Maciej Wirzbięta (alternatively ''Wierzbięta''; (b. 1523

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

, d. June 1605) – Polish printer, translator and bookseller based Kraków. He printed the works of

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, Łukasz Górnicki, and Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski, among others.

Biography

Maciej Wirzbięta was born in 1523 to a Kraków burgher family. He most likely learned the art of printing from Florian Ungler, whose printing office he managed for his wife Helena Ungler after Florian's death in 1536. In 1544 he acquired a house with a printing office near Sławkowska Street and outfitted the office with equipment bought from the widow of the Bernard Wojewodka, printer of the

Brest Bible The Brest Bible () was the first complete Protestant Bible translation into Polish, published by Bernard Wojewodka in 1563 in Brest and dedicated to King Sigismund II Augustus. Polish full original title: ''Biblia święta, Tho iest, Księgi ...

. It's possible that there was a connection between the death in 1554 of Jakub Przyłuski and Wirzbięta establishing his printing office. Wirzbięta converted from Catholicism to

Calvinism Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyteri ...

and subsequently printed predominantly Protestant works. Twice married, he died in June 1605.

Works

He printed the majority of the works of

, as well as

's '' Szachy (Chess)'', Łukasz Górnicki's '' Dworzanin polski'' (an adaptation of

Baldassare Castiglione Baldassare Castiglione, Count of Casatico (; 6 December 1478 – 2 February 1529),Dates of birth and death, and cause of the latter, fro, ''Italica'', Rai International online. was an Italian courtier, diplomat, soldier and a prominent Renaissan ...

's Book of the Courtier), and works by Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski. He printed theological works, polemics, confessions, and other religious works. He also published a significant amount of music notation, mostly Protestant solo songbooks, using a combination of type and woodblock. The final dated work printed by Maciej printshop appeared in 1609, and his son, Paweł, took over the shop a year later in 1610. Other works printed by Maciej Wirzbięta include: * Agrippa, Heinrich Cornelius. ''O ślachetności a zacności płci niewieściej''. Kraków, 1575. *Tebańczyk, Cebes. ''Tablica albo Konterfet Cebesa tebańskiego filozofa''. Kraków, 1581.

Bibliography

*Frantz, Wiktor. ''W gnieździe drukarstwa polskiego''. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1974. *Ptaśnik, J. "Cracovia impressorum XV et XVI ss." ''Monumenta Poloniae Typographica XV et XVI Saeculorum'', vol. 1. Lwów, 1922. *''Encyklopedia wiedzy o książce''. Wrocław, Warszawa, Kraków: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, 1971. *''Bibliografia Literatury Polskiej – Nowy Korbut'', vol. 3 Piśmiennictwo Staropolskie, pp. 395–6. Warsaw: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1965.

Notes

External links

Collection of books printed by Maciej Wirzbięta
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:Wirzbieta, Maciej Polish printers Polish booksellers 1523 births 1605 deaths 16th-century Polish businesspeople 16th-century Polish writers 16th-century Polish male writers People from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth