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ELZEVIR

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 304 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ELZEVIR , the name of a celebrated See also:

family of Dutch printers belonging to the 17th See also:century. The See also:original name of the family was Elsevier, or Elzevier, and their See also:French See also:editions mostly retain this name; but in their Latin editions, which are the more numerous, the name is spelt Elzeverius, which was gradually corrupted in See also:English into Elzevir as a generic See also:term for their books. The family originally came from See also:Louvain, and there See also:Louis, who first made the name Elzevir famous, was See also:born in 1J40. He learned the business of a bookbinder, and having been compelled in 158o, on See also:account of his Protestantism and his adherence to the cause of the insurgent provinces, to leave his native See also:country, he established himself as bookbinder and See also:book-seller in See also:Leiden. His See also:Eutropius, which appeared in 1592, was See also:long regarded as the earliest Elzevir, but the first is now known to be Drusii Ebraicarum quaestionum ac responsionum libri duo, which was produced in 1583. In all he published about 15o See also:works. He died on the 4th of See also:February 1617. Of his five sons, Matthieu, Louis, Gilles, Joost and Bonaventure, who all adopted their See also:father's profession, Bonaventure, who was born in 1583, is the most celebrated. He began business as a printer in 16o8, and in 1626 took into See also:partnership See also:Abraham, a son of Matthieu, born at Leiden in 1592. Abraham died on the 14th of See also:August 1652, and Bonaventure about a See also:month afterwards. The fame of the Elzevir editions rests chiefly on the works issued by this See also:firm. Their See also:Greek and See also:Hebrew impressions are considered inferior to those of the Aldi and the Estiennes, but their small editions in 121110, 16mo and 24mo, for elegance of See also:design, neatness, clearness and regularity of type, and beauty of See also:paper, cannot be surpassed.

Especially may be mentioned the two editions of the New Testament in Greek ('H Kacvi) &aOilKrf, Novum Testamentum, &c.), published in 1624 and 1633, of which the latter is the more beautiful and the more sought after; the Psalterium Davidis, 1653; Virgilii See also:

opera, 1636; Terentii comediae, 1635; but the works which gave their See also:press its See also:chief celebrity are their collection of French authors on See also:history and politics in 24mo, known under the name of the Petites Republiques, and their See also:series of Latin, French and See also:Italian See also:classics in small 121110. See also:Jean, son of Abraham, born in 1622, had since1647 been in partnership with his father and See also:uncle, and when they died See also:Daniel, son of Bonaventure, born in 1626, joined him. Their partnership did not last more than two years, and after its See also:dissolution Jean carried on the business alone till his See also:death in 1661. In 1654 Daniel joined his See also:cousin Louis (the third of that name and son of the second Louis), who was born in 1604, and had established a See also:printing press at See also:Amsterdam in 1638. From 1655 to 1666 they published a series of Latin classics in 8vo, cum notis variorum; See also:Cicero in 4t0; the Etymologicon linguae Latinae; and a magnificent Corpus See also:juris See also:civilis in See also:folio, 2 vols., 1663. Louis died in 167o, and Daniel in 1680. Besides Bonaventure, another son of Matthieu, See also:Isaac, born in 1593, established a printing press at Leiden, where he carried on business from 1616 to 1625; but none of his editions attained much fame. The last representatives of the Elzevir printers were See also:Peter, See also:grandson of Joost, who from 1667 to 1675 was a bookseller at See also:Utrecht, and printed seven or eight volumes of little consequence; and Abraham, son of the first Abraham, who from 1681 to 1712 was university printer at Leiden. Some of the Elzevir editions See also:bear no other typographical See also:mark than simply the words A pud Elzeverios, or Ex officina Elseveriana, under the rubrique of the See also:town. But the See also:majority bear one of their See also:special devices, four of which are recognized as in See also:common use. Louis Elzevir, the founder of the family, usually adopted the arms of the See also:United Provinces, an See also:eagle on a See also:cippus holding in its claws a sheaf of seven arrows, with the See also:motto See also:Concordia res parvae crescunt. About 162o the Leiden Elzevirs adopted a new See also:device, known as " the solitary," and consisting of an See also:elm See also:tree, a fruitful See also:vine and a See also:man alone, with a motto Non Bolus.

They also used another device, a See also:

palm tree with the motto, Assurgo pressa. The Elzevirs of Amsterdam used for their See also:principal device a figure of See also:Minerva with See also:owl, See also:shield and See also:olive tree, and the motto, Ne extra oleas. The earliest productions of the Elzevir press are marked with an See also:angel bearing a See also:hook and a See also:scythe, and various other devices occur at different times. When the Elzevirs did not wish to put their name to their works they generally marked them with a See also:sphere, but of course the See also:mere fact that a See also:work printed in the 17th century bears this mark is no See also:proof that it is theirs. The See also:total number of works of all kinds which came from the presses of the Elzevirs is given by See also:Willems as 16o8; there were also many forgeries. See " See also:Notice de la collection d'auteurs latins, See also:francais, et italiens, imprimee de format See also:petit en 12, See also:par See also:les Elsevier," in See also:Brunet's Alanuel du libraire (See also:Paris, 182o) ; A. de Reume, Recherches historiques, genealogiques, et bibliographiques sur les Elsevier (See also:Brussels, 1847) See also:Paul See also:Dupont, Histoire de l'imprimerie, in two vols. (Paris, 1854); Pieters, Annales de l'imprimerie Elsevirienne (2nd ed., See also:Ghent, 18,58) ; See also:Walther, Les Els everiennes de la bibliotheque imperiale de St-Petersbourg (St See also:Petersburg, 1864) ; See also:Alphonse Willems, Les Elzevier (Brussels, 188o), with a history of the Elzevir family and them printing establishments, a See also:chronological See also:list and detailed description of all words printed by them, their various typographical marks, and a See also:plate illustrating the types used by them; Kelchner, Catalogus librorum officinae Elsevirianae (Paris, 188o) ; Frick, See also:Die Elzevirschen Republiken (See also:Halle, 1892); Berghman, Etudes sur la bibliographic Elzivirienne (See also:Stockholm, 1885), and Nouvelles etudes, &c. (ib. 1897).

End of Article: ELZEVIR

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