Dirk Martens

Statue of Martens at Aalst.

Dirk Martens (Latin: Theodoricus Martinus) (Aalst, 1446 or 1447 – 2 May 1534) was a printer and editor in Flanders. He went to Venice and worked with the humanist Gerardus de Lisa. In 1473, he returned to Aalst and together with Johan van Westfalen started a printing press. He printed a book on the two lovers of Enea Piccolomini who later became Pope Pius II. Between 1492 and 1529, he founded two new printing ateliers in Antwerp and Leuven. He edited several humanist works by Erasmus and Thomas More (Utopia, 1516). He also edited the first letter by Christopher Columbus on the New World.

Dirk Martens

See also