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The Plantin Press at
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 ...
was one of the focal centers of the fine printed book in the 16th century.


History

Christophe Plantin Christophe Plantin (; – 1 July 1589) was a French Renaissance humanist and book Printer (publisher), printer and publisher who resided and worked in Antwerp. He established in Antwerp one of the most prominent publishing houses of his time, th ...
(c. 1520–1589) of
Touraine Touraine (; ) is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, :Loir-et-Cher, Indre and Vien ...
was trained as a bookbinder. He fled from Paris where at least one printer had recently been burned at the stake for
heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...
, and went to Antwerp. There 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, also John Moerentorf or Joannes Moretus (2 May 1543 – 22 September 1610), was a Flemish printer who was an apprentice for Christophe Plantin, married his daughter, and later inherited the printing business on his father-in- ...
(Moerentorf), who read Latin and Greek and could write correspondence in several modern languages. He 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 The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...
, for the printing of liturgical formularies, including in Spain. 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. It often appeared in a
vignette Vignette may refer to: * Vignette (entertainment), a sketch in a sketch comedy * Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books (originally in the form of leaves and vines) to separate sections or chapters * Vignette (literature), short, i ...
on the title page of books from the press, depicting 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.


Today

The building that housed the press is now the Plantin-Moretus Museum. It maintains a collection of printing tools and around 25,000 volumes related to the press. In 2001, the archives of Plantin Press were added to
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
's
Memory of the World Register UNESCO's Memory of the World (MoW) Programme is an international initiative to safeguard the documentary heritage of humanity against collective amnesia, neglect, decay over time and climatic conditions, as well as deliberate destruction. It ca ...
.


Works

Like the printer
Robert Estienne Robert I Estienne (; 15037 September 1559), known as ''Robertus Stephanus'' in Latin and sometimes referred to as ''Robert Stephens'', was a 16th-century printer in Paris. He was the proprietor of the Estienne print shop after the death of his f ...
, 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 Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish painting, Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged comp ...
who did drawings for illustrations and also some portraits of the Plantin-Moretus family. Plantin was also a member of the Family of Love. He was a close friend of cartographer Abraham Ortel (a.k.a.
Ortelius Abraham Ortelius (; also Ortels, Orthellius, Wortels; 4 or 14 April 152728 June 1598) was a cartographer, geographer, and cosmographer from Antwerp in the Spanish Netherlands. He is recognized as the creator of the first modern atlas, the ('' ...
), genre painter Brueghel the Elder, and calligraphy master Clement Perret. 300px, Museum Library 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 The Plantin Polyglot (also called the ''Antwerp Polyglot'', the ''Biblia Regia'' or "King's Bible") is a polyglot Bible, printed under the title ''Biblia Polyglotta'' by Christopher Plantin in Antwerp (Belgium) between 1568 and 1573. History Pl ...
, a
Polyglot Bible A polyglot is a book that contains side-by-side versions of the same text in several different languages. Some editions of the Bible or its parts are polyglots, in which the Hebrew and Greek originals are exhibited along with historical transla ...
, 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 (; also Ortels, Orthellius, Wortels; 4 or 14 April 152728 June 1598) was a cartographer, geographer, and cosmographer from Antwerp in the Spanish Netherlands. He is recognized as the creator of the list of atlases, first modern ...
, ''Theatrum orbis terrarum'' 1584 and 1598 (first published 1570)
''Theatrum orbis terrarum''
* Henricus Sedulius, ''Apologeticus adversus Alcoranum Franciscanorum pro libro Conformitatum'' (Antwerp, 1607). An apology of the Franciscan order in response to Erasmus Alberus's ''Alcoranus Franciscanorum''.


References


External links


World Heritage profileMuseum PlantinThe Golden Compasses Leon Voet
;Works from the Museum Plantin-Moretus from the
World Digital Library The World Digital Library (WDL) is an international digital library operated by UNESCO and the United States Library of Congress. The WDL has stated that its mission is to promote international and intercultural understanding, expand the volume ...

General Business Ledger of the Plantin Press, 1563–67General Ledger, 1590–1599General Ledger, Signed D., 1590–1614General Ledger, 1600–1608
{{Authority control 16th century in Antwerp Publishing companies established in the 16th century Publishing companies of Belgium Companies based in Antwerp