FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
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tke ddest being at least twenty-thiee. It is said diat the city of Haerlem advanced no preten- noos to the merit of its inTention for the space of 130 years after the first exercise of this art at Menu. The learned Meerman, counsellor and pensionary of Rotterdam, zealous for the honour (f his country, supported the cause of Haerlem with all the sagacity and erudition that could be exerted, in a work intituled, Origma Typogra- fUae 2 Tob. 4to. printed at the Hague, in 1 765 ; an abridgement of which is given in Bowyer and Fichols's Origin of Printing.
AAer a disUnce of 400 years, it is not easy to decide rightly upon the several claims which luive been advanced for the honour of the invention of tiie art; bnt as to the cities of Haerlem and Mentz, the dispute between them seem easily deaied up, irom the two-fold invention of print- ing before mentioned ; the first with separate tooitn type$ at Haerlem, by Coster, about 1430, tnd afterwards continued by his family ; the other with metal types, first cut, and afterwards cast, which was invented at Mentz, but not used in Holland till brought hither by Theodric Mar- tens, at Alost, about 1472.
"On the market-place at Haerlem there is a itatoe in honour of Laurence Jansoen Coster. It is of stone, painted white, upon a pedestal bidosed by a square iron railing, and represents the celebrated printer in a civic robe, with a wreath of laurel on his brow. His right arm rats npon the trunk of a tree, with a branch ipiDuting therefrom. In his right hand is an open book; his left exhibits a cube, having ueteon the letter A.* On the south side of the pedestal is the following inscription : —
"M.M.S.
" Laorentio Costero, Harlemensi, viro Con- nlari, Typogrsphiae Inventori vero, monuraen- mm hoc erigi Cuiavit collegium Medicum, innocioix^cxxii."
On the east side are figures, in has relief, re- piesenting Coster at his composing frames, and two pressmen at work. Over them a shield of una, a sword erect between four mullets or Stan, and surmounted by a small cross. On the north side of the pedestal : —
'CoMtms daiia rediinltiu tempora Imnro, QotiqaU ades, qnaie conspiciatur, babe. Hae propria Ueroam fait oUm cloila, qnonun Vet (ittls Celebris vita vel arte Aiit. lavento qni Rata sno lerraTit et arte* Quia necet hone tantmn bis mernine decas )"
Ivan Zanten, M. D.
On the west side, a bas relief, representing Cotter in his municipal robe, in the act of cut- ting letters npon the Dark of a tree ; in the back groand is seen the great Church of Haerlem.
At the foot of the pedestal : — " Transl.ex. Hort. Med. cioioccci."
- A print of the moonment, tben in tbe Medical Oanlen
•t Haolem, will be fooDd in Anmu SttcutarU TtrtiMM haaim ArtiM T]fpogrmpkicm, acntore Sdz, p. 17.
Oatbe 19th of July ererj year there ii an annlrenarr tHiCTtemfortwodayi, copunemoratory of the tUMiiMon •f prmtrng with movable typea by Coster. It la also »)<tnt«d by the priotn* of Dart and Rotterdam.
In the Pom Church, on a black marble tablet against the north-west pillar of the transept, is the following inscription : —
" Honori et mentis Laurentii Jani F. Costeri, Harlemensis, Festo Saeculari quarto Inventts Typographise celebrato Harlemi, A. D. x Julii, anni ciaiscccxxiii. Annuente Augustissimo Belgii Rege Gulielmo primo."
In an apartment uf the Hotel de Ville, are preserved several specimens of early printing, said to be from the press of Coster, which, on account of the well-lmown controversy between Mentz and Haerlem, I was desirous of inspect- ing. The exhibition (by the Custos, who un- fortunately for foreign visitors speak only Dutch) is introduced by a reference to the following me- morandum : —
" Le temps precis de I'impression estinconnu: neanmoins il parait pax I'histoire que Koster a commence d'imprimer dans I'annee 1420 en- virons. H deceda a la fin de Van 1439 : ainsi on doit fixer le temps dan cette periode."
The specimens exhibited are thus described :
" No. 1. Revelation de St. Jean en figures. C'est la plus ancienne impression d'estampes de quelque etendue.
" No. 2. La Cantique det Cantigues. Ce N* se trouve joint an livre N* 5, etant une dec demiires impressions d'estampes de Koster.
" No. 3. Deux fragments de Donatm, im- primes, comme aussi les deux livres snivants, avec des Caracteres mobiles etfondus.
" No. 4. Le miroir de notre salut, dit Spiegel onzer bekoudenis : c'etait la premiere edition.
" No. 6. Le mfime livre en latin dit Speculum kmnanae salvationis, aussi premiere edition."*
There are also two autographs of Coster, a fac-simile of one of them is given : —
- Mr. C. Eate, in a Joumef tinugk TIanien, ie. in the
year 17V3, give* the following infonnation coneenioK Coster, in hla viait to Haerlem. " The ait of printing at Mentz, is, philosophically, thefeatore the most prominent, and the most attnctive. For at Mentz, the art, so mag- nilcently boontlfal, begnn I though no small preparation for it might be achieved, by the lucky labours of Laurence Coster, at Haerlem. And, therefore, the people there, do well to assert what little honour they can claim, and con- secrate the name, and wooden moulds of Coster ; on whidi alone that claim can be attempted.— The Minor of our Salvation (Den Spiegel Van Oute Zalighegi) la the title of the book, which he thus worked off. And tbe book and moulds are deposited in a coffer of silver and silk, with other treasure, at the townhouse ; each magistrate being entrusted with a key. All this Is done not without some show and solemn ceremony I and it were well ifparade could always Justify itsdf upon so decent a plea. There is a statue too of Coster— and his house, in Uie market-place, is still distinguished by an inscription : Memorin sacrum Typogrmphia, ara artlum omnium conaerv a f rlx, h i e, pftawn Inventa, circa annum 1440.
This work of Coater haa no date. The first work printed with a date at Haerlem, Is USS— i>e pmrietatiitu remm. Still, however, far the work of Coster being of a date prior to this, there la a lurking i^robability, not easily to be rot over, at the bottom.— A pcobabiUty from the compaiaUve inferiority of his perfbrmaaee— that Caster, like every man would do the best for himsdf— that if two modes had been before him, he would not have taken the worst— he would not have stamped the paper as he did. only upon one aide, witii moulds made of wood andlmmovcable, if he had known, what his successors at Mentz certainly did, the mode of printing on both aides the paper, with typea moveable and of metal."
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