Adam Gieryk-Podebrański

Adam Gieryk Podebrański, Gierik (1741–1809) punchcutter, type founder, printer, engraver of copperplate engravings, alchemist. He came from Supraśl in the Vilnius Region. In 1772, he established the first independent font foundry in Warsaw. Gieryk taught the punchcutting profession to two apprentices. One later worked at the Akademicka Printing House in Krakow, and the other, Piotr Zawadzki, set up his own workshop. in 1778–1783, Gieryk managed the printing house of the Cadet Corps. From 1784 he lived in Krakow, where for 18 years he made fonts for the Academy's printing houses. He made, among others, a Greek set, for which he received 300 ducats in gold. He wasted them, melting gold in alchemy experiments, in the search for the philosopher's stone. About Gieryk, in: Printers of old Poland from the 15th to the 18th century, vol. 3, part 1, Mazovia and Podlasie. Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences 2001.