Joseph von Kurzböck

Josef Ritter von Kurzböck, also Joseph von Kurzbeck (21 November 1735, Vienna, Habsburg monarchy – 18 December 1792, Vienna, Habsburg Empire), was an Austrian printer, bookseller, merchant, estate owner and writer and one of the most prolific, Serbian Cyrillic printers in the Austrian Empire.

Biography In 1755, he took over from his father the university book printing shop that had two presses and in the next few years he acquired 15 presses with a capacity to print books in Illyrian (Serbian Cyrillic) and Oriental languages. In recognition of his typographic achievements, he was granted permission to build a university bookstore. Kurzböck continued his technical improvements in letter casting and letterpress printing, making the privately protected book printer with efficient equipment and fair prices to successfully compete against Johann von Trattner (1717-1798) the Court Printer.