Christophe Plantin ( nl, Christoffel Plantijn; – 1 July 1589) was a French
Renaissance humanist
Renaissance humanism was a revival in the study of classical antiquity, at first in Italy and then spreading across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. During the period, the term ''humanist'' ( it, umanista) referred to teache ...
and book
printer and publisher who resided and worked in
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, .
Life
![A Plantin Press title page with compass vignette](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/A_Plantin_Press_title_page_with_compass_vignette.jpg)
Plantin was born in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, probably in
Saint-Avertin
Saint-Avertin () is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.
History
In the Gallo-Roman times, a hamlet called Vinciacum was set up near quarries where stones required for the building of Caesarodonum (Tours) were extracted. ...
, near the city of
Tours
Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...
,
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 Vie ...
. He was not born to a wealthy family, and his mother died when Plantin was still quite young.
As a youth he apprenticed as a bookbinder in
Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,[Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...]
, and also married there. In 1545, he and his wife, Joanna Rivière, set up shop in Paris, but after three years they chose to relocate to the booming commercial center of
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, , where Plantin became a free citizen and a member of the
Guild of St Luke
The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was identi ...
, the guild responsible for painters, sculptors, engravers and printers. The quality of his work as a bookbinder brought him into contact with nobility and wealth. By 1549, he headed one of the most well-respected publishing houses in Europe.
He was responsible for printing a wide range of titles, from
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
to religious
hymnals
A hymnal or hymnary is a collection of hymns, usually in the form of a book, called a hymnbook (or hymn book). Hymnals are used in congregational singing. A hymnal may contain only hymn texts (normal for most hymnals for most centuries of Chri ...
.
While delivering a prestigious commission he was mistakenly attacked, receiving an arm wound that prevented him from labouring as a bookbinder and led him to concentrate on
typography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), and ...
and printing.
By 1555, he had his own print shop and was an accomplished printer. The first book he is known to have printed was ''La Institutione di una fanciulla nata nobilmente,'' by Giovanni Michele Bruto, with a French translation. This was soon followed by many other works in French and Latin, which in point of execution rivalled the best printing of his time. The art of
engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...
then flourished in the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, and Dutch engravers illustrated many of his editions. Antwerp was a dangerous place for publishers around this time. In 1561, the Spanish governor ordered a raid on Plantin's workshop for possibly housing heretical works and being a Protestant sympathizer.
To avoid being jailed, Plantin quickly sold all of his works so nothing would be found in his possession. As soon as things calmed down around him, he bought them all back.
In 1562, while Plantin was absent in Paris, his workmen printed a
heretical
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
pamphlet, which resulted in his presses and goods being seized and sold. It seems, however, that he eventually recovered much of the value that was taken from him. With the help of four Antwerp merchants he was able to re-establish and expand his printing business significantly. Among these friends were two grand-
nephew
In the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a niece or nephew is a child of the subject's sibling or sibling-in-law. The converse relationship, the relationship from the niece or nephew's perspective, is that of an ...
s of
Daniel Bomberg
Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...
, who furnished him with the fine Hebrew
typeface
A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font.
There are list of type ...
s of that renowned
Venetian printer.
This co-venture lasted only until 1567 however it enabled Plantin to acquire a house in the ''Hoogstraat'' which he named "De Gulden Passer" (The Golden Compasses). This gesture mirrors the commercial success of publishing
emblem book
An emblem book is a book collecting emblems (allegorical illustrations) with accompanying explanatory text, typically morals or poems. This category of books was popular in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Emblem books are collections ...
s, which present collections of images paired with short, often cryptic, text explanations. It is also at this time that Plantin adopted a printer's mark which would appear in various forms on the title pages of all
Plantin Press
The Plantin Press at Antwerp was one of the focal centers of the fine printed book in the 16th century.
History
Christophe Plantin (c. 1520–1589) of Touraine was trained as a bookbinder. He fled from Paris where at least one printer had rece ...
books. The motto ''Labore et Constantia'' ("By Labor and Constancy") surrounds the symbol of a pair of compasses held by a hand extending from a bank of clouds and inscribing a circle. The center point of the compasses indicates constancy, the moving point which renders the circle is the labor.
Plantin holds this instrument in portraits of him, such as the one commissioned from the Flemish painter
Peter Paul Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...
.
In November 1576, the Spaniards
plundered and burned Antwerp — essentially ending its supremacy as the commercial center and richest city of Europe — and Plantin had to pay an exorbitant ransom to protect his printing works. He established a branch of his firm in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. In 1583, the states of
Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
sought a typographer for the newly erected university at
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...
. Plantin moved there after leaving his much reduced business in Antwerp to his sons-in-law
John Moerentorf and
Frans van Ravelingen
Frans van Ravelingen Latinized Franciscus Raphelengius (February 27, 1539 – July 20, 1597), was a Flemish-born scholar, printer and publisher, working in Antwerp and later in Leiden. During the last decade of his life he was professor of He ...
(Raphelengius). Plantin left his Leiden office to Raphelengius and returned to Antwerp after it became more settled, subsequent to its conquest by the prince of
Parma
Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...
in 1585. Plantin laboured in Antwerp until his death.
Printing work
![Plantin (after Goltzius)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Plantin_%28after_Goltzius%29.png)
Plantin was a prolific printer and prosperous entrepreneur, publishing more than 40 editions of emblem books. His most important work is considered to be the ''Biblia Regia'' (King's Bible), also known as the
Plantin Polyglot
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.
Plantin was ...
. Facing increasing pressure and turmoil in the Netherlands, Plantin needed to find a patron that would not fall victim to claims of heresy or being a Protestant sympathizer.
In spite of clerical opposition, Plantin was encouraged by King
Philip II of Spain
Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...
, who sent him the learned
Benito Arias Montano
Benito Arias Montano (or Benedictus Arias Montanus; 1527–1598) was a Spanish orientalist and polymath that was active mostly in Spain. He was also editor of the '' Antwerp Polyglot''. He reached the high rank of Royal Chaplain to King Philip II ...
to lead the editorship. The Polyglot Bible has parallel texts in Latin, Greek,
Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
,
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
, and Hebrew.
This venture for Plantin was very expensive, requiring him to mortgage his own business to pay for the production of this bible, in the hope that there would be a worthwhile payoff in the end.
It took thirteen presses and fifty-three men to complete the task.
Characters in each of the printed languages were required, with French type designer
Claude Garamond
Claude Garamont (–1561), known commonly as Claude Garamond, was a French type designer, publisher and punch-cutter based in Paris. Garamond worked as an engraver of punches, the masters used to stamp matrices, the moulds used to cast metal ty ...
providing the steel punches. With Montano's zealous help, the work was finished in four years (1568 - 1572).
There were eight volumes in folio format, meaning only two pages could be printed at one time.
This work earned Plantin little profit, but resulted in Philip's granting him the privilege of printing all Roman Catholic
liturgical book
A liturgical book, or service book, is a book published by the authority of a church body that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official religious services.
Christianity Roman Rite
In the Roman Rite of the Catholic ...
s (
missal
A missal is a liturgical book containing instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the liturgical year. Versions differ across liturgical tradition, period, and purpose, with some missals intended to enable a pries ...
s,
breviaries
A breviary (Latin: ''breviarium'') is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times.
Historically, different breviaries were used in the various parts of Christendom, such as ...
, etc.) for the states ruled by Philip, the title "Architypographus Regii," which he dutifully added to the title pages of Plantin Press books, and the unwanted duty of ''prototypo-graphus regius,'' obligating him to inspect and verify the skill and dogmatic adherence of other printers.
Besides the
Plantin Polyglot
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.
Plantin was ...
, Plantin published many other works of note, such as the "Dictionarium Tetraglotton" of 1562, which was a dictionary in Greek, Latin, French and Flemish, editions of
St. Augustine and
St. Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is com ...
, the
botanical
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
works of
Dodonaeus,
Clusius and
Lobelius
Mathias de l'Obel, Mathias de Lobel or Matthaeus Lobelius (1538 – 3 March 1616) was a Flemish people, Flemish physician and plant enthusiast who was born in Lille, Flanders, in what is now Hauts-de-France, France, and died at Highgate, Lon ...
, and the description of the Netherlands by
Guicciardini. His editions of the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
in
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
,
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
and
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
, his ''Corpus juris,'' Latin and Greek classics, and many other works are renowned for their beautiful execution and accuracy. A skillful businessman, by 1575 his printing firm reckoned more than 20 presses and 73 workmen, plus various specialists who did job-work out of their homes. The vast collection of handwritten ledgers and letters of the Officina Plantiniana, as it was known, can be examined online following digitization by the Museum Plantin-Moretus and hosting by World Digital Library.
Though outwardly a faithful member of the Catholic Church, he appears to have used his resources to support several sects of
heretic
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
s, sometimes known as the
Family of Love or Familists. It is now proven that many of their books, published without naming the printer, came from Plantin Press.
Legacy
After Plantin's death, his firm was taken over by his son-in-law,
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-law ...
who ran his shop in Antwerp, and Francis van Ravelinghen who took over his shop in
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...
.
Towards the end of the 17th century, the business began to decline. Plantin's works however, were meticulously preserved.
Today, the building that housed the firm is called the
Plantin-Moretus Museum
The Plantin-Moretus Museum ( nl, Plantin-Moretusmuseum) is a printing museum in Antwerp, Belgium which focuses on the work of the 16th-century printers Christophe Plantin and Jan Moretus. It is located in their former residence and printing esta ...
. Moretus and his descendants continued to print many works of note ''in officina Plantiniana'', but the firm began to decline in the second half of the 17th century. It remained, however, in the possession of the Moretus family, which left everything in the office untouched, and when the city of Antwerp acquired (for 1.2 million francs) the old buildings with all their contents, the authorities created, with little trouble, the Musee Plantin, which opened on 19 August 1877.
In 1968, the
Christophe Plantin Prize
The Christophe Plantin Prize ('' French: Prix Christoffel Plantin''), is a Belgian civilian prize, intended to reward a Belgian citizen who resides abroad, who has made significant contributions to cultural, artistic or scientific activities.
Nam ...
was created in his memory, given to a Belgian
civilian
Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not "combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant, b ...
who resides
abroad
''Abroad'' ( ar, الغربة) is a short film directed by Lebanese filmmaker Zayn Alexander. The film made its world premiere at the 33rd Santa Barbara International Film Festival on February 2, 2018. The Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebane ...
, who has made significant contributions to
cultural
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the ...
,
artistic
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wh ...
or
scientific
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
activities.
Family tree
The Plantin-Moretus family tree, including the heads of ''Officiana Plantiniana'', later known as
Plantin Press
The Plantin Press at Antwerp was one of the focal centers of the fine printed book in the 16th century.
History
Christophe Plantin (c. 1520–1589) of Touraine was trained as a bookbinder. He fled from Paris where at least one printer had rece ...
.
Christophe Plantin (1520–1589) married Joanna Riviere; they had five daughters and a son. Christophe's daughters were described as learned in reading and writing, especially Greek and Latin. One teenage daughter is said to have helped proofread the ''Plantin Polygot''.
*Margaretha Plantin married
Franciscus Raphelengius
Frans van Ravelingen Latinized Franciscus Raphelengius (February 27, 1539 – July 20, 1597), was a Flemish-born scholar, printer and publisher, working in Antwerp and later in Leiden. During the last decade of his life he was professor of Heb ...
, who led 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 Academic Publishers (known as E. J. Brill, Koninklijke Brill, Brill ()) is a Dutch international academic publisher founded in 1683 in Leiden, Netherlands. With offices in Leiden, Boston, Paderborn and Singapore, Brill today publishes 27 ...
.
*Magdalen Plantin, who was reported to have aided her father in proofreading the ''Biblia Regia'' in five different languages. It is important to note that “it was said that she could correct the script perfectly accurately, but without understanding a word of it.” Magdalen would later marry her father's Paris agent.
*
Martina Plantin
Martina Plantin (1550–1616) was involved in her father's printing business from five years of age, and ran the family lace shop from the age of 17. After her father and husband had died, she was the head of the Plantin Press, Plantin-Moretus pr ...
, who with her sister, Catherine, helped run the family's silk shop by the age of seventeen. Martina and Catherine were efficient and well known in their silk handlings.
Later, Martina married
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-law ...
(Johann Moerentorf) (1543–1610) in 1570; they had 10 children. After her husband's death, Martina was the head of the firm until her sons took over running the business.
**
Balthasar I Moretus
Balthasar Moretus or Balthasar I Moretus (23 July 1574 – 6 July 1641) was a Flemish printer and head of the Officina Plantiniana, the printing company established by his grandfather Christophe Plantin in Antwerp in 1555. He was the son of Marti ...
(1574–1641)
**Jan II Moretus (1576–1618) married Maria De Sweert; they had 6 children
***Balthasar 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 Borrekens, who led the office after Franciscus' 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 under their son,
Christophe Beys
Christophe Beys (1575–1647) was a printer in the Kingdom of France and the Spanish Netherlands. He was a grandson of Christophe Plantin.
Life
Beys was born in Paris on 18 June 1575, the son of Gilles Beys and Magdalena Plantin.Dirk Martens
Dirk Martens ( la, Theodoricus Martinus) (1446 or 1447 – 28 May 1534) was a printer and editor in the County of Flanders. He published over fifty books by Erasmus and the very first edition of Thomas More's ''Utopia''. He was the first to print ...
*
Plantin (typeface)
Plantin is an old-style serif typeface. It was created in 1913 by the British Monotype Corporation for their hot metal typesetting system and is named after the sixteenth-century printer Christophe Plantin. It is loosely based on a Gros Cicero ...
*
Lodewijk Elzevir
Lodewijk Elzevir (c. 1540, Leuven – 4 February 1617, Leiden), originally ''Lodewijk or Louis Elsevier or Elzevier'', was a printer, born in the city of Leuven (today in Belgium, then part of the Habsburg Netherlands or Spanish Netherlands). He wa ...
Notes
References
*De Backer, A., and Ruelens, C., ''Annales plantiniennes depuis la fondation de l'imprimerie plantinienne'' (Brussels, 1866).
*Clair, Colin, ''Christopher Plantin'' (London, Cassell, 1960)
*Degeorge, Léon, ''La Maison Plantin à Anvers'', 2nd ed. (Brussels, 1878).
*Rooses, Max, ''Christophe Plantin, imprimeur anversois'' (Antwerp, 1882).
*Voet, L., and Voet-Grisolle, J., ''The Plantin Press (1555-1589)'' (6 vols., Amsterdam 1980-1983).
* Voet, Leon, ''The Golden Compasses : a history and evaluation of the printing and publishing activities of the Officina Plantiniana at Antwerp,'' in two volumes. Vol. 1, Christophe Plantin and the Moretuses. (Amsterdam and London, 1969).
*
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plantin, Christopher
16th-century printers
1520s births
1589 deaths
Book publishers (people) of the Habsburg Netherlands
French male writers
French Renaissance humanists