Richard Breton (1524 - 1571) was a French publisher of illustrated books in collaboration with François Desprez.

Biography

Breton, the son of Guillaume Le Breton, was a publisher and book illustrator and bookbinder at the French court for

Catherine de' Medici Catherine de' Medici ( it, Caterina de' Medici, ; french: Catherine de Médicis, ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Florentine noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King ...

. For his printer's mark he used an allegorical figure of

Charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

holding a

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This de ...

, with a crown, a

sceptre A sceptre is a staff or wand held in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of royal or imperial insignia. Figuratively, it means royal or imperial authority or sovereignty. Antiquity Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia The ''Was'' and other ...

, a

mitre The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in t ...

, and a

hoe Hoe or HOE may refer to: * Hoe (food), a Korean dish of raw fish * Hoe (letter), a Georgian letter * Hoe (tool), a hand tool used in gardening and farming ** Hoe-farming, a term for primitive forms of agriculture * Backhoe, a piece of excavati ...

symbolizing labour. He collaborated with

Philippe Danfrie Philippe Danfrie the elder (about 1532 in Cornouaille in Brittany - 1606 in Paris), was a designer and maker of mathematical instruments in metal and paper, as well as a type-cutter, engraver, minter of coins and medals, publisher and author. M ...

, adopting Danfrie's musical type in his publications. Breton and his partner Francois Desprez bought Danfrie's dies and type in 1559. Breton produced the costume book, , (Paris 1562) with 121 woodcuts, and a dedication to

Henry of Navarre Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch ...

by his colleague François Desprez. The first edition was printed in Civilité type, a special

italic type In typography, italic type is a cursive font based on a stylised form of calligraphic handwriting. Owing to the influence from calligraphy, italics normally slant slightly to the right. Italics are a way to emphasise key points in a printed tex ...

face used for children's books. Two subsequent editions in Breton's lifetime employed

roman type In Latin script typography, roman is one of the three main kinds of historical type, alongside blackletter and italic. Roman type was modelled from a European scribal manuscript style of the 15th century, based on the pairing of inscriptional c ...

. Breton published the pseudo- Rabelaisian , (Paris 1565), which featured 224 fanciful

grotesque Since at least the 18th century (in French and German as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

figures, and was also a collaboration with François Desprez. Four illustrations from the were used on a Scottish Renaissance painted ceiling at

Prestongrange Prestongrange is a place in East Lothian, Scotland, United Kingdom, situated between Musselburgh to the west, and Prestonpans to the east. The place name derives from "Preston", meaning "priest's town", and a grange (or granary) which was worke ...

, in 1581. Nicolas Elphinstone gave

James VI James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

a copy, and another was in the library of

Adam Bothwell Adam Bothwell, Lord of Session (c.1527, Edinburgh – 1593, Edinburgh), was a Scottish clergyman, judge, and politician. He served as Bishop of Orkney (1559), Commendator of Holyrood House (1570), Extraordinary Lord of Session (1563–4), and as ...

Bishop of Orkney The Bishop of Orkney was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Orkney, one of thirteen medieval bishoprics of Scotland. It included both Orkney and Shetland. It was based for almost all of its history at St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall. The b ...

who died in 1593. At a time when the sale of

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

literature was permitted in France, Breton was active in promoting Protestant literature. Richard married Jeanne Warnier, they had a daughters Jeanne and Anne, and a son Thomas. Richard's sister Nicole Breton married René Guillon, a teacher of ancient languages at the University of Paris.

François Desprez

The preface or letter of dedication for Breton's (1562) was signed by 'François De Serpz.' In this text, François claimed to have authored the book, and followed drawings of costumes made by others, including ' Roberval, sea-captain of the King.' Desprez, like Breton, was a Parisian bookseller and publisher. Some illustrations issued by him, including those of the (1567), are of lesser quality than the or the ''.''. The exact roles of Breton and Desprez in the production of their illustrated book collaborations are unclear. Desprez is also known as a designer and maker of embroidery for purses, as a 'Maistre Boursier.' He published a map of

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. Wit ...

, and was recorded working in Paris between 1556 and 1580.M. Jeanneret, ''Les Songes Drolatiques De Pantagruel'', (Paris 2004), pp. 9, 175-6

External links

''Recueil des Habits'' (1564)
digitized from the Bibliothèque Municipale,

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metr ...

, b
Les Bibliothèques Virtuelles Humanistes

''Les Songes'' (1565)
digitized from the Bibliothèque Municipale, Tours.
Copy of the ''Songes'' at auction, Christie's

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Breton, Richard French illustrators Printers from Paris 16th-century French people 1524 births 1571 deaths