Printers' Marks: A Chapter in the History of TypographyRoberts, W. (William)
History
Printers' Marks: A Chapter in the History of Typography
Roberts, W. (William)
Printers' marks
The Estienne or Etienne family is probably the most important and
interesting of the sixteenth century printers of Paris. Silvestre
reproduces twenty Marks which one or other of the Estiennes employed,
and a description of these might very well form a distinct chapter. But
a condensed review of the family as a whole must suffice. Henry, the
first of the name and chief of the family, was born at Paris about 1470;
he started in 1502 a printing and bookselling business in the Rue du
Clos-Bruneau, near the _Ecoles de Droit_; he adopted the device, “Plus
olei quam vini”; and twenty-eight works are catalogued as having been
printed by him. He died in 1521, leaving a widow and three
children--François, Robert, and Charles. François I. continued the
profession in company with Simon De Colines, who had been associated
with his father, and who married the widow of Henry: his Mark is given
as an initial to this chapter. Robert I., the second son of Henry, was
born in 1503, and is probably more generally known as a Greek, Latin,
and Hebrew scholar than as a printer. For several years he, like his
brother, was associated with De Colines; he married Pétronille, daughter
of Badius “Ascensius,” and was a Protestant; in 1526 he established a
printing-press in the Rue St. Jean-de-Beauvois at the sign of the Olive.
His editions of the Greek and Latin classics were enriched with useful
notes, and promises of reward were offered to those who pointed out
mistakes. He used the types of his father and De Colines until about
1532, when he obtained a more elegant fount with which he printed his
beautiful Latin Bible. In 1552 he retired to Geneva, when he printed,
with his brother-in-law, the New Testament in French. He established
here another printing-press, and issued a number of good books, which
usually carried the motto: “Oliva Roberti Stephani.” His Marks are at
least ten in number, of which seven are variations of the Olive device,
and three (in as many sizes) of the serpent on a rod intertwined with a
branch of a climbing plant. With the exception of François the other
members of the family used the Olive mark, sometimes however altering
the motto, and adding in some instances an overhead decoration of a hand
issuing from the clouds and holding a sickle or reaping hook. He died in
1559. The third son of the founder, Charles, after receiving his
diplomas as a doctor of medicine, travelled in Germany and Italy,
returning to Paris in 1553, and started in business as a printer. Among
the ninety-two works which he printed, special mention may be made of
the “Dictionarium historicum ac poeticum, omnia gentium, hominum,
locorum,” etc., Paris, 1553, reprinted at Geneva in 1556, at Oxford in
1671, and London, 1686. He possessed the opposite attributes of being
the best printer and of having the worst temper of the family, and he
alienated himself from all his friends and relations; he was confined in
the Chatelet in Paris, and died there after two years in 1564. Henry
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account