Hans Weinreich

The first printed book in Old Prussian, printed by Weinreich in 1545. Hans Weinreich (1480/1490–1566) was a publisher and printer of German, Lithuanian and Polish language books in the first half of the sixteenth century. Weinreich was originally from Danzig (Gdańsk) in Royal Prussia, Kingdom of Poland, and then moved to Königsberg (Królewiec) in Ducal Prussia at the invitation of Albert of Prussia.

Biography Weinreich was most likely born in Danzig sometime between 1480 and 1490, to a well-to-do family. His grandfather shared his name and had four sons, of whom one was Hans' father.

Weinreich's printshop in Königsberg was supposedly located by the castle steps in the city's Old Town.

Printing activity

Weinreich issued his first works in either 1512 or 1513 and moved to Königsberg in 1524.

Weinreich also printed the first Lithuanian language and Old Prussian language books while in Königsberg, with the former being a translation of Martin Luther's Catechism by Martynas Mažvydas. The first print run of Mažvydas' work numbered between 200 and 300, although only one known copy has survived.

Between 1524 and 1553 Weinreich printed 103 works, of which 59 were in German, 27 in Latin, 13 in Polish and four in either Prussian or Lithuanian.