Theoderic (Theodoric or Theodericus) Rood was a printer of incunabula at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

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. His activities in the city can be dated with any certainty only to the years 1481 and 1482, but probably extend between around 1481 and 1484. Several earlier printed books, dating from 1478 and 1479, and an edition of John Mirk's ''Liber festivalis'' of 1486 or 1487, which were once attributed to Rood's press are now thought to be the work of other, as yet unidentified, printers.

Life and work

Rood came to Oxford from

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, bringing types (and possibly a press) with him. Once established in Oxford, he forged links with the

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

and printed a number of academic works in Latin, including John Anwykyll's ''Compendium totius grammaticae'' of around 1483 (known only from a single fragmentary copy at the Bodleian Library). E. Gordon Duff lists thirteen surviving editions printed by Rood.E. Gordon Duff, ''Printing in England in the Fifteenth Century: E. Gordon Duff's bibliography'' f 1917''with supplementary descriptions, chronologies and a census of copies by Lotte Hellinga''. London: Bibliographical Society and British Library, 2009. Among these books, only two are dated, the earlier being

Alexander of Hales Alexander of Hales (also Halensis, Alensis, Halesius, Alesius ; 21 August 1245), also called ''Doctor Irrefragibilis'' (by Pope Alexander IV in the ''Bull De Fontibus Paradisi'') and ''Theologorum Monarcha'', was a Franciscan friar, theologian a ...

' ''Expositio super libros Aristotelis de anima'', which bears a colophon date of 11 October 1481, and the later John Lathbury's ''Liber moralium super threnis Ieremiae'' dated 31 July 1482. The other surviving editions are undated, but have been ascribed dates between 1481 and, tentatively, 1484 by Duff and Hellinga.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rood, Theoderic Businesspeople from Cologne People from Oxford English printers 15th-century English people Printers of incunabula Year of birth missing Year of death missing