Gáspár Heltai (
c. 1510–1574) was a
Protestant writer and printer from
Transylvania who produced many books in Hungarian. He was also the father of the sister-in-law of
Ferenc Dávid.
From 1550 he worked as a printer in partnership with György Hoffgreff in
Kolozsvár (now Cluj-Napoca, Romania). The press functioned under Heltai's name after 1552, and continued to work after his death thanks to his widow.[3]
Heltai founded a public bath, a
paper mill and the first
brewery in the town. He is considered the first religious reformer in Kolozsvár,[4] and a great spirit of Hungarian
Unitarian[5]Reformation.[6] Together with a group of scholars Heltai produced an almost complete translation[2] of the
New Testament into Hungarian.[7] His work marked the first buds of a
secular literature in Hungary.[8]
Bonfini translation
Heltai's most voluminous work is his reworking and translation of
Antonio Bonfini's Rerum Hungaricum Decades ("Ten Volumes of Hungarian Matters"), which Heltai published in 1575 as Chronica az magyaroknak dolgairól ("Chronicle of the Hungarians’ Past Deeds").[9] The work was printed in Kolozsvár.[9]