Nikolaus Mollyn

Nikolaus Mollyn (Dutch: Niclaes Mollijns, Latvian: Nikolajs Mollīns, c. 1550/1555 – 1625) was a book printer, the first to establish a printing press in Riga. Born in Antwerp, he left his home region, probably due to increasing religious unrest in the area, and settled in Riga in 1588. From 1591 he was formally employed by the city council as the city printer, and from 1597 the city council also paid for his lodgings.

Only 179 works printed by Mollyn have been preserved; many were lost to bombs during World War II. The range of his printing activity was wide, spanning from works on theology and school books to literature and works on history. In 1615 he was the first to print a Latvian-language book within the present-day territory of Latvia.