Adam Petri

Adam Petri (1454 in Langendorf (now part of Elfershausen) in Franconia – 15 November 1527 in Basel) was a printer, publisher and bookseller.

Early life

Petri was born ca. 1454 in Langendorf near Hammelburg. Like his uncle Johannes Petri, he moved to Basel, where he resided from around 1480 and worked as a printer. In 1507 he received Basel citizenship rights. Shortly before his uncle Johannes died, he took over the printshop in the Ackermannshof at the St. Johannsvorstadt. Hartmuth by Cronberg, Philipp Melanchthon, Andreas Karlstadt and a few titles by the Swiss Reformers Huldrych Zwingli, Joachim Vadian and Johannes Oecolampadius.

Of Bugenhagen, he printed his "Interpretations of the Psalms" (Lat.Librum Psalmorum interpretatio) in the Latin language in 1524 and two years later also the German translation, for which the Psalms text and the translation by Martin Luther were used. The Latin version had a book cover with a drawing by Hans Holbein the Younger. The German translation counted with forewords by Martin Luther and Martin Bucer.

His edition of Jan Hus, which appeared under the title Liber egregius de unitate ecclesiae, cuius author periit in concilio Constantiensi in 1520, attracted a great deal of attention. Petri was also able to produce a reprint of Luther’s translation of the Bible with amazing speed. Only a quarter of a year after the edition of the “September Testament”, Petri's edition appeared in December 1522 under the title . Between 1523 and 1524, Petri printed Luther’s translation of the Old Testament under the title Der ursprunglichen Hebreischen warheit nach auffs trewlichst verdeutscht. Petri died on 15 November 1527.

Personal life In 1507, he married Anna Selber, a member of a Basel burgher family. A year later, their son Heinrich Petri was born. His widow Anna remarried the cartographer, cosmographer, and a Hebrew scholar Sebastian Münster in 1530. His son Heinrich Petri successfully continued the family’s printing house.