drukker

Drukker is a Dutch noun referring to a person who operates a printing press or, more broadly, to someone employed by a printing house to produce printed works. Historically, the drukker was the craftsman responsible for setting type, arranging pages, running the press, and overseeing bindery and distribution. In some contexts the term can also denote the printing business itself. In modern Dutch, the device used to print is usually called a printer or a drukpers, while drukker remains common in reference to the worker or to historical descriptions.

The profession emerged with the advent of movable type in Europe in the 15th century. Drukkers worked with compositors to prepare pages, operated the printing presses, applied ink to type, and checked proofs. They often belonged to guilds and ran family or workshop operations, sometimes employing apprentices. The work contributed to the spread of literature, science, and ideas, and printers played a key role in dissemination of the Reformation, education, and bureaucracy. Notable examples in the Low Countries include Christophe Plantin, a 16th‑century printer in Antwerp, whose workshop became one of Europe’s leading printing houses; the Plantin‑Moretus complex is now the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Belgium.

In contemporary Dutch, 'drukker' is primarily a historical or occupational term; for modern equipment, 'printer' is the usual loanword, or 'drukpers' in Dutch technical contexts. See also drukkerij (printing house) and printing.