Froben, Johann

Froben, Johann

 or Johannes Frobenius

(born c. 1460, Hammelburg, Franconia—died October 1527, Basel, Switz.) German-born Swiss scholar and printer active in Basel. His first publication was a Latin Bible (1491). By 1515 he and three partners owned four presses, and later seven. His contributions to printing in Basel included popularizing roman type, introducing italic and Greek fonts, experimenting with cheaper and smaller books, and employing talented artists, such as Hans Holbein, the Younger, as illustrators. About 250 of his publications are known.

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Froben, Johann 

Born circa 1460, in Hammelburg, Franco-nia; died Oct. 26, 1527, in Basel. Printer and publisher in Basel.

Born in Germany, Froben became a citizen of Basel in 1490. His work in Basel, a center of humanism, promoted the expansion of printing there. In 1514, Froben became closely associated with Erasmus of Rotterdam, most of whose works he published or republished. Froben published the Greek and Latin classics, works by humanist writers, and Erasmus’ scholarly critical edition of the New Testament (1516), which gave priority to the Greek text. In 1518, Froben republished T. More’s Utopia with the collaboration of More and of Erasmus. Froben’s work was continued by his son, Hieronymus Froben (1501–63), one of whose main publications was G. Agricola’s De re metallica. The publishing house founded by Froben remained in existence until 1587.