586 PROTOTYPOGRAPHY. 



profoundly learned man. He publicly offered a reward to every one 

 who would report to him an erratum in his publications. In 1531, 

 he was appointed by Francis T. King's printer in the Greek and 

 Hebrew languages. Henry II. was his eldest son and worthy 

 successor. To an edition of Andrew Gellius issued by him he pre- 

 fixes a Latin letter addressed to his own son Paul, in which he speaks 

 of the household of his father, Robert : " All in it were learned," he 

 says ; " even the domestics understood Latin, and in some sort could 

 speak it." His mother, Paul's grandmother, could understand persons 

 speaking Latin, as readily as if they spoke French ; his sister could 

 speak the language, having learnt it not from grammars, but from 

 use, just as French is learnt in France, Italian in Italy, and any 

 other language in the country where it is spoken. Notable works 

 published by Kobert Stephens were Bibles in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, 

 and French, and a Latin Thesaurus in three volumes folio. He 

 dismissed from his edition of the classics all the conbractions inherited 

 from the MSS. A marvellous perfection marks all the productions 

 of his press which were supervised wholly by himself. De Thou 

 said the labours of Robert Stephens had done more for the honour 

 and glory of France than all the high deeds of her warriors. Robert 

 married the daughter of Josse Bade of Asch, near Brussels, another 

 eminent printer usually spoken of by his Latin designation, Jodocus 

 Radius Ascensius. Michel Yascosan and Jehan de Roigny, two 

 other great French printers, also married daughters of Josse Bade. 

 Henry II.'s Greek Thesaurus in four volumes folio (1572), is like his 

 father's Latin Thesaurus, a wonderful monument of human labour 

 and perseverance. The story of the shameful way in which John 

 Scapula, an employe of his, filched the substance of this Thesaurus 

 and constructed out of it the one-volume Lexicon (1579), formerly so 

 familiar to English scholars, and so often reprinted, can only here be 

 glanced at. The learned Isaac Casaubon married a daughter of 

 Henry Stephens. 



In the line of the Koburgers (properly Wolgemuths), at Nurem- 

 berg, there was an Anthony I. and .an Anthony II., -with a John, a 

 Melchior, and others. 



At Antwerp, Christopher Plantin founded a long-lived printing- 

 house. His officina was one of the wonders of Europe and the chief 

 lion of the city. More fortunate than some of the great printers,. 

 Plantin accixmulated wealth, and lived in princely style, indulging his 

 fine tastes, and bequeathing at his death, in 1598, a magnificent 



