Johann Froben, inLatin:Johannes Frobenius (and combinations), (c. 1460 – 27 October 1527) was a famous printer, publisher and learnedRenaissance humanist inBasel. He was a close friend ofErasmus and cooperated closely withHans Holbein the Younger. He made Basel one of the world's leading centres of the book trade. He passed his printing business on to his son,Hieronymus, and grandson,Ambrosius Frobenius.
Johann Froben was born inHammelburg,Franconia and appears the first time at the workshop of the printer ofAnton Koberger ofNuremberg in 1486.[1] He moved to Basel in the 1480s.[2] He graduated from theUniversity in Basel, where he made the acquaintance of the famous printerJohann Amerbach (c. 1440–1513). Froben established himself as a printer in that city about 1491, when he published the first manageable bible in theoctavo format.[2] He soon attained a European reputation for accuracy and taste. In 1500, he married the daughter of the bookseller Wolfgang Lachner,Gertrude Lachner, who entered into a partnership with him.[3] It was part of Froben's plan to print editions of the Greek Fathers.[3] In 1492 he printedJohann Heynlin'sResolutorum Dubiuosum.[1] For the booksDecretum (1493) byGratian andDecretales (1494) byPopeGregory IX he employedSebastian Brant as an editor.[1] Between 1496 and 1512 he was in a printing alliance together with Amerbach, andJohannes Petri for larger projects like collected works ofAugustine.[4] The printing partnership would be known as theThree Hannsen[5] (Hannsen meant as an abbreviation of Johannes). In 1507 he bought Amerbachs printing house in theHouse to the Chair.[4] But the partnership ended as by 1513, Petri and Amerbach had died.[6]
In 1513, he carefully published a copy of ErasmusAdagia with a cover designed byUrs Graf depicting the godsNemesis andCaerus with an allegory of a triumphantHumanitas in a chariot pulled byHomer andDemosthenes and pushed byCicero andVergil.[2][7] In 1514 Erasmus settled to Basel.[6]
Froben became friends withErasmus, who lived in his house when in Basel, and not only had his own works printed by him from 1514,[8] but superintended Froben's editions ofJerome,Cyprian,Tertullian,Hilary of Poitiers andAmbrose. His printing of Erasmus'Novum Testamentum (1516) was used byMartin Luther for his translation.[3] He and later his son have published more than 200 works by Erasmus of Rotterdam.[8] Through a deeply ramificated web of distributors the works of the Frobens reached the European book market in Venice, London, Frankfurt or Paris in a timely manner.[9]
Froben employedHans Holbein the Younger, Urs Graf andAlbrecht Dürer to illustrate his texts.[4] Graf was the one who designed his device.[10] Besides he also employed well knownformschneiders likeJakob Faber (the "Master IF")[citation needed] andHans Lützelburger, who was regarded as one of the finest formscheiders of his time.[11] Holbein painted a portrait of Froben in the 1520s.[8] Holbein also painted the device withHermescaduceus which Froben used from 1523 onwards.[12]
Upon his death in October 1527 in Basel,[3] Froben was succeeded by his sonHieronymus Froben who carried on the business in collaboration withJohann Herwagen and later Nikolaus Episcopius.[13] Johannes Frobens memorial plaque in theHebrew –Greek –Latin languages is located in thePeters Church in Basel[10] which has been used as areformed church since 1529. The church does not contain the remains of those who are memorialized within. The park across the street from the church was once a graveyard and it is believed that it is there where the now unmarked remains lay.
Froben is, through his descendantAnna Catharina Bischoff a direct ancestor of the former British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson. The young woman pictured with his memorial plaque in the notes section below is his American 11th great-granddaughter whose mother's maiden name is Frobenius.
Froben's work in Basel made that city in the 16th century the leading center of the Swiss book trade. An existing letter of Erasmus, written in the year of Froben's death, gives an idea of his life and an estimate of his character; and in it Erasmus mentions that his grief for the death of his friend was far more distressing than that which he had felt for the loss of his own brother, adding that "all the apostles of science ought to wear mourning".[3] The epistle concludes with an epitaph inGreek and Latin.[3] He was well known for his Greek typeface, and he was also one of the first printers to have had their own Hebrew typeface.[10] According toBeatus Rhenanus, who was one of his employees, he published only prominent works and despised the lesser ones.[10]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Froben, Joannes".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 237.
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