Coster, Laurens Janszoon

Coster, Laurens Janszoon

▪ Dutch printer and inventor
Coster also spelled  Koster  
born c. 1370, , Netherlands
died 1440?, Haarlem?

      Dutch rival of Johannes Gutenberg (Gutenberg, Johannes) as the alleged inventor of printing.

      Little is known of this early printer, whose last name means “sacristan,” his title as an official of the Great Church of Haarlem. He is mentioned several times in records between 1417 and 1434 as alderman, tax assessor, and treasurer and is presumed to have died in a plague that struck Haarlem in 1440, when his wife is recorded as a widow.

      Coster is said to have printed with movable type as early as 1430, but definite proof of this claim is lacking. None of the surviving specimens attributed to him bears his name, a form of documentation that is also missing in the case of Gutenberg. Coster, however, is a far more shadowy figure than Gutenberg, and his printing achievement was not recorded until a century after his death. His method of typecasting, consisting of casting in sand from wooden molds, was distinctly more primitive than that of Gutenberg.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Laurens Janszoon Coster — auf dem Grote Markt in Haarlem. Laurens Janszoon Coster (* um 1370 in Haarlem; † um 1440) war Küster an der Parochialkirche in Haarlem und Mitglied des Großen Rates, Schöffe, städtischer Schatzmeister. Sein Familienname wird gelegentlich „Koster“ …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Laurens Janszoon Coster — Laurens Coster Pour les articles homonymes, voir Coster. Statue de Laurens Janszoon Coster sur le Grote Markt à Haarlem, sa vill …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Project Laurens Janszoon Coster — is a collection of Dutch high literature on the web. Its name is sometimes abbreviated to Project Laurens Jansz. Coster or simply Project Coster. It is named after Project Gutenberg and after Laurens Janszoon Coster, an early European printer, of …   Wikipedia

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  • Coster — Coster, Laurens Janszoon, ein sog. Briefdrucker zu Haarlem im 15. Jahrh., der kleine Bücher, Gebete, Bilder u.s.w. mit Holztafeln druckte, wird von den Holländern der ganzen übrigen Welt zum Trotze als Erfinder der Buchdruckerkunst gefeiert und… …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

  • Laurens Coster — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Coster. Statue de Laurens Janszoon Coster sur le Grote Markt à Haarlem, sa vill …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Coster — oder De Coster ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Charles De Coster, (1827–1879), belgischer Schriftsteller Dirk Coster, (1889–1950), niederländischer Physiker Johann Coster (um 1614 1685), deutscher Arzt siehe Johannes Küster von Rosenberg …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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