Johann Snell (fl. 1482; died after 1519) was a German printer. He appears to have been born in

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

and was in

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, ...

in 1475, where he apparently served his apprenticeship with the Brotherhood of St. Michael, and in

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

in 1480, where he was an independent printer and bookbinder. He may also have studied at the

University of Rostock The University of Rostock (german: link=no, Universität Rostock) is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in continen ...

in 1481. In 1482 he was brought by Bishop Karl Rønnov to

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...

to print a short prayer book ( breviary), ''Breviarium Ottoniense''. At the same time, presumably for another ecclesiastical client such as the Knights of St. John, Snell printed ''De obsidione et bello Rhodiano'', an account of the Turkish siege of the island of

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

. These are the first two books printed in Denmark. While in Stockholm in 1483–84, he also produced the first book printed in Sweden, ''Dialogus creaturarum'', a richly illustrated volume dated 1483. He appears to have been brought to Sweden to print a missal for the Archbishopric of Uppsala, known as ''Missale Upsalense vetus'', which typographic evidence shows him to have printed in Stockholm in late 1484. He apparently then returned to Lübeck, where the last record of him is in 1519.

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