Laurens Janszoon Coster

He is mentioned in contemporary documents between 1417 and 1434 as a member of the great council, an assessor (scabinus), and as the city treasurer.

[3] Now known primarily for his Emblemata, Junius moved to Haarlem in 1550, and wrote several books, acting shortly as the rector of the Latin School there, as the city physician and as historiographer of the States of Holland (as of 1565/66).

His story was echoed by his friend Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert, who started a printing business in Haarlem in 1560.

Later Samuel Ampzing (with the help of Petrus Scriverius) repeated the story in Lavre-Kranz Voor Lavrens Koster Van Haerlem, Eerste Vinder vande Boek-Druckerye (1628) with illustrations of the invention.

He is said to have printed several books including Speculum Humanae Salvationis with several assistants including the letter cutter Johann Fust, and it was this letter cutter Fust (often spelled Faust) who, when Laurens was nearing death, broke his promise of secrecy and stole his presses and type and took them to Mainz where he started his own printing company.

[5] Either way, Coster is somewhat of a Haarlem local "hero", and apart from a statue on the Grote Markt his name can be found in many places in the city.

This was because these cities did not have powerful religious institutions or universities, where competing copyist production (scriptoria) took place.

At the top of the allegorical scene, the heraldic shields of 4 men can be seen in addition to the coat of arms of Haarlem.

In the period after the Flanders Campaign which led to the French occupation of the Netherlands from 1794 to 1815, Haarlem's economy was severely depressed and the city council sought a local hero.