Robert Estienne

Robert I Estienne (French: [etjɛn]; 1503 – 7 September 1559), known as Robertus Stephanus in Latin and also referred to as Robert Stephens by 18th and 19th-century English writers, was a 16th-century printer and classical scholar in Paris. He was a former Catholic who became a Protestant late in his life and the first to print the Bible divided into standard numbered verses.

Robert was born in Paris, the second son of the famous humanist printer Henri Estienne (the Elder). He became acquainted early on with ancient languages. After Henri's death in 1520, the printing establishment was maintained by his former partner Simon de Colines who also married Robert's mother, the widow Estienne. In 1526 Robert assumed control of his father's printing shop while de Colines established his own firm nearby.

In 1539 Robert adopted as his device an olive branch around which a serpent was twined, and a man standing under an olive-tree, with grafts from which wild branches were falling to the ground, with the words of Romans 11:20, Noli altum sapere, sed time ... ("Be not high-minded, but fear"). The latter was called the olive of the Stephens family.

In 1539 he received the distinguishing title of "Printer in Greek to the king". But the official recognition and the crown's approval to his undertaking could not save him from the censure and ceaseless opposition of the divines. In 1550, to escape the violence of his persecutors, he emigrated to Geneva, where he set up his printing house.

With his title of "royal typographer" Estienne made the Paris establishment famous by his numerous editions of grammatical works and other schoolbooks (among them many of Melanchthon's) and of classical and Patristic authors, such as Dio Cassius, Cicero, Sallust, Julius Caesar, Justin, Socrates Scholasticus, and Sozomen. Many of these, especially the Greek editions (which were printed with typefaces made by Claude Garamond), were famous for their typographical elegance. The editiones principes which issued from Robert's press were eight in number, viz. Eusebius of Caesarea (including the Praeparatio evangelica and the Demonstratio evangelica, as well as the ) (1544–1546), Manuel Moschopulus (1545), Dionysius of Halicarnassus (February 1547), Alexander of Tralles (January 1548), Dio Cassius (January 1548), Justin Martyr (1551), Xiphilinus (1551), Appian (1551). The last was completed, after Robert's departure from Paris, by his brother Charles and appeared under his name. These editions, all in folio, except the Moschopulus, which is in quarto, are unrivalled for beauty. Robert also printed numerous editions of Latin classics, of which perhaps the folio Virgil of 1532 is the most noteworthy. He printed a large quantity of Latin grammars and other educational works, many of which were written by Maturin Cordier, his friend and co-worker in the cause of humanism.

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