Old Prussian to avoid con ...

books while in Königsberg, with the former being a translation of Martin Luther's Catechism by

Martynas Mažvydas Martynas Mažvydas (1510 – 21 May 1563) was a Protestant author who edited the first printed book in the Lithuanian language. Variants of his name include Martinus Masvidius, Martinus Maszwidas, M. Mossuids Waytkūnas, Mastwidas, Mažvyda ...

. The first

print run Print circulation is the average number of copies of a publication. The number of copies of a non-periodical publication (such as a book) are usually called print run. Circulation is not always the same as copies sold, often called paid circulat ...

of Mažvydas' work numbered between 200 and 300, although only one known copy has survived. Between 1524 and 1553 Weinreich printed 103 works, of which 59 were in German, 27 in Latin, 13 in Polish and four in either Prussian or Lithuanian.

References

External links

Books printed by Hans Weinreich
in digital library

Polona Polona is a Polish digital library, which provides digitized books, magazines, graphics, maps, music, fliers and manuscripts from collections of the National Library of Poland and co-operating institutions. It began its operation in 2006. Colle ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weinreich, Hans 1566 deaths History of printing Polish printers German printers Year of birth uncertain