Louis died in 1670, and Daniel in 1680. Besides Bonaventure,
another son of Matthieu, Isaac, born in 1593, established a printing
press at Leiden, where he carried on business from 1616 to 1625; but
none of his editions attained much fame. The last representatives of the
Elzevir printers were Peter, grandson of Joost, who from 1667 to 1675
was a bookseller at Utrecht, and printed seven or eight volumes of
little consequence; and Abraham, son of the first Abraham, who from 1681
to 1712 was university printer at Leiden.
Some of the Elzevir editions bear no other typographical mark than
simply the words _Apud Elzeverios_, or _Ex officina Elseveriana_, under
the _rubrique_ of the town. But the majority bear one of their special
devices, four of which are recognized as in common use. Louis Elzevir,
the founder of the family, usually adopted the arms of the United
Provinces, an eagle on a cippus holding in its claws a sheaf of seven
arrows, with the motto _Concordia res parvae crescunt_. About 1620 the
Leiden Elzevirs adopted a new device, known as "the solitary," and
consisting of an elm tree, a fruitful vine and a man alone, with a motto
_Non solus_. They also used another device, a palm tree with the motto,
_Assurgo pressa_. The Elzevirs of Amsterdam used for their principal
device a figure of Minerva with owl, shield and olive tree, and the
motto, _Ne extra oleas_. The earliest productions of the Elzevir press
are marked with an angel bearing a book and a scythe, and various other
devices occur at different times. When the Elzevirs did not wish to put
their name to their works they generally marked them with a sphere, but
of course the mere fact that a work printed in the 17th century bears
this mark is no proof that it is theirs. The total number of works of
all kinds which came from the presses of the Elzevirs is given by
Willems as 1608; there were also many forgeries.
See "Notice de la collection d'auteurs latins, français, et italiens,
imprimée de format petit en 12, par les Elsévier," in Brunet's _Manuel
du libraire_ (Paris, 1820); A. de Reume, _Recherches historiques,
généalogiques, et bibliographiques sur les Elsévier_ (Brussels, 1847);
Paul Dupont, _Histoire de l'imprimerie_, in two vols. (Paris, 1854);
Pieters, _Annales de l'imprimerie Elsévirienne_ (2nd ed., Ghent,
1858); Walther, _Les Elséviriennes de la bibliothèque impériale de
St-Pétersbourg_ (St Petersburg, 1864); Alphonse Willems, _Les
Elzévier_ (Brussels, 1880), with a history of the Elzevir family and
their printing establishments, a chronological list and detailed
description of all works printed by them, their various typographical
marks, and a plate illustrating the types used by them; Kelchner,
_Catalogus librorum officinae Elsevirianae_ (Paris, 1880); Frick, _Die
Elzevirschen Republiken_ (Halle, 1892); Berghman, _Études sur la
bibliographie Elzévirienne_ (Stockholm, 1885), and _Nouvelles études,
&c._ (_ib._ 1897).
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