The First Printer in Leeuwarden: Johannes Petreius
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THE FIRST PRINTER IN LEEUWARDEN: JOHANNES PETREIUS “ Until a few years ago interest in the early history of book printing in Friesland was strikingly limited, and so, accordingly, was our knowledge of the subject. Admittedly a few scholars tried to solve the puzzle of the Freeska Landriucht, but that was a special case, and it is far from certain that this incunable was actually printed in Friesland. Dr M.P. van Buijtenen put in a claim for Berlikum, a village in north-west Friesland, while Prof. Wytze Hellinga and his wife, Dr Lotte Hellinga, suggested Antwerp. There is no convincing evidence for these attributions, however, and so the origin of the book is still unsure.1 We can assume that the history of the printed book in the Friesland area only started when the book dealer and publisher Thielman (Teilman) moved his firm from Groningen to Leeuwarden in about 1540. Even about this date there is still some uncertainty, and there are also indications that he had settled in Leeuwarden some time earlier.2 What is definite, however, is that he spent the last years of his life in Leeuwarden and died there.3 Some time later, in the accounts of the 1 For the relevant literature on this matter, see the list in De vijfhonderdste verjaring van de boekdrukkunst in de Nederlanden. Catalogus … (Brussel 1973), pp. 399-402 (p. 400). 2 P.H. Breuker, ‘Eekhoffs Geschiedenis van de Leeuwarder drukkers en uitgevers tot 1870’, in C.P. Hoekema, Eekhoff en zijn werk; leven en werken van Wopke Eekhoff (1809-1880) (Leeuwarden 1980), p. 176: ‘In 1536 woonde hij in Groningen’ (In 1536 he was living in Groningen). See also the footnote under no. 4072 in W. Nijhoff & M.E. Kronenberg, Nederlandsche Bibliographie van 1500 tot 1540, vols. 1-3, pts. 1-5 (’s-Gravenhage 1923-71), hereafter cited as NK: ‘The bookseller Teilman (Thielman) is known to us from Leeuwarden in 1534 (no. 1761) and in Groningen in 1536 (no. 1196), c.1537 (nos. 161 and 1757), and c.1540 or a little later (no. 1475). He probably also lived in Groningen in 1538 unless he was running a business simultaneously in Leeuwarden and Groningen.’ (‘De boekverkooper Teilman (Thielman) is ons bekend te Leeuwarden in 1534 ([nr.] 1761) en te Groningen in 1536 (no. 1196), c.1537 (nos. 161 en 1757) en c.1540 of iets later (no. 1475). Vermoedelijk woonde hij ook in 1538 te Groningen, tenzij hij gelijktijdig een zaak te Leeuwarden en te Groningen dreef’). According to W. Eekhoff, De stedelijke bibliotheek van Leeuwarden … (Leeuwarden 1870), p. 413, ‘Thylman, Boekverkooper uit het land van Kleef’ appears in the Register of citizens (‘Burgerboek’) in Leeuwarden of 1543/4. 3 On 14 September 1545 four Antwerp printers authorized Jan Baers to recover unpaid debts from the heirs of ‘Thielmanne van Leeuwaerden boeckvercoopere wijlen [...] in Vrieslandt’ for books and other things (‘van boecken ende andersins’). See L. van den Branden in Archives et bibli othèques de Belgique, Archief- en bibliotheekwezen in België, 51 (1980), p. 220. 809 the first printer in leeuwarden: johannes petreius town’s Treasurer’s Office of 1557/8, we find a certain Johannes Petreius named as the printer of announcements (to which we shall return later) of the sale of Co. Mts. Biltlanden (‘boeckprentere […] van […] billietten beroerende de vercopinge van Co. Mts. Biltlanden’). No copy has ever come to light, however, and the Court of Friesland was believed moreover to have dispatched its orders to the local authorities exclusively in handwritten form until 1570.4 That was the only information the literature on the subject could give. In the Provincial Archive in Leeuwarden, the capital of Friesland – other archives elsewhere in the Netherlands sometimes also contain important surveys relevant to our subject – still less was to be found until recently. In the Murray Bakker collection the file ‘De oudste beoefenaars van de boekdrukkunst in Friesland en hunne voortbrengselen’ (The earliest printers in Friesland and their output) contains nothing whatsoever about the sixteenth century. In J.G. Avis’ ‘Aantekeningen over beroepen en personen die deze beroepen in Friesland uitoefenden’ (‘Notes on trades and the persons who practised them’), based mainly on the archives of the Provincial Executive and the Auditor’s Office, there was just as little, if we except a reference to an order of payment of 22 December 1600 to Gillis van Craenenbrouck. This printer, however, resided not in Friesland but in Emden.5 It thus seemed as though the prevailing opinion was correct and that typographical activity in Friesland only began with the arrival of Gillis van den Rade (Radaeus) from Antwerp. He was the official printer both to the academy of Franeker and to the States, and he proved active and competent in both capacities. Friesland thus had a modern printing-office by 1585 and, thanks to the research of Dr J. Kalma, we have a good survey of its production. Yet this traditional image is incomplete. It has since proved possible to establish that a press was at work in Franeker before the arrival of Radaeus, and that it was in the service of the local followers of Menno Simons and Dirk Philips. This Mennonite firm published exclusively texts either by Mennonites, or intended for them, such as the well-known ‘Biestkens’ Bible and New Testaments. As far as we know, it produced in the period of its activity, from 1556 to 1570, unhindered by the authorities, twenty-four works, some of which were of considerable length. For eight years, from 1556 on, the firm was run by the original owner, Jan Hendricksz van Schoonrewoerdt, who had moved with his press from Utrecht to Franeker. We do not know who was in charge after his death in 1564. The name of his successor is not mentioned anywhere, and even the very existence of the press has sunk into 4 Breuker, op. cit. (n. 2), p. 176, col. 2. 5 Before settling in Emden he ran a firm in Mechelen for some years. For his activities there, see A. Rouzet, Dictionnaire des imprimeurs, libraires et éditeurs des XVe et XVIe siè cles dans les limites géographiques de la Belgique actuelle (Nieuwkoop 1975), p. 49. 810.