Albrecht Pfister

Albrecht Pfister (c. 1420 – c. 1470) was a German printer and woodcut artist from Bamberg. He is believed to have been the first to print illustrated books. ["Pfister, Albrecht". The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. 2006, Columbia University Press.]

Pfister served as secretary to Georg I von Schaumberg, later chosen as prince-bishop of Bamberg in 1459. [cite book | author = Martin, Douglas | coauthors = Füssel, Stephan | date = 2005 | title = Gutenberg and the Impact of Printing | publisher = Ashgate Publishing | id = ISBN 0-7546-3537-6 | pages = 49] Pfister originally created woodcuts, but became the first to establish a printing office outside of Mentz. It is said that his career began in 1461 in Bamberg when Gutenberg's types were transferred to him, but this much is suspicious.cite book | author = Hessels, Jan Hendrik | coauthors = Coster, Lourens Janszoon | date = 1887 | title = Haarlem the Birth-place of Printing, Not Mentz | publisher = E. Stock & Co. | pages = 21] Some of his works indicate that he was familiar with the accomplishments of Gutenberg, but it is not impossible that he invented typography independently. By 1458 he had perhaps already settled in Bamberg, and in 1461 printed his first work, Ulrich Boner's "Der Edelstein", the first book in German with a year, and the first illustrated book. He incorporated 101 woodblocks into the book, making him the first printer to do so. After 1461 he created a Latin bible now known as the Bamberg Bible or Pfister's Bible, of 881 pages with double columns and 36 lines per page. [cite book | author = van der Linde, Antonius; Hessels, Jan Hendrik | date = 1871 | title = The Haarlem Legend of the Invention of Printing by Lourens Janszoon Coster | publisher = Blades, East, & Blades | pages = 23-4] By 1470 he had completed at least eight other works. These were vernacular works which proved popular at the time.

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