Cremsij 1687
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Pia Desideria Erga Intemeratam, Immaculatam, semperque Virginem Dei genitricem Mariam Avgvstissimæ Domvs Avstriæ. Protectricem Ex ipsius Almâ sacrâque Litania Lauretana, In felicioribus Austriæ, & Hungariæ victorijs, orbisque Christiani triumphis. Chronosticè, & Anagrammaticè VotIVa In festo AssuVMptIonIs saCræ VIrgInIs qVa gaVdent angeLI. - Cremsij : pro ter qVInta DIe aVgVstI typIs eDIDIt ChrIstIanVs WaLter, 1687. Austrian National Library, shelfmark: 310.292-B.Alt-Mag Christian Walter from Halle an der Saale had learnt the printing trade at Linz and Passau. When he wanted to establish himself as the first printer in Krems in 1677, he met with difficulties. In those times, the supervision of book production in Lower (and Upper) Austria was within the responsibility of the University of Vienna, which refused him the right to print anywhere other than in the capital. Only after petitioning the emperor, Walter was granted the patent for Krems. The publishing program of this first press in Krems offers nothing spectacular, but provides a glimpse at everyday life and reading habits of the time: Almanachs, smaller religious works, cookbooks, school dramas. The little book of chronogram and anagram poems recently acquired by the Austrian National Library is also representative of 17th-century Austria, expressing veneration of the Virgin and celebrating the victory over the Turks. Our sample image shows the last page, featuring a mourning Sultan („SVLtanVs fLeVIt“) and the (momentary) political and military defeat of Imre Tököly, the rebellious Hungarian magnate, compared to Icarus’s fall. After Christian Walter’s death in 1707, his widow continued the business with her second husband, Johann Jakob Kopitz.
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