Buchdruck in der Reformationszeit in Basel: Mit besonderer Berücksichtigung von Flugschriften aus den Jahren 1521 und 1522

Abstract

Without printing press, no Reformation, this insight was emphasised already by contemporaries. Basel’s share in the written, printed diffusion of the new ideas in the early years of the Reformation was considerable. The first omnibus of Luther’s works was printed in Basel in 1518. Basel editions triggered the inner-protestant controversy over the Lord’s Supper. The Basel printers promoted the Reformation by erudite disputes and commentaries in Latin and by sermons and liturgies in vernacular. But that was not all. They also printed witty and often unashamed pamphlets in the vernacular with bold illustrations. Yet although the output of Reformation-printing in Basel was substantial, it must be seen in the wider context of the humanistic movement and the respective print production. Seen in this light, the more strictly reformation related print production is dwarfed by the humanist works that accounted for more than a half – actually about three fifths of the overall print production in Basel in the Twenties, while about one third promoted the Reformation.