Johann Amerbach

Johann Amerbach (1444 in Amorbach, Germany; 25 December 1514 in Basel, Switzerland ) was a celebrated printer in Basel in the 15th century. He was the first printer in Basel to use the Roman type instead of Gothic and Italian and spared no expense in his art.

Early life and education Amerbach was born in 1444 as Johann Welcker in Amorbach, Odenwald, to the Mayor of Amorbach, Peter Welcker. His family had enough financial means to provide Johann with a good education and sent him to study in Paris. It was during his studies in Paris, where he was surrounded by humanist luminaries such as Heynlein, Johann Reuchlin and Rudolf Agricola, where his interest into humanism is assumed to have developed. and developed an affinity for the printing business. In around 1477 he settled in Basel, Within a year, he became one of the major printers in town, only equated by one. During the 1480s, Jakob Wolff of Pforzheim was his partner in printing. and became the city's most important printer, developing own distribution channels towards Strasbourg and Paris. In 1486 Johann Heynlin settled in Basel and soon became an influential editor in the press of Amerbach. Heynlein would live in the Carthusian monastery as Amerbachs neighbor, and induce the use of chapters and indexes for the books Amerbach published. The editor of the bible was Conrad of Leonberg. for smaller projects they relied on themselves. Amerbach owned two printing houses, one on each side of the Rhine in Basel.

Even though he sold the printing house in the House to the Chair to Froben in 1507, During his lifetime, he assembled an extensive library which would be included in the Amerbach-Cabinet by his grandson Basilius Amerbach. His daughter Margaret was named after Saint Margaret. He also was the father of a daughter that died before her third birthday.