Johann Veldener

Who is Johann Veldener?

Johann Veldener, also known as Jan Veldener or Johan Veldenaer; was an early printer in Flanders. He worked as a punchcutter and printer in Cologne, together with William Caxton, who may have financed his first books. They both left for Flanders in 1472. Evidence indicates that Veldener assisted Caxton in setting up his printing office in Bruges and helped printing his first work there, the 1472-1473 Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye by Raoul Lefèvre. Afterwards, Veldener went to Leuven and set up his printing company there, becoming the second printer in Leuven after John of Westphalia, and the third or fourth in the Netherlands. He entered the Leuven University on 30 July 1473 in the faculty of Medicine.

He left Leuven in 1477, after the death of Charles the Bold caused unrest in the city, and went to Utrecht. When that city also became troubled, he left for Culemborg, and finally returned to Leuven in 1484.

Veldener was also known for creating typefaces, both for his own work and for others, and Caxton is believed to have taken one of Veldener's typefaces with him to England and used it among others on his first edition of the Canterbury Tales. It is probable that he later bought a number of other typefaces from Veldener as well.