Christian Egenolff

Christian Egenolff or Egenolph (26 July 1502 – 9 February 1555),[1] also known as Christian Egenolff, the Elder, was the first important printer and publisher operating from Frankfurt-am-Main, and best known for his "Kräuterbuch", Herbarum, arborum, fruticum, frumentorum ac leguminem,[2] and re-issue of books by Adam Ries, Erasmus von Rotterdam and Ulrich von Hutten.

[3] Egenolff was born in Hadamar and studied humanities at the University of Mainz from 1516, but later took up the trade of printing in Strasbourg, working for Wolfgang Küpfel and marrying Margarethe Karpf.

In October 1533 Egenolff was sued by Johannes Schott, a Strasbourg publisher, for infringement of copyright on Herbarium Vivae Icones, illustrated by Hans Weiditz and compiled and annotated by Otto Brunfels.

Egenolff in his defense, argued that nature could not be copyrighted and that plants stood as communal models for any artist.

Lonicer became a director of the firm after Egenolff's death, publishing no fewer than four editions of the Kräuterbuch between 1557 and 1577.