Networks and the Book Trade The Book and Reading Culture in Basel and Zurich During the Sixteenth Century

Abstract

With the bibliographical descriptions of early modern Swiss publications now almost complete for the period up to 1600, this chapter examines printing and reading across the sixteenth century and not until 1640. The cities of Basel and Zurich were the two principal printing centres for German-speaking Swiss humanists and Reformed Protestants. The Swiss market for these books extended from Geneva in the west to Grisons and Saint Gall in the east. Basel, Geneva and Zurich all benefitted from the impetus provided by the reformers and their writings. More than 200 imprints by Martin Luther were published in Basel during the 1520s, whilst printing in Zurich started with the Reformation. The output of only two printers in Zurich is comparable with that of their famous colleagues in Basel: Christoph Froschauer the Elder published 716 imprints and his nephew Christoph Froschauer the Younger 360. Keywords:Basel; Christoph Froschauer; Geneva; printers; reading; sixteenth century; Zurich