John Siberch (c. 1476–1554) was the first Cambridge printer and an associate of Erasmus.[1][2][3]

Life

Aside from the coat-of-arms and lettering, the design of covers and title pages of early 20th-century Cambridge Press publications, like this cover of The Migration of Birds (1912) by Thomas Coward, is that used by Siberch in 1521

Early life

Johann Lair was born about 1476 to Peter (a master wool weaver and town councillor) and Lena von Lair. The family moved from Sieglar (Lair), to nearby Siegburg, during his childhood and he adopted the name of this town when he enrolled at the University of Cologne as Johann de Syberch, on 5 December 1492.

Early career

Siberch became involved in the book trade in the 1510s, initially as a travelling salesman for the bookseller Hans Beck of Cologne. He married a daughter, whose given name is unknown, of the bookseller Gerhard Amersfoort. The couple had two daughters, Katharina and Baetzgen. His wife's sister Gertrud was married to the bookseller Franz Birckmann of Cologne, a major importer of books to Germany, France, the Netherlands and England with establishments in Paris, Antwerp and London. Another sister, Anna, was the second wife of the printer Servaes van Sassen of Louvain.

Siberch thus had familial links with some of the key figures in North European printing and bookselling. Through them in turn he formed connections with the leading humanist scholars, including Erasmus.

In 1520 he commissioned the Cologne printer Eucharius Cervicornus to print a Greek grammar by Richard Croke, recently appointed to a lectureship in Greek at the University of Cambridge. It is thought that it was Croke who persuaded Siberch to move to Cambridge and set up a printing press.

His time at Cambridge

In the year to Michaelmas 1521 the university records a loan of £20 to Siberch, the four guarantors including Henry Bullock, fellow of Queens' College and subsequently vice-chancellor of the university. Assisted by this loan, Siberch set up his business as a bookseller, binder and printer in a tenement known as the King's Arms on the site of what is now Tree Court of Gonville & Caius College. There is no record of Siberch repaying the loan, however the original sum was repaid and the interest waived by Cambridge University in 1971 on the 450th anniversary of the printing of the first book in Cambridge.[4]

Siberch's known printed output is small (see Works below). However, the authors, translators and dedicatees comprise many of the major contemporary figures of church, state and academia, including bishops John Fisher of Rochester and Nicholas West of Ely, Richard Pace, Secretary of State to Henry VIII, the royal physician Thomas Linacre and, above all, the great humanist scholar Desiderius Erasmus and his circle, while the books touch upon significant issues of the day, such as religious reform and the new humanist learning. In addition to academic works, perhaps in an attempt to boost his income, Siberch printed more popular titles, including a Latin grammar for schools, poetry and an almanac. He also did jobbing printing: two single sheet documents for religious houses are known. A small number of stamped leather bindings by Siberch also survive, some bearing his initials.

Siberch's Cambridge venture was short-lived and not, apparently, a great success. His wife died in England and there is no record of him in the city after 1523.

Later life

Siberch may have spent time in Cologne. He visited Siegburg in 1526 and had taken holy orders by 1538. His daughter Baetzgen married an Englishman and records suggest that Siberch returned to England and served as a priest in the parish of St Olave, Southwark, approximately from 1529 to 1540.[5] He had settled once again in Siegburg by 1544, where he served as a priest in the parish church of St Servatius in whose churchyard he was presumably buried following his death shortly before 28 September 1554.

Works

Items printed in Cambridge by Siberch:[1][2][6]

Siberch is not known to have printed anything before or after his time in Cambridge.

References

  1. ^ a b Goldschmidt, E.P. (1955). The first Cambridge press in its European setting. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  2. ^ a b Treptow, Otto (1970). John Siberch: Johann Lair von Siegburg. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  3. ^ McKitterick, David. "Siberch, John". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25499. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ^ Clarkson, Stuart Roberts, Colin (17 November 2021). "John Siberch: Cambridge's first printer (and record debtor?)". University of Cambridge. Retrieved 3 May 2024.((cite web)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Matthew Groom, "John Siberch (d. 1554), the first Cambridge printer: new findings from English records", Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Vol. 12, No. 4 (2003), pp. 403-413
  6. ^ Lee, Sidney, ed. (1897). "Siberch, John" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 52. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  7. ^ Constance W. Bouck, "On the identity of Papyrius Geminus Eleates", Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Vol. 2, No. 5 (1958), pp. 352-358
  8. ^ David Richard Carlson, "Thomas Elyot, Papyrius Geminus Eleates, and Hermathena, seu de Eloquentia victoria (1522)", ANQ: a quarterly journal of short articles, notes and reviews (2020) [1]
Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1897). "Siberch, John". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 52. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

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