Laurens Janszoon Coster
Encyclopedia
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
printed earlier, in the person of Johann Gutenberg.
Biography
He was an important citizen of HaarlemHaarlem
Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...
and held the position of sexton
Sexton (office)
A sexton is a church, congregation or synagogue officer charged with the maintenance of its buildings and/or the surrounding graveyard. In smaller places of worship, this office is often combined with that of verger...
(Koster) of Sint-Bavokerk
Sint-Bavokerk
The Grote Kerk or St.-Bavokerk is a Protestant church and former Catholic cathedral located on the central market square in the Dutch city of Haarlem...
. He is mentioned in contemporary documents as an assessor (scabinus), and as the city treasurer. He probably perished in the plague that visited Haarlem in 1439-1440; his widow is mentioned in the latter year.
There are no known works printed by Laurens.
Junius story
Hadrianus Junius
Hadrianus Junius , also known as Adriaen de Jonghe, was a Dutch physician, classical scholar, translator, lexicographer, antiquarian, historiographer, emblematist, school rector, and Latin poet. He is not to be confused with several namesakes...
, otherwise known as Adriaen de Jonghe, wrote this story around 1567 in his book Batavia, published only in 1588, and was quoted by Cornelis de Bie
Cornelis de Bie
Cornelis de Bie was a Brabant rederijker, poet, jurist and minor politician from Lier.He is the author of about 64 works, mostly comedies...
. Now known primarily for his Emblemata, Junius moved to Haarlem in 1550, and wrote several books, acting shortly as the rector of the Latin School there
Stedelijk Gymnasium Haarlem
The Stedelijk Gymnasium Haarlem or the Latin School of Haarlem is an elite secondary school in Haarlem, The Netherlands. It is regarded as one of the most prestigious and academically rigorous schools in The Netherlands. The school was founded in 1389 and is therefore one of the oldest schools in...
, as the city physician and as historiographer of the States of Holland (as of 1565/66). His story was echoed by his friend Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert
Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert
Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert was a Dutch writer, philosopher, translator, politician and theologian. Coornhert is often considered the Father of Dutch Renaissance scholarship.-Biography:...
, who started a printing business in Haarlem in 1560. Later Samuel Ampzing
Samuel Ampzing
Samuel Ampzing was a Dutch minister, poet and purist.-Biography:Born to the minister Johannes Ampzing in Haarlem, in 1616 Samuel became a minister himself at Rijsoord in Strevelshoek, and in 1619 at the Sint-Bavokerk in Haarlem.-Beschrijvinge ende lof der stad Haerlem in Holland:In 1617, he began...
(with the help of Petrus Scriverius
Petrus Scriverius
Petrus Scriverius, the Latinized form of Peter Schrijver or Schryver was a Dutch writer and scholar on the history of Holland and Belgium....
) repeated the story in Lavre-Kranz Voor Lavrens Koster Van Haerlem, Eerste Vinder vande Boek-Druckerye (1628) with illustrations of the invention. According to Junius, sometime in the 1420s, Coster was in the Haarlemmerhout
Haarlemmerhout
The Haarlemmerhout is the oldest public park of the Netherlands. It lies on the south side of Haarlem, on the same old sandy sea wall that is shared by the public park Haagse Bos in the Hague and the Alkmaarderhout in Alkmaar.-History:...
carving letters from bark for the amusement of his grandchildren, and observed that the letters left impressions on the sand. He proceeded to invent a new type of ink that didn't run, and he began a printing company based on his invention with a primitive typesetting arrangement using moveable type. Since the Haarlemmerhout was burned during a siege by the Kennemers
Kennemerland
Kennemerland is a region in the Netherlands, near the coast in the province of North Holland. In includes the sand dunes north of the North Sea Canal, as well as the dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park.-History:...
in 1426 during the Hook and Cod wars
Hook and Cod wars
The Hook and Cod wars comprise a series of wars and battles in the County of Holland between 1350 and 1490. Most of these wars were fought over the title of count of Holland, but some have argued that the underlying reason was because of the power struggle of the bourgeois in the cities against...
, this must have been early in the 1420s. Using wooden letters at first, he later used lead and tin movable type. His company prospered and grew. He is said to have printed several books including Speculum Humanae Salvationis
Speculum Humanae Salvationis
The Speculum Humanae Salvationis or Mirror of Human Salvation was a bestselling anonymous illustrated work of popular theology in the late Middle Ages, part of the genre of encyclopedic speculum literature, in this case concentrating on the medieval theory of typology, whereby the events of the Old...
with several assistants including the letter cutter Johann Fust
Johann Fust
Johann Fust was an early German printer.- Family background :Fust belonged to a rich and respectable burgher family of Mainz, traceable back to the early thirteenth-century; members of the family held many civil and religious offices.The name was always written Fust, but in 1506 Peter Schöffer, in...
, and it was this lettercutter Fust (often spelled Faust
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...
) who, when Laurens was nearing death, broke his promise of secrecy and stole his presses and type and took them to Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
where he started his own printing company.
Story by Ulrich Zell
However, there is one support for the claim that Coster might be the inventor. In the anonymous Kölner Chronik of 1499, Ulrich ZellUlrich Zell
Ulrich Zell was the first printer of Cologne. He was born at Hanau am Main, date unknown; he died about 1503.He learned the art of printing before 1462 in the printing establishment of Johann Fust and Peter Schöffer, and seems, shortly after the catastrophe of 1462, to have gone to Cologne, whose...
, a printing assistant from Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, who was then between 60 and 69 years old, claimed that printing was begun in Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
, based on knowledge from Holland used to print Latin grammar texts (Donatus). Neither Coster nor Haarlem are mentioned in that chronicle. If true, this points to Johann Gutenberg about a decade after Coster's death. However, the first securely dated book by Dutch printers is from 1471, long after Gutenberg. Either way, Coster is somewhat of a Haarlem local "hero", and apart from a statue on the Grote Markt his name can be found in many places in the city.
Earliest known Haarlem printer
Between 1483 and 1486, Jacob BellaertJacob Bellaert
Jacob Bellaert, an early Dutch publisher who produced seventeen books in Haarlem from 1483 to 1486, is also the name given to the early Netherlandish painter Master of Bellaert, so called for his many woodcuts in Bellaert's illustrations.-Biography:...
worked in Haarlem. His books were known for their artistic woodcuts. Haarlem, Gouda, and Delft were all cities with early printing presses. This was because these cities did not have powerful religious institutions or universities, where competing copyist production (scriptoria) took place. Bellart did not enjoy much success, however, because there were few buyers for his books in Nederduits. Most people who could afford a book wanted it to be in French, since that was the common language of the ruling classes. Perhaps the strongest evidence in favor of Gutenberg is therefore that Mainz has in its possession today a first-edition of Erasmus' Lof der Zotheid (English translation: The Praise of Folly
The Praise of Folly
In Praise of Folly is an essay written in 1509 by Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam and first printed in 1511...
), which was written in Gouda, but printed in Mainz in 1511. The earliest printed book from the Netherlands that has been dated with any certainty is from 1473. It is in the possession of the Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum
Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum
Museum Meermanno | House of the Book, formerly called Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum, is a museum named after Willem Hendrik Jacob van Westreenen van Tiellandt on the Prinsessegracht 30 in The Hague...
and was printed in Utrecht, not Haarlem.
400 year anniversary
In 1823 Haarlem celebrated the 400th anniversary of Coster's invention with a monument in the HaarlemmerhoutHaarlemmerhout
The Haarlemmerhout is the oldest public park of the Netherlands. It lies on the south side of Haarlem, on the same old sandy sea wall that is shared by the public park Haagse Bos in the Hague and the Alkmaarderhout in Alkmaar.-History:...
. The monument is decorated with Latin inscriptions and a memorial text in Dutch, with symbolic "A" decorations at the top. The celebration was organized by Abraham de Vries, a Coster fan who became Haarlem's first librarian in 1821 and who received a commission from the city fathers to acquire Costeriana, or material relating to Coster's claim to fame. De Vries was supported by the professor David Jacob van Lennep, who believed the legend and supported De Vries. In the period after the Flanders Campaign
Flanders Campaign
This feature refers to the conflict that took place during the Wars of the French Revolution 1792–1801.For the Low Countries campaigns of the War of the Grand Alliance 1688–97 see Nine Years' War...
which led to the French occupation of the Netherlands from 1794-1815, Haarlem's economy was severely depressed and the city council sought a local hero. In 1817, Van Lennep (who was in the city council at the time) had also placed the monument De Naald (Heemstede) at his home in nearby Heemstede. The Germans were insulted about the anniversary celebration and held a similar anniversary celebration the next year.
Joh. Enschedé
Behind the St. Bavochurch the printing factory of Joh. EnschedéJoh. Enschedé
Royal Joh. Enschedé is a printer of security documents, stamps and banknotes based in Haarlem, Netherlands. Joh. Enschedé specialises in print, media & security. The company hosts the Museum Enschedé and has branches in Amsterdam, Brussels and Haarlem....
was located, which from 1737-1940 printed the Oprechte Haerlemsche Courant and from 1810 onwards became a mint
Mentha
Mentha is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae . The species are not clearly distinct and estimates of the number of species varies from 13 to 18. Hybridization between some of the species occurs naturally...
that printed banknotes and later postage stamps. Just as it had been in Coornhert's time, supporting the Coster legend became a publicity stunt for one of Haarlem's most important businesses, and the Enschedé company complied by offering tours of the printing presses, and even opened the Museum Enschedé
Museum Enschedé
Museum Enschedé is a defunct museum that was located in the center of Haarlem, Netherlands, on the Klokhuisplein 5, across from the St. Bavochurch. The museum foundation lives on and is devoted to presenting and preserving the cultural history of Joh...
in 1904 on the Klokhuisplein (now the location of a memorial plaque). Today, "Costeriana" still can be viewed (by appointment) in the collections of the Haarlem Public Library, the Museum Enschedé, and the Teyler's Museum.