Jakov of Kamena Reka (, ; 'Jakov from Kamena Reka'; 1564–72) 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 ( 'Stone River'), according to him near the town of ''Kolasia,'' in Osogovo,

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

. It is assumed that the village could be Makedonska Kamenica in present-day

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

, or Kamenichka Skakavitsa, in present-day

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, 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 Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, 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 Gračanica () may refer to: Places Bosnia and Herzegovina * Gračanica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, a town and municipality in Tuzla * Gračanica (Bugojno), a village in Central Bosnia * Gračanica, Gacko, a village in Republika Srpska * Gračanica, ...

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 Božidar Vuković ( sr-Cyrl, Божидар Вуковић, , ; c. 1460 — c. 1539) was one of the first printers and editors of Serbian books in Montenegro. He founded the famous Vuković printing house in Venice. His printing house was opera ...

and inherited by his son Vićenco Vuković. In 1566 (in period of only three and a half months) he printed the

Book of hours A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

("Casoslov") 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 Matrix (: matrices or matrixes) or MATRIX may refer to: Science and mathematics * Matrix (mathematics), a rectangular array of numbers, symbols or expressions * Matrix (logic), part of a formula in prenex normal form * Matrix (biology), the m ...

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.Съюз на българските журналисти, Ще припомним първия ни печатар Яков Крайков, 03.04.2014, Елица Иванова, Кюстендил
Симпозиум и изложба за първия български печатар и граматик ще припомнят делото му. Център за славяно-византийски проучвания към СУ "Свети Климент Охридски".
/ref> 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 (Bartolomeo Ginammi, Marco Ginammi, Giovanni Antonio Rampazetto, Francesco Rampazetto, Georgio Rampazetto, Camillo Zanetti) and its printing press was operational for additional 70 years.

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