Robert Étienne (or Stephens), who in 1540 succeeded Néobar as “Printer in Greek to the King,” while not wholly accomplishing his monarch’s ambitions, was the great master-printer of his age. He came from a family of printers, and received his education and inspiration largely from the learned men who served as correctors in his father’s office. François proved himself genuinely interested in the productions of his Imprimerie Royale, frequently visiting Étienne at the Press, and encouraging him by expending vast sums for specially designed types, particularly in Greek. The story goes that on one occasion the King found Étienne engaged in correcting a proof sheet, and refused to permit the printer to be disturbed, insisting on waiting until the work was completed.
For my own collection of great typographical monuments I would select for this period the Royal Greeks of Robert Étienne. A comparison between the text page, so exquisitely balanced (page [222]), and the title page (page [220]), where the arrangement of type and printer’s mark could scarcely be worse, gives evidence enough that even the artist-printer of that time had not yet grasped the wonderful opportunity a title page offers for self-expression. Probably Étienne regarded it more as a chance to pay his sovereign the compliment of calling him “A wise king and a valiant warrior.” But are not the Greek characters marvelously beautiful! They were rightly called the Royal Greeks! The drawings were made by the celebrated calligrapher Angelos Vergetios, of Candia, who was employed by François to make transcripts of Greek texts for the Royal Collection, and whose manuscript volumes may still be seen in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. Earlier fonts had been based upon this same principle of making the Greek letters reproductions as closely as possible of the elaborate, involved, current writing hand of the day; but these new designs carried out the principle to a degree until then unattained. The real success of the undertaking was due to the skill of Claude Garamond, the famous French punchcutter and typefounder. Pierre Victoire quaintly comments:
Besides gathering from all quarters the remains of Hellenic literature, François I added another benefit, itself most valuable, to the adornment of this same honorable craft of printing; for he provided by the offer of large moneys for the making of extremely graceful letters, both of Greek and Latin. In this also he was fortunate, for they were so nimbly and so delicately devised that it can scarce be conceived that human wit may compass anything more dainty and exquisite; so that books printed from these types do not merely invite the reader,—they draw him, so to say, by an irresistible attraction.
ÉTIENNE’S ROYAL GREEKS, Paris, 1550
Title Page (10¼ × 6 inches)
Page showing Étienne’s Roman Face (Exact size)
ÉTIENNE’S ROYAL GREEKS