Peter Schöffer or Petrus Schoeffer (c. 1425 – c. 1503) was an early German printer, who studied in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

and worked as a manuscript copyist in 1451 before apprenticing with

Johannes Gutenberg Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (; – 3 February 1468) was a German inventor and craftsman who introduced letterpress printing to Europe with his movable-type printing press. Though not the first of its kind, earlier designs ...

and joining

Johann Fust Johann Fust or Faust (c. 1400 – October 30, 1466) was an early German printer. Family background Fust was born to burgher family of Mainz, traceable back to the early thirteenth century. Members of the family held many civil and religi ...

, a goldsmith, lawyer, and money lender. Among his best-known works are the 1457 ''

Mainz Psalter The ''Mainz Psalter'' was the second major book printed with movable type in the West; the first was the Gutenberg Bible. It is a psalter commissioned by the Mainz archbishop in 1457. The Psalter introduced several innovations: it was the ...

'', the ''1462 Bible'' or ''Biblia pulcra'', and the 1484 ''Herbarius latinus''.

Life and works

Schöffer was born in

Gernsheim Gernsheim () is a town in Groß-Gerau district and Darmstadt region in Hesse, Germany, lying on the Rhine. Geography Location The ''Schöfferstadt Gernsheim'', as Gernsheim may officially call itself – it was Peter Schöffer's birthplace – ...

. Working for Fust, Schöffer was the principal workman of

, inventor of modern

typography Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), an ...

, whose

42-Line Bible The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was the earliest major book printed using mass-produced movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the " Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of printed ...

was completed in 1455. In 1455 he testified for Johann Fust against Gutenberg. By 1457 he and Fust had formed the firm ''Fust and Schöffer'', after the foreclosure of the mortgage on Gutenberg's printing workshop. Famous works include the ''Psalter'' of 1457, the ''1462 Bible'' (the fourth printed Bible, also known as the ''Biblia pulcra'' eautiful Bible Cicero's ''De officiis'' (1465), and ''Herbarius – Rogatu plurimorum...'' (1484), usually referred to as the ''"Herbarius latinus"''. The ''Herbarius'' was compiled from older sources and was popular enough to go through ten reprints before 1499. It illustrates and describes 150 plants and 96 medicines commonly found in apothecaries. There is reason to believe that Schöffer himself commissioned the compilation, although the name of the compiler is not recorded. Schöffer is considered the author of many innovations such as dating books, including a title page and colored inks in print. After going into business on his own, Schöffer confined his publishing to works on theology, and civil and ecclesiastical law. He died in

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

. Around 1470/71 Schöffer acquired the

Humbrechthof The Humbrechthof, also known as Hof zum Humbrecht, was the building in which Johannes Gutenberg developed his technique of printing with movable metal type and set up his first printing press. It was located in the old town of Mainz. Today, the hou ...

in Mainz, which was later called Schöfferhof. Schöffer married Fust's only daughter, Christina, and his sons also entered the printer's trade. His son John carried on as printer between 1503 and 1531, was competent, but did not rank with the top printers of that time. Another son,

Peter the younger Peter the Younger (Romanian: ''Petru cel Tânăr'') (1547 – 19 August 1569) was the Voivode (Prince) of Wallachia between 25 September 1559 and 8 June 1568. The eldest son of Mircea the Shepherd and Doamna Chiajna, his named "the Young" bec ...

, was an able die-cutter and printer, and conducted business in

(1509–23),

Worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany Worms () is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had ...

(1512–29),

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the ...

(1530–39) and

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 ...

(1541–42). In 1526, Peter Schöffer the younger published the first English New Testament in

, translated by

William Tyndale William Tyndale (; sometimes spelled ''Tynsdale'', ''Tindall'', ''Tindill'', ''Tyndall''; – ) was an English biblical scholar and linguist who became a leading figure in the Protestant Reformation in the years leading up to his execu ...

. Peter the younger's son Ivo, continued the printing business at Mainz (1531–55).

Legacy

''Schöfferhofer'' is a brand of German wheat beer named for the former house of Peter Schöffer (the house was called the ''Mainzer Schöfferhof'') in which a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of bee ...

was founded. This brand of beer sports a portrait of Peter Schöffer as its trademark. The Schöfferhofer brand originates from this brewery in

, which is also known as the ''Brauerei Dreikönigshof''. According to the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, in her 2014 novel ''Gutenberg's Apprentice'', Alix Christie addresses the issues of "intellectual property theft" relating to Schöffer and Gutenberg in the invention of printing.

References

External links

Botanicus''Herbarius'' at the MBG Rare Books Room
From th

at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

:
Decretales Gregorii, Volume OneDecretales Gregorii, Volume TwoDecretales Gregorii, Volume ThreeLiber sextus decretalium.
Mainz, Peter Schoeffer, 5 Apr. (Non. Apr.) 1473.
Rationale divinorum officiorum.
ainzJohann Fust and Peter Schoeffer, 6 Oct. 1459.
De officiis.
ainzJohann Fust and Peter Schoeffer, 1465. {{DEFAULTSORT:Schoffer, Peter 1425 births 1503 deaths German printers Printers of incunabula Medieval German merchants 15th-century German businesspeople People from Groß-Gerau (district) People from the Electorate of Mainz

Life and works

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading

External links