Kassa (Košice SK) 1621-1622
Gyulafehérvár (Alba Iulia, RO) 1623-1658

Oven-tile from the one-time princely palace at Gyulafehérvár with the swans of Gábor Bethlen's coat of Arms

Although there was already a printing shop working in Kassa since 1610 operated first by Johann Fischer and later by Johann Fest, from 1621 on the press of the Transylvanian Prince Gábor Bethlen was, with the printer Nikolaus Mollerus also working here. The Catholic archiepiscopal press, previously in Pozsony , was ordered by Gábor Bethlen to follow him to Kassa to his permanent seat and continue its activity as a princely press. This took place in spring 1621 and the printing equipment moved together with the printer from Nagyszombat (Trnava, SK) to Kassa. In Kassa Mollerus called himself "printer of his majesty the Prince" as it can be seen on the title-page of his printings.

Initial with rabbit from the Kassa period of the Princely Press. The initial belonged originally to the equipment of the Archiepiscopal press, and later it was decorating the assembly articles issued by the Transylvanian Princes

Consequently, for two years, 1621-1622 there were two separate printing shops active in Kassa. In 1622 Fest became victim of the pestilence together with his whole family. The task of the town printer was taken over by Daniel Schultz: in 1623 he was the only printer of the town, because Mollerus left Kassa together with Prince Gábor Bethlen and set up his workshop in Gyulafehérvár (Alba Iulia, RO) at the end of 1622.

Articles of the Transylvanian national assembly from the time of Prince Gábor Bethlen (RMNy 1356)

Since the 16th century, when in the time of Prince János Zsigmond the Vienna printer Raphael Hoffhalter and for some years a cyrillic press of Lorinţ were active, the princely seat Gyulafehérvár was withouth a printing shop. The newly founded press started in spring 1623 and its equipment was entirely the same as the printing types and ornaments known from the Archiepiscopal Press in Pozsony and Nagyszombat - and also as those of the Kassa years of the princely press. The printer Mollerus probably died soon after arriving to Gyulafehérvár, because in 1624 printers had to be called from Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca, RO). These two printers András Válaszúti (Szilvási) and Márton Meszléni were the printers of the funeral speeches on the death of Princess Zsuzsanna Károlyi, the wife of Bethlen issued parallelly in Latin and Hungarian (RMNy 1306 and 1307)
Meszléni apparently remained in Gyulafehérvár, because he was leading the princely office until 1627.

Assembly articles of the Transylvanian Principalty from the time of Katalin of Brandenburg widow of Prince Gábor Bethlen, 1630 (RMNy 1463)

Assembly articles of the same year 1630 issued following the election of György Rákóczi to Prince of Transylvania (RMNy 1465)

From the next year the Sylesian Jakab Effmurdt of Ligince was in charge of the office, although the printings mostly appeared without the name of the printer, only with the imprint „Pess of the Translyvanian Prince”.

Official regulation of prices from the time of Prince Gábor Bethlen (RMNy 1357)

The combined coats of arms of Transylvania and the princely family Rákóczi – woodcut decorating a book from the Gyulafehérvár press in 1636

The major profile of the press was to issue goverment papers, regulations, decisions (articles of the Transylvanian assembly in Hungarian) and to supply the Academy of Gyulafehérvár with text books. The Latin works of the academy professors were also printed here. Religious books of Calvinist confession, definitely represented by the Princes himelf, were also among the products of the press.

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LITERATURE:
Régi magyarországi nyomtatványok 2, 1601–1635. Szerk.: Borsa Gedeon és Hervay Ferenc. Budapest 1983.
( for short: RMNy)
V. Ecsedy Judit: A gyulafehérvári fejedelmi nyomda első korszaka 1623-1636. In: Országos Széchényi Könyvtár Évkönyve 1974–1975, 349-421.