Luka Radovanović or Don Luka Radovanović was a 15th-century Catholic priest from

Ragusa Ragusa may refer to: Places Croatia * Ragusa, Dalmatia, the historical name of the city of Dubrovnik * the Republic of Ragusa (or Republic of Dubrovnik), the maritime city-state of Ragusa * Ragusa Vecchia, historical Italian name of Cavtat, a t ...

who was known as one in a series of early printers in the 15th- and 16th-century

Republic of Ragusa The Republic of Ragusa, or the Republic of Dubrovnik, was an maritime republics, aristocratic maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik (''Ragusa'' in Italian and Latin; ''Raguxa'' in Venetian) in South Dalmatia (today in southernmost ...

. He was

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

of the female monastery of St. Mary of Kaštel. It is assumed that in 1475 Radovanović could have inherited or acquired a small printing press. In December 1480 Radovanović is mentioned in one decision of Ragusan Minor Council which allowed him, as representative of the cathedral church of St Mary, to organize reparation and solidification of two water cisterns in this church. In 1487 Radovanović was mentioned in Ragusan documents as one of

bookbinders A bookbinder is someone who binds books. Bookbinder may also refer to: * Alan Bookbinder (born 1956), British journalist and Master of Downing College, Cambridge * Elaine Bookbinder (born 1945), singer better known as Elkie Brooks * Roy Bookbinder ...

of Ragusa. On 15 October 1501 Radovanović wrote his will in which he left his printing press with "Slavic" (

Glagolitic The Glagolitic script ( , , ''glagolitsa'') is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. It is generally agreed that it was created in the 9th century for the purpose of translating liturgical texts into Old Church Slavonic by Saints Cyril and Methodi ...

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...

) types to another priest, Pavao or Pavle Vukašinović (died in 1555). It is unknown if this printing press was operational in Ragusa, but it is certain that its types were imported from

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

according to

Milan Rešetar Milan Rešetar (February 1, 1860 – January 14, 1942) was a linguist, historian and literary critic from Dubrovnik. Biography Rešetar was born in Dubrovnik. After the gymnasium in Dubrovnik, he studied classical philology and Slavic languages ...

. Radovanović died on 15 July 1502.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Radovanovic, Luka Ragusan printers 1420s births 1502 deaths People from Dubrovnik Ragusan clergy