Talk:Laurens Janszoon Coster

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"In fact, it is far from certain if Mr. Coster really existed." Although it's basically always mentioned Coster may or may not have been the first to invent movable type, I never heard or read anybody doubt whether or not he ever actually existed before. A quick search online didn't help either. It's probably a good idea to point to a source about that part. Retodon8 19:15, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

I removed the part about the doubt, as I haven't been able to find a single mention of it anywhere. Retodon8 22:35, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

I think we should state in the article that there is no consensus on whether or not Coster really existed. A Dutch text clarifying the issue online can be found here: http://www.ru.nl/ahc/vg/html/vg000182.htm

The historical museum in Haarlem, het Haarlems Historisch Museum uses the same formula: he might have existed, or might not, but most certainly didn't invent the printing press. It's still a nice story of course, as I will acknowledges as an ex-Haarlem citizen. Guus 01:53, 27 September 2005 (UTC)

He most certainly did not invent the printing press, which had been around for a long time before him. The Dutch believe he invented moveable type, but it has been suggested elsewhere that he worked for Gutenburg (or someone associated with him) for a period and then took the idea back to Holland and claimed he had invented it. It is unlikely that a statue would have been erected if he had not existed. 172.189.150.80 03:10, 19 January 2006

Well Hans Brinker got a statue. There's also The Little Mermaid, and I suspect there may be more, ones closes to Coster's history than my examples. (You can use 4 tildes (~) to sign your posts; I manually added it for you now.) Retodon8 19:32, 19 January 2006 (UTC)