Robert Estienne (1503 - September 7, 1559) , also known as Robert Stephens or Stephanus, was a 16th century printer in Paris. He was the first to print the Bible divided into standard numbered verses.
He was born in Paris, 1503, and died in Geneva September 7, 1559. Early on he became acquainted with the ancient languages, and entered the printing-establishment of Simon de Colines , who married his mother upon his father's death.
He corrected the edition of the Latin New Testament of
1523. This work was the first occasion of the endless
charges and criminations of the clerical party,
especially the theological faculty of the Sorbonne,
against him. At the time the Church forbade printing the Bible
and providing it to the average person, because
they feared people would misinterpret it.
In 1524 he became proprietor of the
press of his father. In 1539 he adopted as his devices
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 tinge, "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, and in 1550, to
escape the violence of his persecutors, he emigrated
to Geneva.
With his title of "royal typographer" Robert made the Paris establishment famous by his numerous editions of grammatical works and other school-books (among them many of Melanchthon's), and of old authors, as Dio Cassius, Eusebius of Caesarea, Cicero, Sallust, Caesar, Justin, Socrates Scholasticus, and Sozomen. Many of these, especially the Greek editions, were famous for their typographical elegance.
In 1532 he published the remarkable Thesaurus linguae latinae, and twice he published the entire Hebrew Bible-- in 1539-44, thirteen parts, in four volumes, and 1544-46 in seventeen parts. Both of these editions are rare.
Of more importance are his four editions of the Greek New
Testament, 1546, 1549, 1550, and 1551, the last in
Geneva. The first two are among the neatest Greek
texts known, and are called O mirificam; the third
is a splendid masterpiece of typographical skill, and
is known as the Editio regia; the edition of 1551
contains the Latin translation of Erasmus and the
Vulgate, is not nearly as fine as the other three, and is
exceedingly rare. It was in this edition that the division of the New Testament into verses was for the first time introduced.
A number of editions of the Vulgate also
appeared from his presses, of which the principal
are those of 1528, 1532, 1540 (one of the ornaments
of his press), and 1546. The text of the Vulgate
was in a wretched condition, and his editions,
especially that of 1545, containing a new translation
at the side of the Vulgate, was the subject of sharp
and acrimonious criticism from the clergy.
On his arrival at Geneva, he published a defense against the
attacks of the Sorbonne. He issued the French
Bible in 1553, and many of John Calvin's writings; the
finest edition of the Institutio being that of 1553.
His fine edition of the Latin Bible with glosses
(1556) contained the translation of the Old
Testament by Santes Pagninus , and the first edition of
Theodore Beza's translation of the New Testament.
Sons
Three of Robert's sons, Henry, Robert, and
Francois, became celebrated as printers. Francois,
the second (b. in 1540), printed on his own account
in Geneva from 1562-82, issuing a number of
editions of the Bible in Latin and French, and some
of Calvin's works. French writers identify him with
a printer by the name of Estienne in Normandy,
whither he is supposed to have emigrated in 1582.
Robert, the second (b. in 1530; d. in 1570), began
to print in Paris on his own account in 1556, and in
1563 received the title of Typographus regius; his
presses were busily employed in issuing civil
documents. He held to the Roman Catholic faith and
thus won the support of Charles IX., and by 1563
appears to have fully reconstituted his father's
establishment in Paris. His edition of the New
Testament of 1568-69, a reprint of his father's first
edition and equal to it in elegance of execution, is
now exceedingly rare.
See also Henry Estienne.
