Page:De Vinne, Invention of Printing (1876).djvu/369

Rh monuments to the memory of Coster. Certain days in June and July are observed as festivals in commemoration of the invention. In the Hout, or Haarlem Wood, where Coster is said to have received his first suggestion of types, an imposing cenotaph has been placed. Carved on this stone are the arms of the sheriff Laurens Janszoon, and the year 1423, which is offered as the date of this suggestion. An acknowledgment of Coster as the inventor of typography may be seen in the ancient cathedral of Haarlem, on a black marble tablet, which was put in place during the month of June, 1824, by King William. In almost every well appointed public office or private house of Haarlem is some pictorial recognition of Coster as the inventor of printing.

In the year 1851, an association of patriotic Hollanders placed in front of the rebuilt Coster house a memorial stone with this inscription: "The house of Coster: the birthplace of typography." The date of this birth is judiciously omitted. The tablet of the old Coster house contained an inscription in honor of "Laurens Coster, sheriff, of Haarlem, inventor of typography about the year 1430." The vitality of the legend has also been preserved by the issue of a great many medals, prints and papers, and by the repeated assertion of the civic authorities that Coster was the original and unquestionable inventor of typography.