Johann Haller or Jan Haller (1463–1525) is considered one of the first commercial printers in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Early life

Haller was born in Rothenburg,

Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...

, Germany. After his studies at the Kraków Academy, Haller became a merchant in wine, copper and tin.

Printing activity

Haller' merchant activity enabled him to engage, at a later time, in the production of printing elements and finally establishing a printing press in

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 ...

. His first printing products were

almanac An almanac (also spelled almanack and almanach) is a regularly published listing of a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasting, weather forecasts, farmers' sowing, planting dates ...

s, followed by a

breviary A breviary () is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times. Historically, different breviaries were used in the various parts of Christendom, such as Aberdeen Breviar ...

for the clergy. Haller acquired a partial monopoly on them, thereby protecting himself from competition. He soon expanded his business to include scientific and scholarly books in

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

, mathematics, philosophy and law, as well as royal and church

statute A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...

s. Altogether Haller produced 3,530 prints. His masterpieces are illustrated books containing 354 sheets of

woodcuts Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with Chisel#Gouge, gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts ...

. He published the first print in Polish, ''Historyja umęczenia Pana naszego Jezusa Chrystusa'' (''The Story of the Martyrdom of Our Lord Jesus Christ''), in 1508.

Copernicus translation

Haller is perhaps best known for publishing in 1509 a volume of poems by

Theophylact Simocatta Theophylact Simocatta (Byzantine Greek: Θεοφύλακτος Σιμοκάτ(τ)ης ''Theophýlaktos Simokát(t)ēs''; ) was an early seventh-century Byzantine historiographer, arguably ranking as the last historian of Late Antiquity, writing in ...

which had been translated from

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

Greek into Latin by

Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...

, ''Theophilacti scolastici Simocati epistolae morales, rurales et amatoriae interpretatione latina''. At the time there was no printing press in Copernicus' area— Lidzbark (Heilsberg),

Frombork Frombork (; ) is a town in northern Poland, situated on the Vistula Lagoon in Braniewo County, within Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. As of December 2021, it has a population of 2,260. The town was first mentioned in a 13th-century document. In the ...

(Frauenburg),

Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

(Thorn)— therefore Copernicus' translation could have been printed only in Breslau (Wrocław),

or farther afield. Copernicus, who had studied in Kraków, opted for Johann Haller, who together with Kasper Hochfeld had already published the first illustrated work in Poland,

Jan Łaski Jan Łaski or Johannes à Lasco (1499 – 8 January 1560) was a Polish Calvinist reformer. Owing to his influential work in England (1548–1553) during the English Reformation, he is known to the English-speaking world by the Anglicised form ...

's ''Statutes'' (1506), and one of 25 works by Laurentius Corvinus (1508). Corvinus had lectured at the Kraków Academy while

Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...

studied there, and they were well acquainted. Corvinus took a job at Thorn, but in June 1509 traveled to the printer Haller in Kraków, bringing with him the manuscript entrusted to him by Copernicus. Corvinus (Rabe) added a poem, and Copernicus wrote a dedication to his uncle, Prince-Bishop of Warmia

Lucas Watzenrode Lucas Watzenrode the Younger (sometimes ''Watzelrode'' and ''Waisselrod''; ; ; 30 October 1447 – 29 March 1512) was Prince-Bishop of Warmia (Ermland) and patron to his nephew, astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. Early life The family and its n ...

. Haller published the book before the end of 1509. Its cover featured the

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

and

Notes

External links

*''Communicating Europe to the Region: Breslau in the Age of the Renaissance'' Lambrecht, ''German History'', 200
(pdf file)

Collection of books printed by Johann Haller
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:Haller, Johann German diaspora in Europe Polish publishers (people) Polish printers 1463 births 1525 deaths People from Ansbach (district) Printers of incunabula 16th-century Polish businesspeople

Early life

Printing activity

Copernicus translation

See also

Notes

External links