Peter Schöffer or Petrus Schoeffer () was an early German printer, who studied in

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and worked as a manuscript copyist in 1451 before apprenticing with

Johannes Gutenberg Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg ( – 3 February 1468) was a German inventor and Artisan, craftsman who invented the movable type, movable-type printing press. Though movable type was already in use in East Asia, Gutenberg's inven ...

and joining Johann Fust, a goldsmith, lawyer, and money lender. Among his best-known works are the 1457 ''

Mainz Psalter The ''Mainz Psalter'' was the second major book printed with movable type in the West; the first was the Gutenberg Bible. It is a psalter commissioned by the Mainz archbishop in 1457. The Psalter introduced several innovations: it was the ...

'', the ''1462 Bible'' or ''Biblia pulcra'', and the 1484 ''Herbarius latinus''.

Life and works

Schöffer was born in Gernsheim. Working for Fust, Schöffer was the principal workman of

, inventor of modern

typography Typography is the art and technique of Typesetting, arranging type to make written language legibility, legible, readability, readable and beauty, appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, Point (typogra ...

, whose 42-Line Bible was completed in 1455. In 1455 he testified for Johann Fust against Gutenberg. By 1457, he and Fust had formed the firm ''Fust and Schöffer'', after the foreclosure of the mortgage on Gutenberg's printing workshop. Famous works include the ''Psalter'' of 1457, the ''1462 Bible'' (the fourth printed Bible, also known as the ''Biblia pulcra'' eautiful Bible Cicero's ''De officiis'' (1465), and ''Herbarius – Rogatu plurimorum...'' (1484), usually referred to as the ''"Herbarius latinus"''. The ''Herbarius'' was compiled from older sources and was popular enough to go through ten reprints before 1499. It illustrates and describes 150 plants and 96 medicines commonly found in apothecaries. There is reason to believe that Schöffer himself commissioned the compilation, although the name of the compiler is not recorded. Schöffer is considered the author of many innovations such as dating books, including a title page and colored inks in print. After going into business on his own, Schöffer confined his publishing to works on theology, and civil and ecclesiastical law. He died in

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

. Around 1470/71 Schöffer acquired the Humbrechthof in Mainz, which was later called Schöfferhof. Schöffer married Fust's only daughter, Christina, and his sons also entered the printer's trade. His son John carried on as printer between 1503 and 1531, was competent, but did not rank with the top printers of that time. Another son, Peter the younger, was an able die-cutter and printer, and conducted business in

(1509–23),

Worms The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

(1512–29),

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(1530–39) and

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(1541–42). In 1526, Peter Schöffer the younger published the first English New Testament in

, translated by

William Tyndale William Tyndale (; sometimes spelled ''Tynsdale'', ''Tindall'', ''Tindill'', ''Tyndall''; – October 1536) was an English Biblical scholar and linguist who became a leading figure in the Protestantism, Protestant Reformation in the year ...

. Peter the younger's son Ivo, continued the printing business at Mainz (1531–55).

Legacy

''Schöfferhofer'' is a brand of German wheat beer named for the former house of Peter Schöffer (the house was called the ''Mainzer Schöfferhof'') in which a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of b ...

was founded. This brand of beer sports a portrait of Peter Schöffer as its trademark. The Schöfferhofer brand originates from this brewery in

, which is also known as the ''Brauerei Dreikönigshof''. According to the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

, in her 2014 novel ''Gutenberg's Apprentice'', Alix Christie addresses the issues of " intellectual property theft" relating to Schöffer and Gutenberg in the invention of printing.

References

External links

Botanicus''Herbarius'' at the MBG Rare Books Room
From th

at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

:
Decretales Gregorii, Volume OneDecretales Gregorii, Volume TwoDecretales Gregorii, Volume ThreeLiber sextus decretalium.
Mainz, Peter Schoeffer, 5 Apr. (Non. Apr.) 1473.
Rationale divinorum officiorum.
ainzJohann Fust and Peter Schoeffer, 6 Oct. 1459.
De officiis.
ainzJohann Fust and Peter Schoeffer, 1465. {{DEFAULTSORT:Schoffer, Peter 1425 births 1503 deaths German printers Printers of incunabula Medieval German merchants 15th-century German businesspeople People from Groß-Gerau (district) People from the Electorate of Mainz

Life and works

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading

External links