Die Mitte der Reformation

In this work, Thomas Kaufmann provides micrological analyses of the collaboration between the various actors (authors, printers, publishers, book dealers, xylographers etc.) in the communication process of the early Reformation. Based on observations of the reformers as »book people,« as representatives of the generation of »printing natives,« the author shows that most of them had very close contact with the book trade and the book market from their childhood. He then identifies the printers as the ones who shaped and presented reformatory literature. In many cases it becomes evident that they put their mark on the works they printed and reacted very creatively to the challenges presented by the rapidly changing book market. Using various types of books such as prayer books and hymnals, religious tracts or scholarly works, the author outlines the literary and journalistic reconstruction of the Reformation.