Oliver Duntze's study is the first monograph to describe a new type of publisher which was becoming widespread after 1480 offering educated laymen of the region a new vernacular programme of guidebooks, light fiction and devotional literature. This study is an important contribution to research on the history of books and the book trade, and on early printing. Historians and scholars of German literature will also find it interesting, since the detailed coverage of Hupfuff 's printing programme sheds light on the literary interests of customers and readers of the late 15th century.