Dirk Martens (Latin: Theodoricus Martinus)[1] (1446 or 1447 – 28 May 1534) was a printer and editor in the County of Flanders.

[5] At an unknown date, probably around 1471, he went to Venice, where he worked with the humanist Gerardus de Lisa (circa 1430-1499),[6] from Ghent.

His 1491 edition of the Doctrinale by Alexander de Villa Dei was the first printed book in the Netherlands to include Greek characters.

[5] He published many humanistic works, including over fifty books by Erasmus and the very first edition of Thomas More's Utopia in 1516.

Desiderius Erasmus, who fell ill after a trip to Basel in 1518, spent four weeks in the house of Martens to recover,[7] even though he had been diagnosed with the plague by two doctors.

[5] People working for Dirk Martens included Pierre Barbier, friend and correspondent of Erasmus, Pieter Gillis (to whom More dedicated the Utopia), between 1515 and 1518 Rutgerus Rescius, Hadrianus Barlandus, and between 1514 and 1516 Gerard Geldenhouwer, a humanist author who collaborated on the publication of More's Utopia and some of the works of Erasmus.

Van Sassen printed at least 25 Latin works before 1540, including a 1536 eulogy on the death of Thomas More by Johannes Secundus.

[8] The importance of Martens' work, especially his publications in Antwerp and Leuven, his role in the humanistic movement, and his contributions to the study of Greek and Hebrew, has been compared to the role Christoffel Plantijn played in Antwerp at the end of the 16th century.

[5] While there are other contenders for the title, he is often considered to be the first printer in Flanders, and 500 years after he first published a book two commemorative exhibitions were held, one by the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels and one in his hometown Aalst.