Rechnungsbuch des Peter Drach

Studienbibliothek Dillingen

Description

The 90-sheet fragment is the only surviving account book of a German printer from the fifteenth century, i.e. that of Peter Drach the Middle (d. 1504), who took over his father's workshop in Speyer in c. 1480. The recently rescued sheets were used as adhesive cardboards for the covers of three volumes that had reached Dillingen from the Benedictine monastery of Elchingen. The account book was not created over time, the entries cover the years 1480 to 1503. Recorded are mainly lists of books Drach gave to small customers and bulk buyers, in particular to his book dealers, and the corresponding accounts for the costs of books, transport costs, accommodation and meals. Most of the transactions were on credit; if the debtors had paid, Drach noted this fact or deleted the entry. Drach also made notes about the mode of transport, mostly in barrels, about the inventory in his several warehouses and about interim storage in taverns. These records clearly show Drach's widespread network of distribution, stretching all the way to Rome and to Prague, which he maintained with the help of some 50 book dealers - one of the most important was Johannes Schmidhoffer in Leipzig -, his clientele and, above all, his extensive publishing programme. Over 430 titles are mentioned in the account book. // Datum: 2016

Rights Statement Description

CC0