FROBEN OF BASEL.
1460-1528.
JOHANN FROBEN, who achieved a well-deserved reputation as one of the
most enlightened and enterprising publishers of the sixteenth century,
and who will be remembered as having been honoured with the friendship
and confidence of Erasmus, was born in 1460, in Hammelburg, a village
in Franconia. He studied in the University of Basel (which had been
founded the year before his birth), and achieved distinction as a
scholar in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. He was trained as type-setter and
press-corrector by the famous printer Amerbach, and thus equipped, he
secured citizenship in Basel in 1490, and in the following year began
business in his own name as a master printer and publisher. Gutenberg
had been dead for twenty years, but the business established by Fust
and Schöffer with the original Gutenberg plant (representing the
earliest printing concern in Europe) was still being carried on by the
son of Schöffer. The work of Caxton, which had been begun in Bruges in
1470, had, in 1474, been transferred to London, and closed with his
death in 1492, the year in which Aldus Manutius began his printing
operations in Venice. In Paris the leading typographer of the town was
Badius, the predecessor of the more famous Estiennes.
At the time Froben began his work, the methods of carrying on a
printing-office, and the machinery for the production and distribution
of books, were still to be established. Type-setters, pressmen, and
correctors were all to be trained, and every technical detail of the
work of book-making called for the personal supervision and often
for the individual inventiveness of the master. Upon him came also
of necessity the responsibility for the selection of the work to
be undertaken, the securing of text for “copy,” the collation and
preparation of the “copy” for the type-setters, and an unremitting
watchfulness over each page as put into type. It is to be borne in mind
that nearly all the earlier books were printed in Latin, which for the
majority of the Swiss or German compositors was an unfamiliar tongue,
a circumstance that very seriously increased the risk of type-setting
errors. It is surprising that in the face of difficulties of this kind,
the books of the fifteenth century present, with rare exceptions, a
fairly correct text.
Froben’s first publication was a Latin Bible in convenient octavo
form. The several earlier Bibles had been issued in folio, and this
less costly edition won for itself at once a widespread appreciation.
Froben’s undertakings were restricted to books in Latin and Greek--that
is, to works addressed to scholars. He left to later publishers the
task of preparing books in the vernacular for the unlearned reader. In
fact, the interest of the latter in 1492, was in the main limited to
almanacs, horn-books, legends, and such picturesque compendiums as the
_Sachsen-Spiegel_. For general literature, the common folk was not yet
ready. The educational influence of the Reformation was required to
arouse the intelligence of the people and to induce a popular demand
for reading-matter.
In 1500, Froben, then forty years of age, married Gertrude, the
daughter of a prosperous bookseller named Lachner. The latter supplied
means for the extension of the printing-office in which, in 1504, seven
presses were at work. During the thirty-six years of the business
career of Froben, he printed no less than two hundred and fifty-seven
separate works, many of these being of distinctive importance and
of considerable compass. Among these were the complete works of S.
Jerome, which appeared in 1516 in nine folio volumes; the works of S.
Augustine, completed in 1529, in ten folio volumes; the New Testament
in Greek (this was the first edition of the Greek text, and it was,
later, utilised by Luther in the preparation of his German version);
and the writings of Erasmus, who appears to be the only contemporary
author whose books were undertaken by Froben. These proved to be good
property for both the author and publishers, as Erasmus was addressing
himself to the scholarly readers of the civilised world, and his
writings were eagerly read throughout Europe by both the clergy and the
laity. In addition to the authorised editions issued in Basel, Venice,
and Paris, there were many piracy reprints, but notwithstanding the
competition of these, the author was able to secure from his three
publishers, Froben, Aldus, and Badius of Paris, returns that made a
material addition to his income. He was probably the first author
in Europe, writing after the invention of printing, who made any
money by his pen. Froben secured the coöperation, in the course of
his publishing work, of a number of learned associates who rendered
assistance as literary advisers, editors, and press-correctors, the
list including, among other scholars, Erasmus (who was for many
years an inmate of his house), Oecolampadius, Heiland, Musculus, and
Gelenius. To Froben also is to be credited the discovery of Hans
Holbein. Holbein was born in Grünstadt in 1497, and came to Basel about
1517, with the view of making his living as a wood-engraver. Froben was
one of the first to give him employment, and many of the designs in the
Froben books issued between 1518 and 1522 were both drawn and engraved
by young Holbein. It was through Froben that the talent of the young
artist was brought to the attention of Erasmus, and Erasmus was the
means of securing an invitation from Sir Thomas More for Holbein to
visit England, where he spent the rest of his life and where his most
important art-work was done. King Henry VIII. attached him to the Court
and bestowed on him a pension.
Froben’s list included a number of “orthodox” theological works, and
remaining as he did in the fold of the Church, the influence of his
Press was as a whole exercised consistently against the doctrines of
the Reformers. His imprint appears never to have been associated with
any of the doctrinal books or tractates of the Lutherans, Calvinists,
or Zwinglians.[87] Not a few of Froben’s more costly publications were
undertaken in coöperation with other publishers, a kind of partnership
agreement being entered into for each particular book taken up in this
manner. His more important associates were Johann Amerbach, who took
high rank among the scholarly printers of the time, Johann Petri, also
of Basel, and Franz Birckmann of Cologne. This method of dividing the
risk of an undertaking between several publishing concerns became,
later, a very general practice with the publishers of London.
Erasmus, writing from Basel, in 1523, to Vergilius Polydorus, says: “I
find here three methods of bringing a book into print. Sometimes Froben
takes upon himself the entire risk and outlay.... In other cases the
publication is undertaken for the account of some person interested,
and Froben simply reserves a commission for his services; and under a
third arrangement, the publication is undertaken by two or more firms,
associated as a temporary company.... It is now being considered in
Paris whether this book of yours [Erasmus does not mention the title of
the book] is to be published by Birckmann alone, or by the ‘Company.’
As soon as Froben has returned from the Fair (at Frankfort) I will
write to you what the decision has been. I hope that I shall be able to
arrange the matter to your best advantage.” Whatever may have been the
pressure of work in the Froben printing-office, either in connection
with the completion of books for the Frankfort Fair, or for any other
cause, there appears never to have been question of postponing the
publications of any of the writings of Erasmus himself. For these the
presses were always ready because for these there was always a waiting
public.
A year or two later Erasmus writes: “Froben is expending enormous sums
for manuscripts and for collation and revision of these.” Among the
revisers referred to in this statement was the famous scholar Beatus
Rhenanus, who having studied philosophy in Paris and sojourned for a
brief period in Strasburg, had migrated to Basel, and was devoting
himself exclusively to the work of the Froben Press. He served not only
as a reviser and press-corrector, but as a literary counsellor, to
whose suggestions were due a number of Froben’s scholarly undertakings.
Erasmus speaks with high regard of his learning and conscientiousness
and of the value for Froben of his coöperation.
One of the charges made by Ulrich von Hutten in his little controversy
with Erasmus (a controversy in which the last word was the _Spongia_,
or _Sponge_, of the latter) was that he received money for work done
for a printer. The charge was well founded, for Froben paid Erasmus
two hundred guldens a year for his services as editor or reviser. It
does not appear from the records that have been preserved whether he
received, in addition, his board and lodging during the time that he
sojourned in his publisher’s house, or whether there was for this a
separate arrangement. There is also no precise statement concerning the
receipts that came to Erasmus from the sale of Froben’s editions of
his books, but the scholar makes a number of appreciative references
to the effective service rendered by his Basel publishers and to the
importance of these receipts. It is evident from the phrases used by
the pugnacious Von Hutten that the earning of money by labour was still
considered by many as something unbecoming a man of gentle birth or
gentle station,--and, as before said, Erasmus was one of the first of
European authors who had secured an income from the work of his pen.
It would be more exact to say, from the sale of his own productions,
for a considerable number of scholars of his generation were accepting
compensation for services as editors and press-correctors.
Kapp is of opinion that Luther, whose writings secured a wider
circulation than even those of Erasmus, never accepted any honorarium,
and that his compensation for his books was limited[88] to a few
complimentary copies. Luther speaks of “the exceptional greed” of a
translator who secured a gold gulden for the rendering of a quarto.
The number of pages is not specified, but we may hope, for the sake of
the translator, that the quarto was a thin one.[89] On the other hand,
Thomas Murner sold his _Geuchmatt_ to the Strasburg publisher, Hupfuff,
in 1514, for four guldens, a sum which Kapp estimates as the equivalent
of forty guldens to-day. I will give consideration in a later
chapter to the data that have been preserved concerning the general
compensation secured in Germany during the century succeeding Gutenberg
for literary or editorial work. The first of the books of Erasmus to
be issued by Froben was the famous _Encomium Moriæ_ (_The Praise of
Folly_), printed in 1515. Of the first Basel edition, 1800 copies were
sold in the first six months. The Latin version was printed also by
Aldus in Venice and by Badius in Paris. A German version was speedily
issued, illustrated with designs by Holbein, and this was followed by
translations in French and Dutch. During the lifetime of the author,
no less than twenty-seven editions appeared, the larger number of
which were unauthorised and brought to the author no returns. _The
Praise of Folly_ was the first printed book that secured during the
lifetime of its author what may be called a “world-wide circulation,”
which for the “world” of that time was practically limited to Europe.
The circulation of many of the treatises of Luther was very great,
but these found their way to few but Protestant readers, while in its
original Latin and in the various versions in the vernacular, _The
Praise of Folly_ was welcomed in all circles--Protestant, Catholic,
lay and ecclesiastical, scholarly and unlearned. _The Praise of Folly_
has taken its place with the world’s literature, but a still greater
success with the generation of the author was secured by the next book
of Erasmus, the _Adagia_, or _Proverbs_. Of this there were printed
in the authorised editions, by Froben, between 1513 and 1539, ten
thousand; by Aldus, in Venice, between 1508 and 1524, eight thousand;
by Schürer, in Strasburg, between 1513 and 1520, eleven thousand; by
Badius and Philippus, in Paris, three thousand; or, in all, thirty-two
thousand copies. There were also a number of unauthorised editions
issued in Lyons, Cologne, and elsewhere, the statistics of which are
not available.
The third of the more important works of Erasmus, the _Colloquia_,
which may be described as a kind of predecessor of Landor’s _Imaginary
Conversations_, also published in Basel, Venice, and Paris, found a
sale (for the authorised editions) in a term of ten years, of about
twenty-four thousand copies. The demand for this was hastened by the
rumour that it was shortly to be placed on the _Index Expurgatorius_.
Erasmus speaks of Froben as “the Aldus of Germany,” and can give him
no higher commendation. Froben had selected for his publishing symbol
or trade-mark a design representing an upright staff on the point of
which rests a dove, about which are twined two serpents with their
heads raised towards the dove. It is not difficult to imagine the
kind of interpretation that would be given by the wits of a modern
authors’ society to such a symbol, with its suggestion of the innocent
and hapless author lifting his aspirations towards the heavens, but
powerless to escape the toils of the wily publishers of the earth,
earthy. No such criticism appears, however, to have arisen in the
sixteenth century to disturb Froben’s peace of mind.
His best friend, the most influential author of his time, expresses
the wish that his serpents may prove as serviceable for Froben as
the dolphin has been for Aldus, and that in combining, as he does,
the innocence of the dove with the wisdom of the serpent, Froben
may achieve a well-earned fame and future.[90] Rhenanus, Mutianus,
Rufus, and many others of those who were proud to call themselves
the _Auctores Frobeniani_, are all in accord in their appreciative
references to the high literary ideals, the thorough scholarship, and
the liberal business methods of the great Basel publisher.
I insert here certain letters from Zwingli to Beatus Rhenanus, which
have a bearing upon the esteem in which Froben was held by his literary
friends, and which contain also some interesting references to the
books most desired by Zwingli.[91]
_Zwingli to Beatus Rhenanus._
ZURICH, February 22, 1519.
... We have received from Froben certain presents of books. While
they are pleasing on account of their contents, that they are the
gifts of Froben, adds to their value.... If Froben has them, let
him send three copies of _Sallust_. Also send some more copies of
the _Paraclesis_ and _Compendium_ of Erasmus.
March 25, 1519.
... Urbanus Rhegius has just sent us a little book, edited by
himself, on the _Dignity of Priesthood_.... We wonder very much
that Froben, who is usually so wide awake, has in this instance
been asleep and has allowed such a book to go forth from his
press. While the book has been made by _Faber_ it is not well
“_fabricated_.”
April 24, 1519.
... _Phalarismus_ has not yet come to us; and only a single
copy of _Febricula_ (two dialogues of Hutten’s); please send if
possible several copies; also the _Paraphrases_ (of Erasmus) and
the _Apology_ of Zasius against Eck.... We will send the money to
Froben, I trust, sometime within the month. We are continually
in want of the _Etymologicum_ and of _Pliny_, _Lucian_, and
_Cyprian_.... Greet Froben and all of his....
June 7, 1519.
... I am indebted to Froben for many favours and am also under
great obligations to yourself because you are at such pains to
provide me and my flock with the things of value to us which appear
from time to time. Will you be so kind (for what will one not ask
of a patron of letters?) as to put into the press, if Froben is
not thereby inconvenienced, some dialogue of Lucian annotated by
Erasmus, yet not so annotated as to become an interpretation, for
that would induce laziness in the boys. He may, if he will, take in
its place the first book of Aristotle on animals.... Clauserus the
physician asks from Froben the works of Copus to be prepared in his
own name.... Greetings to Froben.
June 25, 1519.
... Lichtenberg says that Capito has a copy of _Lucian_ and of
_Aristophanes_; these I wish you would induce him to sell to us as
soon as he returns home. When the writings of Luther have come from
the press, please send them to us by the first messenger or carrier
who can bring a considerable number of copies. He shall have the
money at once.
Oct. 12, 1520.
... Jerome Froben had accommodated us with a Greek _Euripides_
which now, as is right, he wants back. Still he holds out the hope
that he will be able to buy a copy from Curio, and so I send three
florins that he may buy one there and may bind it in place of the
one I have.... We gladly send him this copy of his and he can give
the money to his father for the Greek books which he promised to
let us have for ten florins.
September 8, 1521.
John Froben sent me as a gift some time ago the _Complaint_ of
Hutten, the Apostolic man (for the man is a bubble) whom Eck
cudgelled.
The following letter from Froben himself is interesting as indicating
the personal relation borne by the publisher to certain of his
publishing undertakings:
_John Froben to his friend Zwingli._
Just as I was about to publish the little book of C. Cornelius
Tacitus upon the customs and locations of the Germanic tribes, a
friend [Beatus Rhenanus] showed me a brief commentary which he
had prepared stating who now live in the locations described by
Tacitus. This seemed to me to be a good idea, as it is a mistake to
confine one’s reading to the more ancient authors to the neglect
of those less remote. Think of the changes which have occurred
since Cæsar’s day! Therefore, while his _Commentaries_ are worthy
of the highest praise in point of truthfulness and style, yet it
is necessary to read also Spartianus, Vopiscus, Trebellius Pollio,
Ammianus Marcellinus, and Eutropius Procopius. Surely, if Cæsar
were to return from the shades, he would scarcely recognise his
former localities. The races have become so mixed, the population
so changed, partly through destruction and partly through
transplanting, that I may say all things are different. Because I
know that you interrupt your higher studies to nibble on tit-bits
of this description, I dedicate to you this commentary, which
students will find useful. Thus light has been shed upon antiquity
by the labours of the Swiss scholars, two of whom should especially
be mentioned, Henricus Glareanus, my dear friend, and Joachim
Vadianus, whose notes upon Pomponius Mela, I am happy to report,
have received the applause of all the learned.
Farewell.
BASEL, 1519.
Rhenanus, in referring to the intimate relation between Erasmus and
Froben, speaks of it as a friendship between the prince of scholars
and the prince of publishers. The circle of intimates who were
gathered about the two “princes” during the nine years of the sojourn
of Erasmus in Basel (1521-1530) included the brothers Amerbach,
Glareanus, Oecolampadius, Rhenanus, Listrius, Gerbelius, Fontejus, and
Eobanus Hessius. The older Amerbach, who coöperated with Froben in
many of his more important publications, trained three sons to take
responsibilities in the editorial division of his business. One became
an expert in Greek, the second in Latin, the third in Hebrew. One of
the books in which the Amerbachs took an important part was the great
edition of the works of S. Jerome. Concerning this, Erasmus writes
in April, 1515, to Pope Leo X.: “A great work is being carried on in
this city, in the establishment of Froben, most trustworthy and most
capable of all publishers; S. Jerome is again in life and his words are
to be freshly given to the world. Providence itself appears to have
brought this firm into existence, in order again to cause to be felt
the influence of S. Jerome. Froben himself, Amerbach and his three sons
are devoting their whole energies to the undertaking.”
Through the influence of Erasmus, a papal privilege was secured in
the name of Froben, for the works of Jerome for a term of five years,
for which privilege six ducats had to be paid. The publication of
the _Jerome_ was a notable event in the world of scholarship and
in ecclesiastical circles and brought great prestige to the Basel
publisher. Many congratulatory letters were received from all parts of
Europe. Dorpius, writing in July, 1515, to Erasmus, asks the latter
to give to Froben, “chief among printers,” a cordial greeting for the
great services rendered by him to the Church and to learning. “May the
Lord give to him,” he continues, “many long years in which to carry on
his noble undertakings.” Erasmus himself, writing to Feltichius, in
December, 1526, says: “No one who has not been intimately associated
with my friend Froben, can fairly realise the extent of his devotion
to good work and the toilsome labour that he has given to his
undertakings. The world has never seen a publisher who has striven so
earnestly and so unselfishly in the cause of scholarship.” After the
death of Froben, which occurred in 1528, Erasmus writes again: “We have
lost Froben, that most exceptional man. His life was devoted to earnest
and conscientious labours and he died at his work.... For the past
eight years I have been his house guest and have had with him the most
cordial friendship. A truer friend than Froben, I could not wish from
the Gods. For the family that he has left I feel for his sake a cordial
affection.”[92]
Writing in August, 1531, to Jerome, the son of Froben, Erasmus says:
“Many virtues possessed Johann Froben of blessed memory, but through
nothing did he bring himself to me so closely as in this, that he gave
the devotion of his life to the task of bringing to the world the best
literature; a task in furthering which, his death came to him.... So it
resulted that he gave more thought to his scholarly ideals than to his
own fortunes, and thus has left to his heirs a great repute but a small
estate.... Now that I understand that his son has inherited his high
purposes, so can I assure this son that the good will and coöperation
which I extended to his father will not be intermitted for him.”
One of the most important of the works which was left unfinished at the
time of Froben’s death and to which his own last working hours had been
given, was the edition of _S. Augustine_, which was to form a companion
to the works of S. Jerome. The _S. Augustine_ was published by Froben’s
son with the coöperation of the younger Amerbachs and with the
all-important aid also of Erasmus and Rhenanus. Erasmus exerted himself
to secure for the _S. Augustine_ a privilege for France, but for some
reason not given this privilege was denied. Erasmus does not mention
what amount he received for his editorial service in the undertaking,
but (writing in September, 1528) says that he would not have undertaken
such a task for two thousand guldens. According to Kapp, he refused
to receive from Froben the elder more than one third of the annual
payments that the publisher wanted to make to him, and he also refused
to accept a house which Froben had tendered to him as a gift. The
entire relation between the two men forms a noteworthy episode in the
somewhat chequered history of authors and publishers.
Froben had at one time taken up the publication of the writings of
Luther. On the fourteenth of February, 1519, he writes to Luther that
he has made very large sales of Luther’s books in France, Spain,
Italy, Brabant, and England.[93] This reference is to the first
collection of Luther’s writings, which had been printed by Froben in
October, 1518, and of which further impressions were made in August,
1519, and in March, 1520. After 1520, Froben prints no further books
for Luther, although it is evident that an assured and increasing sale
was being secured for these. It is probable that he was influenced to
this decision by the counsels of Erasmus and in connection with his
relations to Leo X. It seems evident that Froben, while not a bigoted
Romanist, had not been attracted by the doctrines of the Reformers.
Irrespective of his long personal association with Erasmus, it is
probable that his own scholarly temperament and direction of thought
would have brought him into sympathy rather with the views of the
scholar of Rotterdam than with those of the monk of Wittenberg. He
believed that the Church was to be set right not by being broken into
fragments, but by being brought back to the teachings of its founders
and of their successors, the Fathers, and he was prepared to do his
part in this work of reform and of re-inspiration by devoting his life
and his fortunes to the task of presenting to believers these teachings
in accurate and accessible texts. Froben’s editions of the Scriptures,
the works of S. Jerome and of S. Augustine and of other of the Fathers,
and his issues of the books of Erasmus, to the production of which he
devoted a lifetime of conscientious toil, constituted the publisher’s
contribution to the settlement of the vexed questions which were
bringing turmoil upon Europe and by which the Church was rent in twain.
But the contest was too bitter, and the passions it had aroused were
too fierce to make it possible for either the wisdom of the Fathers or
the scholarship and wit of Erasmus to be of much present service in
furthering a peaceable outcome.
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