Pinnable

The Plantin Press, founded by Christophe Plantin in Antwerp in 1555, was one of the most important European publishing houses of the 16th century. The press was best known for its eight-volume polyglot Bible, the Biblia sacra Hebraice, Chaldaice, Græce, & Latine, printed between 1568 and 1573 under the patronage of the Spanish King Philip II, who made Plantin his chief printer in 1570. One year later the press secured lucrative contracts for missals & breviaries for the Spanish market, but its output was by no means limited to religious works — Plantin was also the leading scientific printer of his time. He published on average one book per week, with a print run of between 1,000 and 1,250 copies; his most productive period was during the years before the Spanish Fury of 1576, when he had sixteen presses, and employed thirty-two printers, twenty compositors, three proofreaders, and various servants.

Christophe & his wife Jeanne had five daughters, and in 1570 the second one, Martine, married her father’s assistant Jan Moretus, who took over the business after his father-in-law died in 1589. From that time onward, the press was managed by subsequent members of the Moretus family until it closed in 1876. Over time, the press came to rely on printing religious books for the Spanish market, and after the Spanish Crown withdrew all privileges still held by foreign printers in 1764, things went rapidly downhill. The imposing buildings in which the press had been located from 1576 today house the Plantin-Moretus Museum, which chronicles over three centuries of family history and entrepreneurship. One of the main attractions is the printing office, which includes the oldest surviving printing presses in the world, and a large collection of original metal type.

Reader Comments