In 1475, just 25 years after the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg, the first printing workshop was established in Wrocław. Its founder was a Wrocław canon, Kasper Elyan. This well-educated cleric studied in Leipzig, Kraków and Erfurt. Most probably, he was first exposed to the art of printing in Cologne, where Ulrich Zell, who was also a graduate of Erfurt University, ran his own publishing house. Elyan took the experience gained there, mainly the knowledge of fonts, to his own workshop in Wrocław.

The first two known works by Elyan were published in 1475 – they are the oldest Silesian printed texts and among the oldest printed texts in this part of Europe. The prints contained Latin texts related to religious life – The History of the Transfiguration of Jesus and Synodal Statutes of the Wrocław Bishop Konrad. The Statutes, which contained local church regulations for Wrocław, were expanded with three prayers in the Polish language: the Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary and the Creed.

They are the oldest printed texts in Polish. The only complete copy of the texts came from the Nobertine convent in Czarnowąsy and is stored at the University Library in Wrocław.