Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/765

 KOBLER

685

KOCHANOWSKI

mostly in folio form and some in bindings. In 14S0 it had already outstripped SeholTer of Mainz, and, until practicall}' the end of the fifteenth century, was the most important printing-house in the world. From a chance statement we learn that Kol:)erger used twenty- four presses a day for his printing antl employed over a hundred workmen. His publications demonstrate the generous plan on which his work was done. The paper will still outlast centuries. The type is almost entirely cut in Gothic form, is strong and carefully de- signed, and, in spite of its narrowniess, gives a good, readable round script, which was later very widely used. An Antiqua tj^se, resembling the Venetian, first appeared in 1492. The graceful Bible t_\-pe of 1483, which is a facsimile of the wTiting used in fif- teenth-century documents, deserves special mention. The beauty of the letterpress is greatly enhanced by tasteful arrangement of the sentences, often a difficult matter (for example in "Canon Law", 14S2-S3; "Boethius", 14S6). Koberger took no less pains to have his print clear and black, using a newly-cast fount, as well as to have the books lucidly subdivided and decorated by the ruliricator and illuminator. The emplojTiient of woodcuts in the Bil^le of 1483, which was embellished with 109 \ngnettes, marks a new epoch in the history of printing, and opened the way for such works as Schedel's " Weltchronik" (1493), a book which, with its 2000 woodcuts from the drawings of the artists Wolgemut and Pleidenwurf, was almost too profusely decorated. This latter, the greatest illustrated work of the century, greatly influenced the development of the woodcut, and especially the work of Diirer, who was drawn towards Koberger, not only as the godfather of the latter, but also by bonds of personal friendship. Towards the end of the century, the business of the printing-house greatly diminished, the last proof appearing in 1504. Puljlication by con- tract occupied a prominent place in Koberger's enter- prises; this, together with the war, pestilence, and other disturbances, was doubtlessly the chief cause of the dissolution of the printing-house. For some years previously he had had printing done for him at Basle and Strasburg, and from 1510 to 1525 the presses of Nuremberg, Hagenau, Strasburg, Basle, Paris and Lyons were busily engaged with his work. After Anthony Koberger's death (1513), his cousin Hans Koberger, some ten years his junior, took charge of the business as trustee for .Anthony's children. He, too, was a business man of great abiUty and under Anthony's supervision had from the year 1480 dis- played great business activity, especially in foreign countries. He took charge of the business under the most difficult of partnership relations until the chil- dren were of age. The eldest son Anthon.v, a way- ward youth, died in 1532; the second, Hans the younger, was actively engaged in the business of the house until his death in 1552. The publishing-house and the retail book trade were gradually given up be- fore 1532, but the hereditary occupation of goldsmith and jeweller, which .\nthon_v had never abandoned, still for a long period engaged the attentions of the family. Thus, when the faniily became extinct in 1629, it still possessed extensive landed property. As a printer, Koberger had built up a wholesale trade such as was seldom commanded before the tliscovery of the steam press. Yet he is more renowned as the founder of a wholesale publishing-house, handling all the scien- tific literature of his time, and dominating the book trade of the worlfL On the same large scale this "king of booksellers" had developed into a valuable asset of his house an honourable hawking trade. Tlie scholarly Latin literature of the Middle Ages of all ten- dencies formed the main basis of his workl-wide com- merce. Of great merit are his special editions of the classical literature of the Fathers of the Church. His editions of the Bible are also very important; before the year 1500 fifteen different editions appeared, while

the whole output of the house exceeded tliirty folio editions, including some in binding. The Kobergers participated for a short time in the sale of the Refor- mation hterature, and had some deaUngs with Luther in 1.525. But further than this they took no part in the popular agitation. They remained true to the old principles of their world-renowned house, and devoted them.selves to the sale of scientific works. Hase, Die Koberger (2n(i Oil., Loipzic. 1885).

HeINRICH WlLHELM WaLLAU.

Eobler, Andre.\s, historian, b. at Miihldorf in Bavaria, 22 June, 1816; d. at Klagenfurt, 15 Novem- ber, 1892. He made his preliminary studies at Lands- hut, and studied theology at Munich, where Mijhler and Gorres appear to have awakened in the young theolorian his preference for the study of history. After his ordination (1840) he was a curate on the mission for four years, after which he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Graz. Later he was sent to America on accoimt of the disturbances of 1848 in his own countrj-, and was attached to the New York mission for five years, being occupied mostly as professor of mathematics. Returning to Europe, he taught at Pre.sburg until 1857, when he was sent to Innsbruck as professor of church history. He held this chair for fourteen years, and was rector of the college of Innsbruck from 1861 to 1866. In 1S71 he became once more professor of mathematics at Linz, and for two years rector of the college there. Returning then to Innsbruck, he dedicated nine years to literarj' work, was appointed superior (1887) of the seminary at Klagenfurt, where he was still vigorous and active in the pulpit when death overtook him in his seventy-sixth year. His literary works are for the most part on historical subjects. Besides contribu- tions to periodicals, Kobler published: "Florian Bauke, ein Jesuit in Paraguay" (1870); "DieAufhe- bung der Gesellschaft Jesu" (1873); "Eine innere Klosterschule im IX. Jahrhundert" (1876); "Die Miirtyrer und Bekenner der Gesellschaft Jesu in Eng- land wiihrend der Jahre 1550-1681" (1886); "De Maistre, fiinf Briefe iiber den offentlichen Unterricht in Russland" (from the French); "Studien iiber die Kloster des Mittelalters" (from the English, 1867); "KathoUsches Leben im Mittelalter " (from Kenehin Digby's "Mores Catholici", 1887-9).

BClow, 200 Lebensbitder axis der osterr.-ungar. Provinz der Gesellschaft Jesu (Vienna, 1902) ; Hofmann, Das Nikolaihaus in Innsbruck einsi und jeUt (Innsbruck, 1908).

N. SCHEID.

Eochanowski, Jax, b. at Sycjiia, 1530; d. at Lublin, 22 August, 1584. He was inscribed in 1544 as a student in Crakow University, but left on ac- count of the plague. We find him studjing at Padua in 1552 imder the best instructors. There he WTote many of his Latin elegies in imitation of Tibul- lus and Propertius; these early works have little value. Thence he travelled to France, where he Uved till his mother's death in 1557, wTiting more and better Latin poetry. On his return to Poland he received his inheritance of Czarnolas. and was for some time a courtier, first of some great lords, then at the Royal Court. During this period he pro- duced, together with his best Latin elegies, his Pohsh songs and Fraszki (trifles). The former are the first really inspired poetry that appeared in Poland. The Fraszki, comical and -nntty but sometimes coarse, are very instructive, showing what social life was at that time. His "Zgoda" (Concord) and the "SatjT" are political in subject. Weary at last of court hfe, he retired to his estate. There he wrote "'Proporzec" (The Standard) and "Wrozki" (Omens — in prose). This latter was a pamphlet warning Poles against future clangers and dissensions. He began his metri- cal translation of the Psalms, wrote more lyrics in Polish and Latin, and the poems "Dziewoslab" and