A study of the printer Simon Steenbergen († 1596) of Deventer

Abstract

AbstractSimon Steenbergen spent all his working life as a printer at Deventer, while his place and date of birth are unknown. By his marriage in 1551 or early 1552 he became brother-in-law of Richard II Paffrae(d)t. His earliest publications date from 1557 and concern two small contemplative works, viz. The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis and The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius. In 1564 Steenbergen had a punning printer's device which was in use only until 1566/7. At that time he reprinted three Emden publications: these were of Protestant character and it is to be assumed that thenceforth he adhered to the new doctrine. Two of these editions were intended for Antwerp, but were intercepted by the Roman Catholic High Sheriff of Utrecht and destroyed. In 1566/7 Lutheranism was tolerated at Deventer next to Catholicism. During the next thirty years the city became in turn again Catholic, then Calvinist, again Catholic and finally, in 1591, Calvinist for good. To judge from his publications, Steenbergen changed course as the situation required. It is therefore specially noteworthy that in 1588, when the city was Catholic, he published the Penitential Psalms with the litany of All Saints in Spanish, the