Hieronymus Vietor

Hieronymus Vietor was a printer and publisher famous for the quality and quantity of his prints, and is considered one of the most important early book printers in Poland.

He was born in Liebenthal, today Lubomierz, Poland. His birth name was was Büttner, sometimes also given as Binder or Pinder, and is also known as Hieronymus Philovallensis, Hieronymus Doliarius, or as Hieronim Wietor. In 1499 he obtained the degree of bachelor of the Arts at the Jagellonian University at Kraków. Subsequently he worked as a bookbinder in the printing shop of Johannes Haller in Kraków.

In 1508 Vietor moved to Vienna and opened his own print shop in 1510. Until 1514 he was in partnership with another printer, Johannes Singriener. Throughout his time in Vienna, he maintained his business contacts in Kraków. In 1517 he returned to Kraków and opened his own printing shop there, while his shop in Vienna was continued by his brother Benedict Büttner until 1523. In 1527, Vietor was named royal printer.

The output of his print shop in Kraków from 1518 to 1547 numbers more than 600 prints of which most were in Latin, but Vietor was also the first printer to print regularly in Polish, which accounts for 10-15% of his output.