#Konrad Sweynheim
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memoriae-lectoris · 21 days ago
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In 1472 the first printers in Rome, Konrad Sweynheim and Arnold Pannartz, appealed to the Pope for help. Their publishing house stood on the brink of failure. Their printing shop, according to their piteous petition, was ‘full of printed sheets, empty of necessities’. They had to this point manufactured an impressive 20,000 copies of their printed texts: but they could not sell them.
The first printers were guided in their choice of texts by their most enthusiastic customers. The universities wanted texts; scholars wanted the classical works admired by humanists. The result was that many of the first printers produced editions of the same books. It turned out they had given too little thought to how they would dispose of the copies. The market in manuscripts was close and intimate: the scribe usually knew the customer for whom he copied a text. Now printers faced the problem of disposing of hundreds of copies of identical texts to unknown buyers scattered around Europe. The failure to resolve these unanticipated problems of distribution and liquidity caused severe financial dislocation. As a result a large proportion of the first printers went bankrupt.
For the shrewdest among them, salvation lay in close cooperation with reliable institutional customers: the Church or State.
[…] With indulgences the printer undertook the work as a commission from a single client, normally the bishop or a local church. It would be for the institution to distribute the copies: the printer would receive his full payment on delivery of the work.
[…] The earliest books were printed in editions of around 300, rising to 500 by the end of the fifteenth century. However, for indulgences we know of orders for 5,000, 20,000, even in one case for 200,000 copies. This was work so lucrative that printers would often interrupt or put aside other orders to fulfil these commissions, as frustrated authors frequently complained.
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rbolick · 5 years ago
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Books On Books Collection - Romano Hänni
Books On Books Collection – Romano Hänni
typo bilder buch (2012)
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typo bilder buch (2012) Romano Hänni Printing: Letterpress on hand-proofing press. Binding: paper over cardboard glued to end papers glued to handsewn book block. Pages: 54. H268 x W237 x D30 mm. Edition of 65, of which this is #62. Acquired from the artist, 26 February 2020.
Appearance vs reality — one of the ancient standbys for philosophical conversation and…
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political-affairs · 10 years ago
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Rome's ancient Colosseum, Italy
Rome's ancient Colosseum, Italy
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