#estiennes

Staff Pick of the Week

I’m a book and printing history nerd from way back, and while the breaking of historic books to display samples disturbs me, I couldn’t help geeking out about this recently-cataloged book from the Jerry Buff donation, The Estiennes, printed in San Francisco for The Book Club of California in 1949 by the Grabhorn Press in an edition of 390 copies. The edition, which includes an introductory note by Robert Grabhorn and an historic bibliographical essay by the noted English author and Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, Mark Pattison (1813-1884), is “illustrated with original leaves from books printed by the three greatest members of that distinguished family.” The examples included here, printed by Henri Estienne in 1510, Robert Estienne in 1544, and Henri II Estienne in 1592, are all outstanding examples of the consistent print quality and typographic presentation achieved by this most important French printing family over nearly a century. Each sample sheet is preceded by a typographic page designed by the Grabhorns that includes the printer’s marks used by each member of the Estienne family, most notably the famous olive tree with falling branches and the Latin motto Noli Altum Sapere (Do Not Become Proud).

I note that in this publication the Grabhorns use a stylized anchor and dolphin for their own printer’s mark, fashioned after the one first used by the legendary Venetian printer/publisher Aldus Manutius (1452-1515), which has become a traditional symbol for quality in print and design. The Grabhorns don’t mention the type they used, but it is clear that it is a version of a Roman font designed by Claude Garamond (1510-1561) whose typefaces were much-used by House Estienne. Garamond also cut Robert Estienne’s famous Greek typefaces, first used in 1544, a sample page of which is shown here. A highly appropriate typographic choice by the Grabhorns.

The Grabhorns also do not mention the paper they used, but the watermarks (also shown here) reveal that it is Canson Vidalon paper, which has its origins in the the 16th-century French paper mill founded by Antoine Vidalon, the products of which would have been well known and probably utilized by the Estiennes. Through marriages, the paper mill became owned by the Montgolfier family. In the late 18th century, the firm’s heirs Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier invented the first hot-air balloon using paper manufactured at their mill. The first flight took place at the mill in 1782. The stylized balloon in the watermarked crest is a memorialized reference to this accomplishment. 

In all, this publication is just a book and printing historian’s delight!

View another post referencing Garamond and the Estiennes.

View other posts relating to the Grabhorns.

Typography Tuesday: Garamond

Garamond typefaces, still popular and in use today, were first designed in the 16th century by French punch-cutter Claude Garamond (ca. 1505–1561). Before Garamond, most typefaces were designed and produced for specific printers and publishers (proprietary type). Garamond, one of the most influential type designers of his day, was among the first to specialize in the design of types and punches for anyone who would buy his typefaces. As a retailer of type to multiple printers, his were the first type designs to get broad circulation.

An apprentice to well-known printer/typographers Simon de Colines and Geoffroy Tory, Garamond’s types were most famously utilized by House Estienne, especially Robert Estienne (1503–1559) and his eldest son Henri II (1528 or 1531–1598). Garamond is known today mainly for his Roman and italic typefaces, which were initially designed in the 1530s, but he came to particular prominence with his Greek typefaces, especially the Grecs du roi designed for the special use of King François I in 1541.

Garamond’s Roman fonts were based on typefaces cut by Francesco Griffo for Aldus Manutius in 1495, and most famously used in the 1496 book De Aetna, a work by poet and cleric Pietro Bembo (another font that is still popular today and usually referred to as Bembo). His Greek fonts, however, are highly cursive, specifically based on the hand of copyist Angelo Vergecio of Crete, and intended to simulate the elegant and fluid Greek manuscripts that were popular among the humanists of Garamond’s day.

The examples shown here are from our copy of Thucydides, Thoukudídou tou Olórou peri tou Peloponnāsiakou polēmou Biblia okto, edited and published in Geneva by Henri Estienne (latinized as Henricus Stephanus) in 1564. Our copy has two volumes bound as one. The first volume is in Greek, the second in Latin, and both are fine examples of Garamond’s typefaces.

After Garamond’s death, his widow was forced to sell off her husband’s punches and matrices to the noted type designers Guillaume Le Bé and Christophe Plantin, and the printer/publisher André Wechel. Plantin’s collection still survives intact and may be found at the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp, Belgium.

Note also the famous printer’s mark, first used by Robert Estienne, of a figure pointing to an olive tree with its branches falling off and the motto Noli Altum Sapere, or “Do Not Become Proud.” The surname Estienne is French for the Greek noun stepanos which was the name of the olive-branch crown wreath given to victorious athletes of ancient Greece.