Erhard Ratdolt (1442–1528) was an early German printer from

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

. He was active as a printer in

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 ...

from 1476 to 1486, and afterwards in Augsburg. From 1475 to 1478 he was in partnership with two other German printers. The first book the partnership produced was the ''Calendarium'' (1476), written and previously published by

Regiomontanus Johannes Müller von Königsberg (6 June 1436 – 6 July 1476), better known as Regiomontanus (), was a mathematician, astrologer and astronomer of the German Renaissance, active in Vienna, Buda and Nuremberg. His contributions were instrument ...

, which offered one of the earliest examples of a modern title page. Other noteworthy publications are the ''Historia Romana'' of Appianus (1477), and the first edition of ''

Euclid's Elements The ''Elements'' ( ) is a mathematics, mathematical treatise written 300 BC by the Ancient Greek mathematics, Ancient Greek mathematician Euclid. ''Elements'' is the oldest extant large-scale deductive treatment of mathematics. Drawing on the w ...

'' (1482), where he solved the problem of printing geometric diagrams, the '' Poeticon astronomicon'', also from 1482, Haly Abenragel (1485), and Alchabitius (1503). Ratdolt is also famous for having produced the first known printer's type specimen book (in this instance a broadsheet displaying the fonts with which he might print). His innovations of layout and typography, mixing type and

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

s, have subsequently been much admired. His graphic choices and technical solutions influenced also those of

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...

."Erhard Ratdolt." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition (2010): 1. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 6 Oct. 2011. .

References

External links

Prints & People: A Social History of Printed Pictures
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Ratdolt (see index)

*G. R. Redgrave
''Erhard Ratdolt and his work at Venice''
London, 1894 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ratdolt, Erhard 1442 births 1528 deaths German printers Medieval German merchants 16th-century German businesspeople 15th-century German businesspeople Printers from the Holy Roman Empire