Jakov of Kamena Reka
Jakov of Kamena Reka or Yakov Kraykov, was a Venetian printer. The information about his life is scarce. It is known he was from a former village called Kamena Reka, according to him near the town of Kolasia, in Osogovo, Macedonia.
It is assumed that the village could be Makedonska Kamenica in present-day North Macedonia, or Kamenichka Skakavitsa, in present-day Bulgaria, both placed in an area in Osogovo called Kamenitsa. However, near the town of Kyustendil, then called Kolasia is Kamenichka Skakavitsa. His family members had a long tradition of being Christian priests. In his youth Kraikov was a copyist of Church Slavonic books in the Osogovo Monastery "St. Joakim Osogovski". Then he went to Sofia, where in a local Church school, Kraikov deepened his literary knowledge.
Afterwards, he set off through Kyustendil and Skopje to Venice. It is assumed that Kraikov worked on his way in Gračanica monastery where a printing press was opened. He was among the first printers of Cyrillic books. Kraikov reached Venice around 1564 or 1565 where he worked in the Vuković printing house, established by Božidar Vuković and inherited by his son Vićenco Vuković. In 1566 he printed the Book of hours of 710 pages on the printing press of Vićenco Vuković. It was printed in Serbian recension of the Church Slavonic language. To print this book Jakov used old, already worn out, sorts. He had at disposal Vuković's matrix and was prepared to cast new letters but he obviously failed to do it. This book is described in some sources as the first Bulgarian/Macedonian printed book.
In 1570 Jakov worked in the printing press of Jerolim Zagurović where he printed a Prayer book. In 1571 Jakov again worked in Vuković printing house, where Stefan Marinović also worked before him. In 1597 this printing house was taken over by Italian printers and its printing press was operational for additional 70 years.