In the fifteenth century more printers were settled in Antwerp than in any other Netherlandish town. The first to settle there was Matthew van der Goes, and his first book is dated 29th April 1482. In the same year he issued the _Bœck van Tondalus vysioen_, which has the misprinted date 1472, and has for that reason been sometimes quoted as the first book printed in the Low Countries, or more often as the first book printed with signatures. We have already spoken of Gerard Leeu, who was the next to settle at Antwerp; and shortly after his appearance in 1484, Nicolas Kesler of Basle opened a shop there for the sale of his books. There are said to be three books with Kesler’s name, and the name of Antwerp given as the town; and though his press at Basle was at work without a break from 1486 onward, still in 1488 his name appears amongst the list of members of the St. Lucas-gilde at Antwerp. It is very probable, as Campbell suggests, that Kesler was entered as a member to enable him to sell his books in Antwerp. The most interesting among the remaining printers of the town was Thierry Martens, who began to print in 1493, and stayed till 1497. His various movements have been spoken of before. Leyden, Ghent, Kuilenburg, and Haarlem all started presses in 1483. The first printer of Haarlem, Bellaert, seems to have obtained his materials for the most part from Leeu, both type and woodcuts; but the town cannot have been a flourishing one from a printer’s point of view; for, though another workman, Joh. Andreæ, printed a few books in 1486, both presses disappear after that year. At Bois-le-duc, Gerard Leempt, from Nÿmegen, printed a few books between 1484 and 1490. In 1495 the Canons of St. Michael’s in den Hem, near Shoenhoven, began to print books in order to obtain means to rebuild their convent, which had been destroyed by fire the year before. They printed one or two editions of the _Breviary_ of different uses, but the rest of their books were all in the vernacular. Schiedam was the last town in the Netherlands where printing was practised before 1500, and there, about 1498, an unknown printer issued a very remarkable book. There were altogether in the Netherlands twenty-two towns whence books were issued before 1500, and in this list it will be noticed that Haarlem stands near the end. When printing had once been introduced it spread rapidly, all but three towns starting within the first ten years. CHAPTER VII. SPAIN AND PORTUGAL--DENMARK AND SWEDEN. The first book printed in Spain, according to some authorities, is a small volume of poems by Bernardo Fenollar and others, written in honour of the Virgin on the occasion of a congress held at Valentia in March 1474. It is said to have been printed in that town in the same year; but it has never been fully described, nor is it known where a copy is preserved.