In 1473-1474, the establishment of the first printing press in Leuven brought new prospects, with printers from abroad finding a profitable market thanks to its proximity to the university. These two entities, the printing business and the university, were closely intertwined, making Leuven the main printing centre in the Low Countries in those early years. This led to an increase in innovation, art and science. Between 1474 and 1500, nine printers deliberately settled in Leuven because of the large market offered by the presence of students and professors. Students desperately needed textbooks, so professors seized the opportunity to quickly disseminate their own ideas and knowledge via printing presses. Among the first printers to come to Leuven were Jan Veldener, Jan van Westfalen and Conrad Braem, Jan van Westfalen being the most prolific and remaining active in Leuven until 1499. Dirk Martens then took over the torch from him and grew to become the main printer of humanist writings in the 16th century, both in Leuven and Antwerp, the later most important printing centre of the Low Countries.

One of the works Jan van Westfalen printed was the agricultural work Ruralia commoda by the Italian author Petrus de Crescentiis. In the colophon, Jan van Westfalen praised 'the new method of multiplying books invented with God's help'. The mention of the date, namely the ninth day of December in the year 1474, marks this incunabulum as the first dated work to come off the printing press in Leuven.