Johannes Oporinus (also Johannes Oporin; Latinised from the original

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

name: ''Johannes Herbster'' or ''Hans Herbst'') (25 January 1507 – 7 July 1568) was a humanist printer in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

Life

Johannes Oporinus, the son of the painter Hans Herbst, was born in Basel. He completed his academic training in

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

and Basel. After working as a teacher in the

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

convent of St. Urban, he returned to Basel, where he taught at the school of Leonhard. In Basel, he enrolled into the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis''; German: ''Universität Basel'') is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest univ ...

, where he studied law under Bonifacius Amerbach and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

with Thomas Platter. Concordantly he worked as a proofer in the workshop of

Johann Froben Johann Froben, in Latin: Johannes Frobenius (and combinations), (c. 1460 – 27 October 1527) was a famous printer, publisher and learned Renaissance humanist in Basel. He was a close friend of Erasmus and cooperated closely with Hans Holbein t ...

, the most important printer of Basel the early 16th Century. In addition, he taught at the Basel Latin school from 1526. In 1527 he was temporarily ''famulus'' to the physician

Paracelsus Paracelsus (; ; 1493 – 24 September 1541), born Theophrastus von Hohenheim (full name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim), was a Swiss physician, alchemist, lay theologian, and philosopher of the German Renaissance. H ...

. From 1538, Oporinus was the professor for

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

at the

. In 1542 he resigned his academic post to devote himself full-time to his printing workshop. In addition, he completed a medical studies. In 1567, he sold his printshop to the Gemuseus family.

Theodor Zwinger Theodor Zwinger the Elder (2 August 1533 – 10 March 1588) was a Swiss physician and Renaissance humanist scholar. He made significant contributions to the emerging genres of reference and travel literature. He was the first distinguished repre ...

Publications

He published a

version of the ''

Gesta Danorum ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essentia ...

'' in 1534, entitled ''Saxonis grammatici Danorum historiae libri XVI''. In 1542, he attempted to print the first

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

, edited by Theodor Bibliander from a translation made by Robert of Ketton in Spain in 1142–1143. This Quran was part of a collection of Islamic works commissioned by Peter the Venerable. The municipal authorities imprisoned Oporinus for a short while, but a letter from

Martin Luther Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...

convinced them to permit the printing. Luther and

Philip Melanchthon Philip Melanchthon (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, an intellectual leader of the L ...

provided introductory essays for the edition. The most important publication of his workshop was the anatomical atlas ''

De humani corporis fabrica ''De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem'' (Latin, "On the Fabric of the Human Body in Seven Books") is a set of books on human anatomy written by Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564) and published in 1543. It was a major advance in the history of a ...

'' by the humanist physician

Andreas Vesalius Andries van Wezel (31 December 1514 – 15 October 1564), latinized as Andreas Vesalius (), was an anatomist and physician who wrote '' De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem'' (''On the fabric of the human body'' ''in seven books''), which is ...

, in 1543. In October 1546 a book on the assassination of the Spanish Protestant Juan Díaz, entitled ''Historia vera de morti sancti viri Ioannis Diazii Hispanics ..by Claudium Senarclaeum'', was published by his workshop, which is attributed to

Francisco de Enzinas Francisco de Enzinas (1 November 1518? – 30 December 1552), also known by the humanist name Francis Dryander (from the Greek ''drus'', which can be translated ''encina'' in Spanish), was a classical scholar, translator, author, Protestant refor ...

. In addition, his press published numerous polemical theological works, classics, and historiographical works. His fine knowledge of ancient languages served the quality of consistently correct textual editions. Oporinus later printed a work on church history by Matthias Flacius Illyricus: ''Catalogus testium veritatis'' (1556) and the first eleven (1559–1567) of Wigand's thirteen '' Magdeburg Centuries''. In 1559 he published the complete

editio princeps In Textual scholarship, textual and classical scholarship, the ''editio princeps'' (plural: ''editiones principes'') of a work is the first printed edition of the work, that previously had existed only in manuscripts. These had to be copied by han ...

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental Universal history (genre), universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty ...

' ''

Bibliotheca historica ''Bibliotheca historica'' (, ) is a work of Universal history (genre), universal history by Diodorus Siculus. It consisted of forty books, which were divided into three sections. The first six books are geographical in theme, and describe the h ...

''. Before he died, he planned to publish the first Bible in the Spanish language, for which Casiodoro de Reina paid 400 guilders in advance.Gilly, Carlos (2001).pp.18–19 But Oporinus died before the bible was able to go into print.

Oporinus' mark

Looking at title page or at the colophon of an Oporinus edition, the printer's device shows the mythological lyre player

Arion Arion (; ) was a kitharode in ancient Greece, a Dionysiac poet credited with inventing the dithyramb. The islanders of Lesbos claimed him as their native son, but Arion found a patron in Periander, tyrant of Corinth. Although notable for his mu ...

of Lesbos, which is supported by a

Dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

on the sea. There are more variant forms of it, some are shown below. File:arion.gif File:Johannes Oporinus mark - BEIC.jpg File:Oporinus 2.jpg File:Oporinus 3.jpg

Personal life

He was born to Hans Herbst (also spelled Herbster) and Barbara Lupfart. His father was a painter from Strasbourg and lost most of his work with the

reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

. He was married four times, each time with a widow. The third wife was a sister of the publisher Johan Hervagius the younger (died 1564) and the fourth a sister of Basilius Amerbach. He died deeply in debt on the 7 July 1568 and all his possessions were confiscated by the authorities in order to pay his creditors.

was his nephew. He had an extensive library of 4000 books, which was auctioned.Gilly, Carlos (2001). p. 10 His manuscript collection and his extensive correspondence are preserved in the Basel University Library.

References

External links

*
Digital edition of ''De humani corporis fabrica; Epitome''
published by Oporinus in 1543, in

Cambridge Digital Library The Cambridge Digital Library is a project operated by the Cambridge University Library designed to make items from the unique and distinctive collections of Cambridge University Library available online. The project was initially funded by a dona ...