Johannes (Hans) Grüninger (1455–1533) was a German printer whose career spanned from 1482 to 1533 and produced up to 500 publications. Grüninger was one of the single most prolific printers of

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 ...

, printing up to 80 books a year. While a great deal of his publications were Catholic, he managed to print a great variety of works ranging from humanist to scientific texts. His work was fairly equally representative of both Latin and the vernacular; about 39% of his works were printed in Latin and the remaining 61% in German. Grüninger was born as Johannes Reinhart in 1455 in the town of Markgröningen,

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...

(from which he took his name "Grüninger"). He learned about the printing trade 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 ...

before he moved to Strasbourg which was experiencing a boom in the printing industry. Between 1508 and 1528 about 70 printers had established themselves in Strasbourg. Grüninger had a head start on this competition and in 1481 he moved to Strasbourg. A year later bought his print shop and in August 1483, he printed his first book,

Petrus Comestor Peter Comestor (, "Peter the Eater"; ; died 22 October 1178) was a 12th-century Kingdom of France, French Theology, theological writer and university teacher. Life Peter Comestor was born in Troyes. Although the surname (Latin language, Lati ...

's Historia Scholastica. Some of his notable publications include a German-language Bible, and illustrated editions of

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

's ''Opera'', and

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

''. Grüninger died in 1532 and was succeeded by his sons Wolfgang and Bartholomew (primarily Bartholomew, who was also a printer albeit on a smaller scale than his father). As was common, his sons promptly sold the business to Peter Schöffer the younger in 1533 after being unable to maintain past production rates.

Notable publications

Religious Texts Grüninger was responsible for printing many Breviaries for dioceses across the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

, especially in the first decade of his career. In fact, he was one of the chief printers of breviaries within the Empire. He also printed many missals that were transported across Europe. His largest contribution to the printed religious text is his German family Bible which was the tenth Bible printed in the German language and the first "handy-sized" Bible. Grüninger's Bible was printed in two volumes, each containing about 460 leaves and was illustrated with 109 woodcuts. At 28 x 20 cm this Bible was almost half the size of the average printed Bible at the time. In 1522 Grüninger found himself in trouble with the Strasbourg authorities after publishing an anti-Lutheran book by Thomas Murner titled ''Von dem Grössen Lutherischen Narren''." At the time, the reformation had a strong presence in Strasbourg and in response, Strasbourg officials confiscated Grüninger's prints of Murner's book. Classics Despite printing primarily religious texts, Grüninger printed three major Classical texts in his career. In 1496 he printed

Terence Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a playwright during the Roman Republic. He was the author of six Roman comedy, comedies based on Greek comedy, Greek originals by Menander or Apollodorus of Carystus. A ...

's ''Comidiae'', in 1498 he printed

's ''Opera'', and in 1502 he printed

. Horace's ''Opera'' (1498) Gruninger Horace verso

In 1498, Grüninger printed the first illustrated edition of Horace's ''Opera'' with commentary by Jakob Locher. This is the only printing of Horace before 1500 to contain commentary. It has been argued that this printing of Horace was intended for pedagogical purposes rather than merely entertainment. Locher was a humanist and stated in an

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word derives from the Greek (, "inscription", from [], "to write on, to inscribe"). This literary device has been practiced for over two millennia ...

that Horace was not for the consumption of ordinary people, but for the educated. He probably intended this book to be for those either learning Latin and Horace or already learned in these topics which could explain this text's unique use of marginal commentaries which are in keeping with medieval pedagogical tradition (except that they seem to provide more background information on the poetry than directions on how to morally read the text). In between the lines of the text itself can be seen explanatory words that clarify abbreviations and names thus helping the reader follow along while at the same time learning some Latin conventions. Given that there seem to be a decent number of surviving copies, this (and Grüninger's prints of ''Comidiae'' by Terence (1496) and Vergil's ''Aeneid'' (1502)) book seems to have been a success when released. Virgil's ''Aeneid'' (1502) Grüninger's 1502 publication of the ''Aeneid'' was edited by

Sebastian Brant Sebastian Brant (also Brandt; 1457/1458 – 10 May 1521) was a German humanist and satirist. He is best known for his satire '' Das Narrenschiff'' (''The Ship of Fools''). Early life and education Brant was born in either 1457 or 1458 in Strasbo ...

, who also wrote the well known Ship of Fools in 1494. The woodcuts in the ''Aeneid'' are notable in that they depict characters and architecture in contemporary clothing and style. Geography Grüninger printed nearly 100,000 woodcut maps between 1510 and 1530. He was the most prolific printer of wall maps in the entire Holy Roman Empire of his time. The main geographic works that came out of Grüninger's press were an edition of

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

's ''

Geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

'' prepared by Lorenz Fries (1521), another edition of the ''Geography'' in 1525, and a reduced version of Martin Waldseemüller's ''Carta Marina'', also prepared by Fries in 1525.

References

External links

Johannes Grüninger
from Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek

from Deutsche Biography *
Grüninger
from GW. Datenbank
Initials and ornaments used by Gruninger
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gruninger, Johann 1455 births 1533 deaths 15th-century printers 16th-century printers German printers 16th-century German businesspeople