Printed in Wittenberg. Reformation prints from the Library of the Francke Foundations

Beschreibung

Corresponding exhibition in the Historic Library to accompany the exhibition “Storehouse of Knowledge of the Reformation"

The printing press and book trade in Wittenberg experienced an extraordinary boom as a result of Martin Luther's Reformation. This world-changing process is unthinkable without printed works from Wittenberg. The writings of Martin Luther and other Reformers were published in Wittenberg. Several book printers achieved notability, including Melchior Lotter, born in Leipzig, who published the September Testament, and Hans Lufft, active in Wittenberg from 1523 on, who was the first to print the complete Luther Bible in 1534, followed by numerous editions. The University of Wittenberg, during part of the sixteenth century the most-frequented German university, as well as the reformers and other scholars working here, ensured a prospering of the book industry, which declined slightly towards the end of the sixteenth century. Wittenberg, where many Luther Bibles and dogmatic writings were printed, nevertheless remained an important site with regard to book printing and the book trade during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This cabinet exhibition corresponds with the exhibition entitled “Storehouse of Knowledge of the Reformation: The Marien Library and the Library of the Orphanage in Halle.” It invites visitors to view the Kulissenbibliothek with its adjacent exhibition room after visiting the large exhibition in the Historic Orphanage.