Fiol, Szwajpolt

Died after May 7, 1525, in Kraków. Slavic printing pioneer.

Fiol was born in the city of Neustadt on the Aisch River, in the region of Franconia in Germany. He was mentioned in Kraków archives in 1479. Fiol belonged to a goldsmiths’ guild. In the early 1490’s he founded a printing house with the financial backing of a wealthy burgher, Jan Turzon. The Cyrillic type for the printing house was made by Rudolf Borsdorf.

Fiol printed the first Slavic books in Cyrillic characters, including Hymns for Eight Voices (1491), The Breviary (1491), Three-part Canons to Be Sung From Septuagesima to Easter (undated), and Three-part Canons to Be Sung From Easter to All Saints’ Day (1491). Seventy-nine copies of Fiol’s publications have been preserved, of which 68 are located in the USSR.