KOSTER (or COSTER),

See also:

• LAURENS, HENRY (1724–1792)

LAURENS (c. 1370–1440)  , Dutch printer, whose claims to be considered at least one of the inventors of the art (see TYPOGRAPHY) have been recognized by many investigators . His real name was Laurens Janssoen-Koster (i.e. sacristan) being merely the title which he bore as an official of the great parish church of Haarlem . We find him mentioned several times between 1417 and 1434 as a member of the great council, 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 . His descendants, through his daughter Lucia, can be traced down to 1724 . See Peter Scriver, Beschryvinge der Stad Harlem (Haarlem, 1628) ; Scheltema, Levensschets van Laurens d . Koster (Haarlem, 1834) ; Van der Linde, De Haarlemsche Costerlegende (Hague, 1870) .