Johann Amerbach (1444 in Amorbach, Germany; 25 December 1514 in Basel, Switzerland) was a celebrated printer in Basel in the 15th century. He was the first printer in Basel to use the Roman type instead of Gothic and Italian and spared no expense in his art. Early life and education Amerbach was born in 1444 as Johann Welcker in Amorbach, Odenwald, to the Mayor of Amorbach, Peter Welcker. His family had enough financial means to provide Johann with a good eduction and sent him to study in Paris. At the Sorbonne in Paris where he graduated with B.A. in 1461 and a Master of Arts, in 1962. His lecturer in Paris was Johann Heynlin. It was during his studies in Paris, where he was surrounded by humanist luminaries such as Heynlein, Johann Reuchlin and Rudolf Agricola, where his interest into humanism is assumed to have developed. Following he stayed in Venice, one of the main printing locations at the time and developed an affinity for the printing business. Only later he was given the surname Amerbach. In 1477 where he was a witness between two German printers in a trial in Perugia and purchased punches from a closing printshop in Treviso. In around 1477 he settled in Basel, where he was initially known as the Hans of Venice. When he established his printshop he took on the name Amobach. His first print dates from 1478 and was a by Reuchlin composed lexicon for the latin language. Within a year, he became one of the major printers in town, only equated by one. During the 1480s, Jakob Wolff of Pforzheim was his partner in printing. Printing career In 1484 he earned the citizenship of Basel and became the city's most important printer, developing own distribution channels towards Strasbourg and Paris. Additionally he usually visited the fair in Frankfurt am Main twice a year, often accompanied by other printers of Basel. Many of his clients were of a christian religious background and he mainly printed theological books. A further cooperation with the printer Anton Koberger from Nuremberg, opened the market towards Eastern and Southern Europe for his books. In 1486 Johann Heynlin settled in Basel and soon became an influential editor in the press of Amerbach. Heynlein would live in the Carthusian monastery as Amerbachs neighbor, and induce the use of chapters and indexes for the books Amerbach published. With the publication