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John Lettou

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John Lettou (Template:Lang-be, fl. 1475–1483) was an English bookbinder and printer. He was probably of Slavic or Baltic origin, since his last name was the Middle English form for Lithuania[1], at that time the Slavic-Baltic state covering the territory of modern Belarus and Lithuania.[2]

Seventeen books printed between 1475 and 1480 are attributed to the workshop of the ‘Indulgence Binder’ now identified as Lettou. The identification depends upon the use of waste strips cut from an indulgence of 1480 used in the binding of a Bible, printed by Gotz in 1480, which now belongs to Jesus College, Cambridge. Since this waste would have been found only in the workshop of the printer, and the indulgence was printed by Lettou, he must have been both the printer and the binder.[1]

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b Oxford Dictionary of National Bibliography
  2. ^ R. Bideleux. A History of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change. Routledge, 1998