Plantin Press
Encyclopedia
The Plantin Press at Antwerp was one of the focal centers of the fine printed book in the 16th century.
Christophe Plantin
Christophe Plantin
Christophe Plantin was an influential Renaissance humanist and book printer and publisher.-Life:...

 (ca 1520 - 1589) of Touraine
Touraine
The Touraine is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, the Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, :Loir-et-Cher and Indre.-Geography:...

, trained as a bookbinder, fled from Paris, where at least one printer had recently been burned at the stake for heresy
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...

, for Antwerp, where he bound books, became a citizen, and by 1555 began to print books, at first for distribution by other publishers. The city was already an established center of printing woodcuts, engravings and books. Plantin took on an assistant, Jan Moretus
Jan Moretus
Jan Moretus, also Johann Moerentorf or Joannes Moretus, was a Flemish printer. Moretus married the second daughter of the famous Antwerp publisher Christoffel Plantijn in 1570. He had been working for Plantijn since 1557, and after his death, Jan Moretus would became the owner of his printing...

 (Moerentorf), who read Latin and Greek, could write correspondence in several modern languages, became Plantin's business manager, son-in-law and eventually his successor in the Plantin printing press. For over two hundred years the Plantin press had a monopoly, granted by the papacy, for the printing of liturgical formularies, yet in 1562, suspected of heresy, Plantin fled to France for two years. At an auction of his press, friends bought up his equipment on his behalf.

After 1564, when Plantin set up again in a new shop at the sign of De Gulden Passer ("The Golden Compasses") the printers mark of the House of Plantin, which often appeared in a vignette
Vignette (graphic design)
Vignettes, in graphic design, are decorative designs usually in books, used both to separate sections or chapters and to decorate borders.In Descriptive, or Analytical Bibliography for the hand-press period a vignette refers to an engraved design printed using a copper-plate press, on a page that...

 on the title page of books from the press, depicts a compass, angels, and the motto Labore et Constancia ("By Labor and Constancy") which epitomizes the life of the publisher. From about 1570 Plantin employed the engravers Jan Wierix and his brother Hieronymus.

Plantin's successors continued the print at Antwerp until 1867. His Antwerp building is now a large museum holding examples of the tools of his trade and more than 30,000 volumes. The house is now the Plantin-Moretus Museum
Plantin-Moretus Museum
The Plantin-Moretus Museum is a museum in Antwerp, Belgium honouring the famous printers Christoffel Plantijn and Jan Moretus. It is located in their former residence and printing establishment, Plantin Press, at the Friday Market.- History :...

, which in 2005 was put by UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 on the World Heritage list as the oldest museum.

Like the printer Robert Estienne
Robert Estienne
Robert I Estienne , known as Robertus Stephanus in Latin and also referred to as Robert Stephens by 18th and 19th-century English writers, was a 16th century printer and classical scholar in Paris...

 Plantin exposed galley proofs of his works in front of his establishment and promised a reward to anyone who could find faults. Later Plantins were friends of the painter Peter Paul Rubens who did drawings for illustrations and also some portraits of the Plantin-Moretus family. Plantin was also a member of the Family of Love
Familist
The Family of Love or Familists was a mystic religious sect known as the Familia Caritatis , founded by Henry Nicholis, also known as Niclaes....

. He was a close friend of cartographer Abraham Ortel (aka Ortelius), genre painter Brueghel the Elder, and calligraphy master Clement Perret.

Some outstanding books published by the Plantin Press, by year:
  • La Institutione di una Fanciulla Nata Nobilmente. L'Institution d'une Jeune Fille de Noble Maison. Traduuite de langue Tuscan en François. Plantin's first printed book, a Tuscan manual on the education of young girls of good family.
  • (an album of plates commemorating the funeral of the Emperor Charles V, 1559)
  • Dictionarium Tetraglotton 1562. a dictionary in Greek, Latin, French and Flemish
  • The Biblia Polyglotta
    Biblia Polyglotta
    The Plantin Polyglot is a polyglot Bible, printed under the title Biblia Polyglotta by Christopher Plantin in Antwerp between 1568 and 1573....

    , a Polyglot Bible, 1572. Plantin's most famous project, in preparation since 1567, a bible in eight folio volumes, in Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Syriac and Aramaic.
  • Abraham Ortelius
    Abraham Ortelius
    thumb|250px|Abraham Ortelius by [[Peter Paul Rubens]]Abraham Ortelius thumb|250px|Abraham Ortelius by [[Peter Paul Rubens]]Abraham Ortelius (Abraham Ortels) thumb|250px|Abraham Ortelius by [[Peter Paul Rubens]]Abraham Ortelius (Abraham Ortels) (April 14, 1527 – June 28,exile in England to take...

    , Theatrum orbis terrarum 1584 and 1598 (first published 1570)

Family tree

Plantin-Moretus family tree (successive heads of the main Plantin-Moretus firm in bold).

Christophe Plantin
Christophe Plantin
Christophe Plantin was an influential Renaissance humanist and book printer and publisher.-Life:...

(1520-1589) married Joanna Riviere; they had five daughters and a son
  • Margaretha Plantin married Franciscus Raphelengius
    Franciscus Raphelengius
    Frans van Ravelingen, latinized to Franciscus Raphelengius, , was a Flemish-born Dutch scholar, printer and bookseller, based in Leiden. He held the chair in Hebrew at Leiden from 1587, and also had knowledge of Arabic and Persian. He wrote an Arabic-Latin lexicon, which was published posthumously...

    , who lead the Leiden branch of the house. They stayed printers in Leiden for two more generations of Van Ravelinge, until 1619. A great-granddaughter of the last Van Ravelinge printer married in 1685 Jordaen Luchtmans, founder of what would become later the still existing Brill Publishers
    Brill Publishers
    Brill is an international academic publisher founded in 1683 in Leiden, the Netherlands. With offices in Leiden and Boston, Brill today publishes more than 134 journals and around 600 new books and reference works each year...

  • Martina Plantijn, married Jan Moretus
    Jan Moretus
    Jan Moretus, also Johann Moerentorf or Joannes Moretus, was a Flemish printer. Moretus married the second daughter of the famous Antwerp publisher Christoffel Plantijn in 1570. He had been working for Plantijn since 1557, and after his death, Jan Moretus would became the owner of his printing...

    (Johann Moerentorf) (1543-1610) in 1570; they had 10 children
    • Balthasar I Moretus
      Balthasar I Moretus
      Balthasar Moretus , usually called Balthasar I Moretus to distinguish him from later members of the family with the same name, was the head of the Officina Plantiniana, the printing company established by his grandfather Christophe Plantin in Antwerp in 1555.Balthasar Moretus was paralysed on his...

      (1574-1641)
    • Jan II Moretus (1576-1618) married Maria De Sweert; they had 6 children
      • Balthazar II Moretus (1615-1674) married Anna Goos; they had 12 children
        • Balthazar III Moretus (1646-1696) married Anna Maria de Neuf; they had 9 children
          • Balthazar IV Moretus (1679-1730) married Isabella Jacoba De Mont (or De Brialmont); they had 8 children
          • Joannes Jacobus Moretus (1690-1757) married Theresia Mechtildis Schilder; they had 9 children
            • Franciscus Joannes Moretus (1717-1768) married Maria Theresia Josepha Borrekens, who led the office after his death until her death in 1797. They had 13 children
              • Jacobus Paulus Josephus Moretus (1756-1808)
              • Ludovicus Franciscus Xaverius Moretus (1758-1820)
              • Josephus Hyacinthus Moretus (1762-1810) married Maria Henrica Coleta Wellens; they had 8 children
                • Albertus Franciscus Hyacinthus Fredericus Moretus (1795-1865)
                • Eduardus Josephus Hyacinthus Moretus (1804-1880). He sold the office to the city of Antwerp in 1876, after having printed the last book in 1866.
  • Magdalena Plantin married Gilles Beys, who then ran the French branch of the Plantin office. This continued for one more generation.

External links

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