Mentelin came from
Selestadt and in 1447, Johannes Mentelin gained the rights of a Strasbourg citizen. He was first a
Goldschreiber (
calligrapher and book scribe) by profession and worked in addition as an episcopal
notary. At the end of the 1450s Mentelin founded his Strasbourg printery. At the time there was still no other place where printing was done besides
Mainz. It is likely, that Mentelin either got his knowledge directly there or through a middleman. Such a go-between might have been
Heinrich Eggestein. It is suspected that he had been introduced to the trade of book printing during his stay in Mainz from
Johannes Gutenberg. He did not set up his own
Offizin (an old German term for a book printing company) until the middle of the 1460s. Due to a lack of sources, the final clarification of this question must unfortunately remain unanswered for now. From the available data, it can however be concluded that Mentelin was the first book printer active in Strasbourg and thus one of the first anywhere in Europe, even before
Heinrich Eggestein. The first printing which carries Mentelin's name is
Augustine's
Tractatus de arte praedicandi from the year 1465. However, it is assumed that Mentelin had already begun to print significantly earlier, probably even already in 1458. His oldest known printed work is a
Latin Bible printed with 49 lines per page ("B49"), whose first volume is dated 1460. As Gutenberg's Bible was printed with 42 lines per page, Mentelin's had fewer pages and proved handier. Mentelin quickly achieved business success, which made him a prosperous man. In 1466, he was even awarded a
coat of arms by Emperor
Frederick III. After about 20 years as a book printer, Mentelin died on December 12, 1478, in Strasbourg. He was buried in the cemetery of the (no longer existing) St.-Michael's-Chapel. His grave was later removed and is now inside
Strasbourg Cathedral. One of daughters married the book printer
Martin Schott, and another married
Adolf Rusch. == Printed works ==