History of Reading And Publishing Policies In 16th Century Transylvania - (Or: The Name of Mrs Heltai)

Scholars of the history of literature and printing in the 16^th century agree that the most prolific printing press of 16^th century Hungary was the Heltai-Hoffgreff print in Cluj (Kolozsvár, Klausenburg, present-day Romania). After Gáspár Heltai’s death in 1574, his widow took over the print, becoming the only effective woman publisher of the 16^th century in Hungary. Her presence as the owner of the Heltai print is attested by 47 publications between 1575 and 1582 (the year of her death). This period of eight years of the Heltai print is very laconically reflected in the scholarship. The generally accepted view is that Mrs Heltai was a talented businesswoman, who continued to publish the profitable penny-books, in even larger number than previously her husband. This paper argues that Mrs Heltai developed a publishing policy of her own, different from her husband’s, and investigates two aspects of this argument. On the one hand, it traces Mrs Heltai’s financial interest in her enterprise as a business woman, ensured by the publication of a very popular secular genre of early modern Hungarian literature, the history in verse. On the other hand, it sketches the importance of women’s particular education and literary preferences in an attempt to suggest the possible gendered nature of Mrs Heltai’s printing policy.

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