Page:De Vinne, Invention of Printing (1876).djvu/336

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XVII

The Legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster.

Coornhert's Notice of Printing in Haarlem … Notice by Van Zuren … By Guicciardini … The Statement of Junius … Fac-simile of Scriverius's Portrait of Coster … Sketch of Junius's life and Works. Examination of his Statement … Vagueness of the Date … Junius's Story is Incredible … Wood Types could not be Used … Metal Types made too soon … This story an Imitation of a Spurious German Story … Fust was not the Thief … Absurdity of the Accusation … Evidence of Cornelis. Our knowledge of Cornelis from other Sources … Cornelis not an Eye-Witness … Talesius not a Satisfactory Witness … Disappearance of the Art more Wonderful than its Invention … Legend Cherished for Patriotic Reasons … Its Growth and its Exaggerations.

He who is satisfied, as regarding a fact like that of the invention of typography, with the simple assertion of people who talk of things which are said to have happened more than a century before their time, is destitute of scientific morality: he is ignorant of the passion of truth; in short, he belongs to the plebeians. We have not only the right to reject the fable fabricated by Junius .. but as honest men we are bound to do it.

Van der Linde.

In the year 1561, Jan Van Zuren and Dierick Coornhert, with other partners, set up a printing office in Haarlem. Van Zuren was a native and burgomaster of the town of Amsterdam; Coornhert, who was a notary and an engraver, is said to have been the instructor of the famous engraver Goltzius. Their first book was an edition of Cicero de Officiis, to which they prefixed the following quaint dedication:

To the burgomaster, sheriffs and councilors of the town of Haarlem, D. V. Coornhert wishes as his honorable and commanding masters, salvation to soul and body. "I was often told, in good faith, honorable, wise, and prudent gentlemen, that the useful art of printing books was invented first of all here at Haarlem, although in a very crude way, as it is easier to improve on an invention than to invent; which art having been