Heinrich Gran was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 book printer

Printer (publisher)

In publishing, printers are both companies providing printing services and individuals who directly operate printing presses. With the invention of the moveable type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg around 1450, printing—and printers—proliferated throughout Europe.Today, printers are found...

 of the incunabulum

Incunabulum

Incunable, or sometimes incunabulum is a book, pamphlet, or broadside, that was printed — not handwritten — before the year 1501 in Europe...

 era. Together with Johannes Mentelin

Johannes Mentelin

Johannes Mentelin, sometimes also spelled Mentlin, was a pioneering German book printer and bookseller of the incunabulum time...

 and Heinrich Eggestein

Heinrich Eggestein

Heinrich Eggestein is considered, along with Johannes Mentelin, to be the earliest book printer in Strasbourg and therefore one of the earliest anywhere in Europe outside Mainz.- Life :Before he came to Strasbourg in the beginning of the 1440s, Heinrich Eggestein had already...

, he was one of the pioneers of book-printing in Alsace

Alsace

Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...

.

Little is known about Gran's life other that he introduced printing to Haguenau, then a more important city than today. Between 1501 and 1527 he printed 213 works of mostly theological content. The municipal library of Haguenau owns a collections of about 40 incunabula from his workshop, signed with the monogram

Monogram

A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbols or logos. A series of uncombined initials is properly referred to as a...

 HG, and showing sometimes the emblem of the city, the rose

Rose

A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...

. He printed the Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum

Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum

The Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum was a celebrated collection of satirical Latin letters which appeared 1515-1519 in Hagenau, Germany...

, among other works. One of Gran's most important clients was the pioneering publisher Johann Rynmann of Augsburg

Johann Rynmann of Augsburg

Johann Rynmann of Augsburg, also referred to as John Rynmann of Augsburg, is considered to be the first non-printing publisher. He started his profession as a bookseller in the German city of Oehringen and later moved to Augsburg in Bavaria...

, who financed the printing of 174 out of the 213 works issued by his press between 1501 and 1527. Many of Gran's prints were destined to Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

. Gran also seems to have worked sometimes with his junior, Haguenau printer Thomas Anshelm.

External links

• Heinrich (Henri) Gran on the website of the municipal library of Haguenau
• Biography of Heinrich Gran