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

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

. He was active as a printer in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

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 Appian of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἀππιανὸς Ἀλεξανδρεύς ''Appianòs Alexandreús''; la, Appianus Alexandrinus; ) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who flourished during the reigns of Emperors of Rome Trajan, H ...

(1477), and the first edition of ''

Euclid's Elements The ''Elements'' ( grc, Στοιχεῖα ''Stoikheîa'') is a mathematical treatise consisting of 13 books attributed to the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid in Alexandria, Ptolemaic Egypt 300 BC. It is a collection of definitions, postu ...

'' (1482), where he solved the problem of printing geometric diagrams, the '' Poeticon astronomicon'', also from 1482,

Haly Abenragel Abū l-Ḥasan 'Alī ibn Abī l-Rijāl al-Shaybani ( ar, أبو الحسن علي ابن أبي الرجال) (commonly known as ''Haly'', ''Hali'', ''Albohazen Haly filii Abenragel'' or ''Haly Abenragel'', from ''ibn Rijal'') was an Arab astrolog ...

(1485), and

Alchabitius Abu al-Saqr Abd al-Aziz ibn Uthman ibn Ali al-Qabisi, generally known as Al-Qabisi, (Latinised as Alchabitius or Alcabitius), and sometimes known as ''Alchabiz'', ''Abdelazys'', ''Abdilaziz'' (Arabic:'' 'Abd al-Azîz'', عبدالعزيز ال ...

(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 tha ...

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 a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He w ...

."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