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Lodewijk Elzevir (c. 1540 – 4 February 1617), originally ''Lodewijk or Louis Elsevier or Elzevier'', was a printer, born in the city of

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

(today in Belgium, then part of the Habsburg Netherlands or

Spanish Netherlands The Spanish Netherlands (; ; ; ) (historically in Spanish: , the name "Flanders" was used as a '' pars pro toto'') was the Habsburg Netherlands ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs from 1556 to 1714. They were a collection of States of t ...

). He was the founder of the

House of Elzevir Elzevir is the name of a family of Dutch booksellers, publishers, and printers of the 17th and early 18th centuries. The duodecimo series of "Elzevirs" became very famous and very desirable among bibliophiles, who sought to obtain the tallest ...

, which printed works such as "Two New Sciences", written by

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...

, at a time when his work was suppressed for religious reasons. Although the House of Elzevir ceased publishing in 1712, the modern Dutch

Elsevier Elsevier ( ) is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell (journal), Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, ...

company was founded in 1880 and took its name from the historic Dutch publishing house.

Biography

Elzevir, son of Hans Helschevier, was born in

and started his career as a bookbinder at the printing shop of Christoffel Plantijn in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

. In 1563, he married Maijke de Verdeijen Verbois in Antwerp, where his first two sons were born. He moved to

Wesel Wesel () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel (district), Wesel district. Geography Wesel is situated at the confluence of the Lippe River and the Rhine. Division of the city Suburbs of Wesel i ...

before 1570, to

Douai Douai ( , , ; ; ; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord (French department), Nord département in northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe (rive ...

(before 1575), and settled in

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

before 1580. He produced his first book at Leiden in 1583, and the business continued until 1791 under his descendants. The printing house was instrumental in the publication of important work in

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

. Atypical of other printers of the era, Elzevir books focused on sturdiness rather than elegance and legibility over ornate characters. His books were usually smaller with narrow margins. Christopher van Dyck was one of the type designers. Most of the work was published in Latin. His oldest son, Matthijs, his sixth son, Bonaventure Elzevir, and his grandsons,

Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...

and Isaac Elzevir, continued and expanded the business. The Lodowijk Elzevir who famously met Galileo in Arcetri in 1636 was the grandson of this Lodwijk (1604–1670).

References

External links

Pedigree of the Elsevier/Elzevier family, ±1500-presentGenealogy at geneanet.org

Literature

Literature in archives and libraries and online o
archive.org
* Hartman de Custer
Handschriftenverzameling Rotterdam 13, Collectie 33-01
(Stadsarchief Rotterdam, 1760, 346p) * Jean-Félicissime Adry
Notice sur les imprimeurs de la famille des Elzévirs
(Delance, Paris, 1806, 60p) * Charles Pieters
Genealogie de la famille Elsevier, Annex de: Analyse des matériaux les plus utiles, pour des futures annales de l’imprimerie des Elsevier
(C. Annoot-Braeckman, Gand, 1843, 76p) * W.J.C. Rammelman Elsevier
Uitkomsten van een onderzoek omtrent de Elseviers, meer bepaaldelijk met opzigt tot derzelver genealogie
(N. van der Monde, Utrecht, 1845, 100p) * Auguste Joseph de Reume
Recherches historiques, généalogiques et bibliographiques sur les Elsevier
(Ad. Wahlen et compagnie, Bruxelles, 1847, 124p) * Charles Pieters
Annales de l'Imprimerie Elsevirienne et histoire de la famille des Elsevier et de ses editions
(C. Annoot-Braeckman, Gand, 1851, 468p) * Charles Pieters
Annales de l'Imprimerie des Elsevier ou histoire de leur famille et de leurs éditions. Seconde édition, revue et augmentée
(C. Annoot-Braeckman, Gand, 1858, 575p) * Alphonse Willems
Les Elzevier histoire et annales typographiques
(G.A. van Trigt, Bruxelles, Adolphe Labitte, Paris, Martinus Nijhoff, La Haye, 1880, 865p)
‘‘Bijdrage tot de Geschiedenis der Elseviers’‘
(Oud Holland, Jg. XIV, 1896, 33p) * Alfons Willems
‘‘Lodewijk Elzevier's geboortejaar’‘
(Tijdschrift voor boek- en bibliotheekwezen, Jg. VI, 1908, 3p) * Enschedé, J.W. 1908. "De Elseviers en de beteekenis van hun uitgaven" (Elsevier’s Geïllustreerd Maandschrift, Jg. XVIII)
part 1
an
part 2
Literature in libraries and for sale online: * David W. Davies, The World of the Elseviers 1580-1712, (Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1954, 168p) * S.L. Hartz, The Elseviers and their Contemporaries, (Elsevier, Amsterdam-Brussels, 1955, 107p)
Paul Hoftijzer
e.a. (red.), Boekverkopers van Europa - Het 17de-eeuwse Nederlandse uitgevershuis Elzevier, (Walburg pers, Zutphen, 2000, 352p) Literature in libraries: * A.M. Bosters, Enige genealogische gegevens over het West-Brabantse geslacht Elsevier (A.M. Bosters. Voorburg, 2000, 5p)
C.E.G. ten Houte de Lange
Stockmans, Stokmans, Elsevier Stokmans, Elzevier Stokmans (Megen) (NIGHO, Zeist, 2006, 48p) {{DEFAULTSORT:Elzevir, Lodewijk 1540s births 1617 deaths Dutch printers Flemish printers Businesspeople from Leuven 16th-century printers 17th-century printers 17th-century Dutch businesspeople Businesspeople from Leiden