Gerard or Gheraert Leeu, ''Leew, Lyon'', or ''Leonis'', (between 1445 and 1450, Gouda - 1492,

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

) was a Dutch printer of

incunabula An incunable or incunabulum (: incunables or incunabula, respectively) is a book, pamphlet, or broadside (printing), broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. The specific date is essentiall ...

. Leeu printed his first (liturgical) book in May 1477 in his shop in Gouda, where between 1477 and 1484 he produced a total of about 69 books. In 1484 he moved to Antwerp, where he died in 1492 from a stab wound during a quarrel with one of his typesetters. Besides printing works in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

, he reprinted some of

William Caxton William Caxton () was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into Kingdom of England, England in 1476, and as a Printer (publishing), printer to be the first English retailer ...

's editions for the English market. These were ''The History of Jason'', ''The History of Paris and Vienne'' and ''The Chronicles of England''. He published the Dialogus creaturarum in a number of editions, the first being in 1480. He also printed a Latin version of the

Solomon and Marcolf Solomon and Marcolf is a medieval narrative describing the adventures and conversations of Solomon and Marcolf, or Marolf. The adventures have some connection with those of Ashmedai, while the conversations consist chiefly of riddles similar to ...

legend, entitled ''Collationes quod dicuntur fecisse mutuo rex Solomon ... et Marcolphus'' in 1488, which he followed in 1492 with an English translation, ''This is the dyalogus or communyng betw t the wyse King Solomon and Marcolphus''. It is not clear whether the English translation was done out of Dutch or Latin, but it is likely that Leeu had the translation made in his own shop from the earlier Latin edition.

References

External Resources

Cordiale quattuor novissimorum
From th
Rare Book and Special Collections Division
at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

Paulus Middelburgensis
Bp., d. 1534. Prognostica ad viginti annos duratura. Antwerp, Gerard Leeu, 28 Sept. (quarto Kalendas Octobris) 1484. From th
Rare Book and Special Collections Division
at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leeu, Gerard 15th-century births 1492 deaths Printers of incunabula Dutch printers People from Gouda, South Holland