Laurens Janszoon Coster

Statue of Laurens Janszoon Coster on the Grote Markt in Haarlem, where he was born.

Laurens Janszoon Coster (ca. 1370, Haarlem, the Netherlands – ca. 1440), or Laurens Jansz Koster, is the name of the legendary inventor of the printing press from Haarlem. Since the late 1890s, Haarlem has been willing to concede that perhaps Mainz printed earlier, in the person of Johann Gutenberg.

Biography according to Junius

He was an important citizen of Haarlem and held the position of sexton (Koster) of Sint-Bavokerk. 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 works certainly printed by Laurens, however there is a tradition that, sometime in the 1420s, he was in the Haarlemmerhout 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. Since the Harlemmerhout was burned during a siege in 1426, this must have been early in the 1420's. 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 with several assistants including the letter cutter Johann Fust, and it was this Fust (often spelled Faust) who, when Laurens was nearing death, broke his promise of secrecy and stole his presses and type and took them to Mainz where he started his own printing company. Hadrianus Junius, otherwise known as Adriaen de Jonghe, wrote this story in 1588 in his book Batavia. Now known primarily for his Emblemata, he moved to Haarlem in 1550, and wrote several books while being the rector of the Latin School there. His story was echoed by his friend Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert, who started a printing business in Haarlem in 1560.

Statue of Laurens Janszoon Coster designed by Romeyn de Hooghe.

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 Zell, a printing assistant from Cologne, who was then between 60 and 69 years old, claimed that printing was begun in Mainz, 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. But the oldest indication that Coster was indeed printing is a small piece of printed paper, stemming from the library of the German prince Fürstenberg and auctioned at Sotheby's, that says that it was printed in 1430 in Haarlem. 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 Bellart 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, which was written in Gouda, but printed in Mainz.

400 year anniversary

Haarlemmerhout monument to Coster erected in 1823. His gravestone was never found, so this monument was a substitute memorial.

In 1823 Haarlem celebrated the 400th anniversary of Coster's invention with a monument in the Haarlemmerhout. The Germans were insulted and held a similar anniversary celebration the next year.

References

• The Legend of Koster
• Deugd boven geweld, Een geschiedenis van Haarlem, 1245-1995, editted by Gineke van der Ree-Scholtens, 1995, ISBN 9065505040
• Juchhoff, Rudolf (1950), "Was bleibt von den holländischen Ansprüchen auf die Erfindung der Typographie?", Gutenberg-Jahrbuch: 128−133