Erhard Ratdolt

Erhard Ratdolt (1442–1528) was an early German printer. From Augsburg, he was active printing in Venice, where he worked from 1476 to 1486.

There he produced a Kalendario (1476) for Regiomontanus, and editions of the Historia Romana of Appianus (1477), and Euclid's Elements (1482), solving the problem of reproducing mathematical diagrams. Other works were the Poeticon astronomicon, also from 1482, Haly Abenragel (1485), and Alchabitius (1503). Erhard Ratdolt is also notable as having produced the first known printers type specimen book (in this instance a broadsheet displaying the fonts with which he might print)[1].

He returned to Augsburg, where he continued in business as a printer. His innovations of layout and typography, mixing type and woodcuts, have subsequently been much admired. His printing influenced that of William Morris.[2]

References

  1. ^ Updike, Daniel Berkeley (1922 reprinted 2009). Printing Types, Their History, Forms, and Use. General Books. pp. 196. ISBN 978-1151437389. 
  2. ^ "Erhard Ratdolt." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition (2010): 1. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 6 Oct. 2011. .

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