Robert Estienne’s 1553 Bible

Throughout his life, Robert Estienne (1503–1559) worked to publish the most authentic version of the Bible possible, a quest that led him to compile numerous unpublished sources and master Hebrew and Greek. At the heart of the evangelical movement in Paris, Estienne’s aim was to make the sacred text clearly legible, and to this end he equipped himself with a typographic apparatus equal to the task. While he himself practiced type design and punchcutting, he also called on the services of excellent engravers. From 1530 onwards, his workshop was equipped with a remarkable roman typeface in several perfectly harmonized sizes, later falsely attributed to Garamont. Robert Estienne’s influence is considerable for the quality of his prints and the innovative, functional aspect of his typography. The model represented by his typefaces was taken up and enhanced by reformed printers and typographers such as Conrad Bade, Jean II de Tournes, Pierre Haultin and André Wechel, who, like Robert Estienne, had to leave France to seek refuge in Switzerland or the Netherlands, taking their knowledge with them.

In 1550, Robert Estienne left Paris with his family to “avoid sacrificing his strength” to the increasingly threatening Inquisition. Like thousands of other exiles during the decade, he found “refuge” in Geneva, among them more than a hundred printers and typographers. They soon formed an important guild, whose work was largely dedicated to the propagation of reformed texts. In Geneva, Estienne finalized the system for dividing sacred texts into verses and, to this end, introduced the indent system. He also continued his lexicographical and grammatical research, which he perfected until his death, publishing a second edition of the Dictionarium puerorum and Petit dictionnaire des mots français tournés en latin, and a Grammaire française in 1557.

The Reformation played a decisive role in establishing the French language, developing its practice and codifying it. Estienne died in Geneva in 1559. Three of his children were printers (Henri and François in Geneva; Robert in Paris).

Document: La Bible qui est toute la saincte escripture contenant le Vieil et Nouveau Testament, ou Alliance, Geneva, Robert Estienne, 1553. Bibliothèque de Genève.