Schweipolt Fiol (also Sebald Vehl or Veyl; c. 1460 – 1525 or 1526) was a German-born 15th century pioneer of Cyrillic printing.[1][2] Fiol spent a considerable part of his life in Poland, particularly Kraków, the capital of the Polish Kingdom at the time. The city was famous for its university. The burgeoning of the arts and sciences contributed to the early emergence of book printing here: as early as 1473–1477 there was a print shop in Kraków, which published numerous theological works. The very first book printed in Cyrillic script, Oktoikh (Octoechos), was published by Fiol in 1491 in Kraków.[3]
Fiol worked as a mining engineer and jeweler, and then took over a print shop. It is this print shop, owned by Fiol, which first published in Cyrillic such religious books as Eastern Slavic editions of Horologion, Octoechos, and the two Triodi.
- ^ Zimmer, Szczepan K. (1983). The beginning of Cyrillic printing in Cracow, 1491 : from the Orthodox past in Poland. Columbia University Press. pp. 3, 145. ISBN 978-0880330275.
- ^ Suarez, Michael F.; Woudhuysen, H. R., eds. (October 2013). The Book: A Global history. Oxford University Press. p. 503. ISBN 978-0199679416.
- ^ Treasures of the National Library - Moscow, retrieved on November 3, 2007.