For France, after the foregoing brief references to the undertakings of the earliest printers, some special mention is fairly due to the famous family of the Estiennes or Stephani, the members of which took rank not only with the great publishers but with the distinguished scholars of their time, while they are also to be commemorated as having, in troublous times, shown themselves to be strong-hearted men, possessing the courage of their convictions. No other family, excepting possibly that of the Elzevirs, was for so many generations engaged in the business of printing and publishing, while the work of the Stephani was carried on under exceptional difficulties, commercial, literary, theological, and political. The editorial responsibility in preparing for the press the scholarly publications of later publishers was for the most part confided to professors or other scholarly associates, but it was the case that the books issued by the Stephani were, with a few exceptions, edited and supervised by the publishers themselves, nearly all the members of the family being men of scholarly training, while one or two took rank with the most learned men of their generation. No publisher, except Aldus of Venice, has ever contributed to the issues of his press as much original scholarly work as is to be found in the books bearing the imprint of Robert Stephanus. The founder of the family, or at least the man whose name first becomes known in connection with the production of books, was Henry, known as Henry the elder, in order to be distinguished from his grandson. His name first appears as a printer in the year 1496, in conjunction with that of a German named Wolffgang Hopyll. The book bearing this double imprint was an introduction to the _Ethics_ of Aristotle, written by a certain Jacobus Faber. The first book issued by Estienne bearing his sole imprint, and which may therefore be considered as the earliest publication of a House whose business was to continue for nearly a century and a half, was an edition of the _Ethics_ of Aristotle, Latinised by Aretinus, which bears date 1504. According to Panzer, Henry Estienne the first published in all about one hundred separate works, which, with hardly an exception, were issued in Latin. He associated with the editorial work of his printing-office three learned doctors, Charles Boville, Jacques Le Fèvre d’Estaples, and Josse Clictou. Le Fèvre is known as the instructor of the reformers Calvin and Farrel. His so-called heretical opinions rendered him obnoxious to the Doctors of the Sorbonne, and if it had not been for the special interference of Francis I., by whom his learning and his merits were held in high esteem, his life would more than once have been in jeopardy. His theological opponents succeeded, however, in procuring his expulsion from the University, and, driven from Paris, he was compelled to seek the protection of the Queen of Navarre.