Note IX, p. 114.—On the first Inventor of Printing

Mr. Ireland, in his “Picturesque Tour through Holland, Brabant, and part of France, in 1789,” gives the following account of the Inventor of Printing, when describing the city of Haerlem.

“Haerlem claims the invention of the art of Printing. It is attributed to Lawrence Koster, an alderman of this city, in 1440; whose house is yet standing in the market-place, opposite the church. Amusing himself one day in the neighboring wood, with cutting the bark of trees into letters that formed the initials of his name, he is said to have laid them on paper, and, falling asleep, when he awoke, observed, that, from the dew their form was impressed on the paper. This accident induced him to make further experiments; he next cut his letters in wood, and, dipping them in a glutinous liquid, impressed them on paper, which he found an improvement; and, soon after, substituting leaden and pewter letters, erected a press in his house; thus laying the foundation of this noble art, which has thence gradually arisen to its present excellence.—The art, it is said, was stolen from him by his servant, John Faustus, who conveyed it to Mentz, and, from the novelty of the discovery, soon acquired the title of Doctor and Conjurer. The original specimens are now shown at the library in the Town Hall. The first is on a leaf of parchment, and the second and third on paper, printed only on one side, and the corners left blank for capitals. At the top are wooden cuts, representing the Creation, and, as it is called, Lucifer's Fall.”—pp. 109–111.