Printing in Krakow

The first Polish printed publication was an astronomical calendar issued in Krakow in 1473 and produced by Casper Straube, a German migrant printer – seventeen years after Gutenberg’s Bible and three years before the first British book would appear in print. The first book ever printed in the Cyrillic alphabet also was published in Krakow, in 1483. In 1491 the city’s first paper mill was launched to supply local budding print shops.

In the first half of the 16th century a number of Krakow thriving printing houses competed with each other on Poland’s expanding market. Jan Haller’s publishing house printed 250 publication over two decades from 1505 to 1525. Other successful printing companies were owned by Florian Ungler, Hieronim Wietor, and Marek Scharffenberg.

In the second half of the 16th century Krakow can boast nine big printing companies. One o them belonged to the Piotrkowczyk family for nearly a century, from 1578 to 1676, and next it has continued as the university printing house till now. Other long-lived and highly regarded printing company was run in Krakow from 1875 to 1950 by three generations of the Anczyc family.

The city has remained one of Poland’s leading centers of printing industry. Krakow’s big state-of-the-art printing plants flood the country with glossy magazines and books as well as leaflets, calendars, posters, textbooks, schoolbooks, or whatever. Plus a number of local newspapers are printed in Krakow. Owing to the competitiveness and quality of their services the city’s leading printing companies also produce publications for export to other countries of the European Union and beyond.