Volume 2 — CHAPTER XII.

THE ELZEVIRS OF LEYDEN AND AMSTERDAM.

1587-1688.

THE name of Elzevir has for more than two centuries been a familiar one to collectors of choice books. These Dutch printer-publishers of the seventeenth century were able to associate their imprint with certain publications of such distinctive typographical excellence as to ensure for the editions known as “Elzevirs” a prestige that has endured to the present day. Aldus alone among the early publishers has had a similar fortune, and while the “Aldine” editions are, of course, in respect to their number and to their typographical excellence, much less important than the “Elzevirs,” it must be remembered that having been issued more than a century earlier, their production called for a much larger measure of originating capacity and initiative on the part of their printer-publisher. The principal authority on the history of the Elzevirs is a comprehensive and carefully written monograph of Alphonse Willems, published in Brussels in 1880.

Louis Elzevir, who, as far as its publishing undertakings are concerned, was the founder of the family, had been brought up as a binder in the Flemish University town of Louvain. He was a Protestant, and in 1580, when existence for Protestants had been made difficult in the Catholic provinces of Flanders, Elzevir, in company with hundreds of others of his faith, made his way across the border to Holland, and settled, with his family, at Leyden. He was at this time about forty years of age. Leyden was, in 1580, next to Amsterdam, the most considerable and the most important city in Holland. The heroic resistance that its citizens had made during the long siege by the Spaniards had earned fame for the city throughout all Protestant Europe, while the University, which had been founded by William the Silent in commemoration of the glory of the struggle, had at once secured for itself a prestige among the scholars of Europe, and in making Leyden a centre for the literary activities of the Dutch provinces, had given a great incentive to its publishing and printing trade.

Louis Elzevir found at Leyden a considerable group of Flemish Protestants who had, like himself, found it wise to get away from the rule of the Spanish soldiers and of the Roman ecclesiastics who were dominating Flanders. Among these exiles were certain men whose names became known, later, in connection with literature or with the work of the University, such as Vulcanius, Drusius, d’Audenard, Lipsius, Stevin, Heinsius, Baudius, Polyander, and Silvius, the first Printer to the University.

Elzevir began work as a book binder for the students and instructors of the University, adding to this business, a little later, a book-selling shop. The undertaking proved, however, unsuccessful. During the troublous times in which the new nation was still struggling against the power of Spain for the right to exist, the number of students in the University was at best but limited, and in Leyden as in Heidelberg, Erfurt, and other of the German universities of the time, the practice of hiring or borrowing text-books, or of arranging in some manner to make one or two volumes serve for the requirements of an entire class, must have interfered not a little with the possibility of securing a living from the post of University bookseller.

Louis found himself, therefore, obliged to give up his first place of business, but he was not willing to confess himself defeated. During his brief experience as a bookseller, he had been able to impress himself favourably upon some of the authorities of the University, and in his present distress he applied to them for help. The University council, recognising the value for higher education of the service to be rendered by a skilled and conscientious bookseller, gave him permission to construct within the limits of the University court a small book-shop, and authorised Elzevir to announce himself officially as the bookseller, and, later, as the publisher, to the University.

With this fresh starting point, Louis succeeded, after some years of persistent and painstaking labour, in creating an assured business foundation. He had never mastered the art of printing, and the typographical work of the publications issued with his name was done under contract with different printers, and presented no feature of special excellence or distinctiveness. The works selected, however, for Elzevir’s publishing list, together with the books selected by him through Frankfort and Paris for sale in his shop, gave evidence of a good literary and scholarly ideal and of a continually widening range of knowledge of existing literature.

His correspondence throughout France, Germany, and Italy brought the name of the new University to the knowledge of many literary circles, and established for Leyden and for the towns of Holland which depended upon Leyden for their foreign literature, connections with the book-producing centres of Europe, connections which were never thereafter to be severed. Louis was, during the greater part of his lifetime, the only publisher and bookseller of Holland having such foreign relations. At the time when the new State was securing through the force of arms and the skill of its ambassadors the political recognition from the Courts of Europe upon which its continued existence depended, its literary representative, Louis Elzevir, was, in like manner, securing for Dutch scholarship and for Dutch publishing enterprise an honourable recognition from the scholars and with the book-trade of Europe.

The first work published by Louis as a venture of his own was an edition of Eutropius, issued in 1592. It was, however, not until after 1594 that his publications began to appear with any regularity. In 1595, he first utilised as a trade-mark the design of an eagle grasping in its claw seven darts, an emblem which was retained by the House for nearly a third of a century.

The name of Louis Elzevir is chronicled for the first time, in 1595, in the list of publishers offering books at the Fair in Frankfort. From the year 1602 he appears to have made regular annual sojourns in Paris. In the Journal of Pierre de Lestoile, under date of August, 1609, is a reference to a purchase made by him from Elvisier (sic) of Leyden, of a treatise (by Grotius) entitled Mare Liberum, together with certain orations of Heinsius and of Baudius. Lestoile goes on to say that the said Elvisier had described to him the bequest recently made by Baudius to the public library of Leyden of his collection of books, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldaic, Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopian, Persian, and Armenian, a collection estimated by said Elvisier as worth not less than three thousand crowns. It would appear from this reference that the scholars and the publishers of Leyden must have had available for their use an exceptionally comprehensive reference library.

The more distinctive work of the Elzevirs began, however, only after the death of Louis, which occurred in 1617. He left six sons, two of whom were carrying on book-shops in Utrecht and The Hague, in affiliation with the present concern in Leyden. One was in the service of the Dutch East India Company, and a fourth had adopted the profession of an artist. The eldest and the youngest, Matthew and Bonaventure, joined hands to carry on the business of their father, a business which they were able very largely to extend and develop. The form of imprint, ex officina Elzeviriana, dates from the year 1617, when the two young men assumed the direction of the concern.

At the time the two young Flemings were beginning work with their publishing operations, the independence of the Dutch Republic, though not yet formally acknowledged by Spain, was an assured fact, and the territory of the seven United Provinces was free alike from invaders and from civil strife. The Thirty Years’ War was, however (in 1618), just beginning in Germany, and until the peace of Westphalia, in 1648, the business connections of dealers in books with the book-trade centres in Frankfort, Leipzig, Cologne, etc., were, in common with all trade operations on the Continent, very much interfered with. The energy of the Dutch traders, however, repressed in one direction, found vent in another. Dutch fleets overcame the Spanish naval forces in the Pacific and transferred to the Dutch the control of many of the Spanish possessions in the East, while the trade between the Mediterranean and the North of Europe was largely transferred from Venice and Genoa to Amsterdam and Harlem. The devastation that had been brought upon Antwerp during the struggle with Spain, and the migration to the provinces of the North of thousands of the Protestants who had constituted a very important portion of the more intelligent and enterprising of the inhabitants of Flanders and Brabant, had helped to develop in the cities of the Dutch Republic the industries and the commerce of which Antwerp and Bruges had so long been the centre.

While for a large part of Europe the Thirty Years’ War meant a throttling, or at least a serious hampering, of its trade, the commerce of the Dutch flourished behind the guns of their fighting vessels. With the expansion of the ambition and of the material resources of the new nation, came a rapid development of its intellectual activities and of the productive work of its scholars and writers.

The Elzevirs had (as would naturally be the case with men who were exiles on the ground of their faith) associated themselves with the stricter and more earnest of the Calvinists of their adopted country. Bonaventure, the youngest of the sons of the first Louis, makes various references in his correspondence to the acceptance of and his cordial sympathy with the creed of the Calvinists as formulated by the Synod of Dort. The first publication which bore his individual imprint was a work of religious controversy bearing the rather ponderous title, Censura ne Confessionem sive Declarationem Sententiæ eorum qui in Fœderato Belgio remonstrantes vocantur, super Præcipues Articules Christianæ Religionis, A. SS. Theol. Professoribus Academiæ Leidensis Instituta. 1626. Cum Privilegio.

Bonaventure married the daughter of a zealous Calvinist preacher, and he himself remained until his death an important lay member of the Council of the Ancients of the Walloon Church, a council which was charged not only with the government of the Church itself, but with a large measure of responsibility in connection with both the spiritual and the civil administration of the community.

The intellectual ferment of which the bitter theological controversies that raged about the name and the doctrines of Arminius were an evidence (or a result), stimulated the production of books and furthered the habit of reading among many classes of the people to whom printed matter had previously been comparatively unfamiliar. The period immediately succeeding the Synod of Dort witnessed an enormous increase in the list of publications by Dutch writers. The views of the Remonstrants and of their opponents the Contra-Remonstrants on the famous five points of predestination, redemption, depravity, conversion, and perseverance, required for their adequate setting forth a long series both of folios and of pamphlets. On these and other grounds, the year 1618 proved to be an exceptionally favourable period for the beginning of a great publishing concern, and the two Elzevirs showed themselves fully capable of taking advantage effectively of the opportunity. The printing-office in Leyden appears to have been completely organised early in the year 1618. Its first immediate director was Isaac, the grandson of Louis. In 1625, he retired from the concern, leaving both the printing and the publishing business in the hands of his uncle Bonaventure and his brother Abraham. The year 1626 is considered by Willems to have marked the most brilliant period in the long record of the House, although in later years a longer series of important works was produced. The productions of the Elzevir Press during the next two or three years were in part devoted to the theology of the period (such as the acts of the National Synod), but were principally represented by the great editions of the classics for which the Elzevir imprint will always remain famous.

In 1625, the Elzevirs took over the printing-office of Erpenius, who was at the time the only printer in the Netherlands, and one of the few in Europe, who possessed any Oriental fonts. In 1629, they initiated with Horace and Ovid the series of Latin classics in sixteenmo, a form which followed very fairly the proportions of the famous series of Aldus. In 1641, they began, with the issue of The Cid, a series of contemporary French drama, and in 1642, with the works of Regnier, a series of the chief monuments of French literature.

Bonaventure and Abraham died in the same year, 1652, but their sons, John and Daniel, were already of sufficient age and of sufficient training to assume the direction of affairs. Among the earlier of the works issued by these two, were an edition of the Imitation of Christ and one of the Psalms, which are described by the enthusiastic Willems as “jewels of typography.” In 1655, Daniel transferred himself to Amsterdam, where he was associated with his cousin Louis. John’s death came a year or two later, leaving in Leyden no member of the Elzevir family. John’s widow, Eva van Alphen, thereupon made herself the head of the printing and publishing concern, and was able also to retain control of the business of the University. The activity of the publishing lessened during the following few years, but the excellence of the work turned out by the printing-office seems not materially to have suffered, and a number of the more important publications issued with the imprint of the Elzevir firm in Amsterdam, were manufactured in the Press of the Elzevir widow in Leyden. After the death of Eva, in 1681, there was, however, a rapid deterioration not only in the activity of the publishing, but in the work turned out by the printing-office. Her son Abraham appears to have been both ignorant and incapable. His business was before long limited to the printing of the University theses, and there were at the time not a few complaints from the instructors concerning the badness of the work put into these. Abraham’s death occurred in 1712, and it seems probable that even if he had had a longer life, the work of the printing-office would speedily have come to a close from inanition or from lack of intelligent direction.

The plant and material of the once famous printing-office was sold at auction, in 1713, for the benefit of the creditors and of a daughter left by Abraham. For nearly a century the printing of the University had been in the hands of the Elzevir family, but after the migration in 1665, of Louis to Amsterdam, the more important of the publishing undertakings of the Elzevirs bear the imprint of the Amsterdam House. The first printer to the University had been William Silvius, who had, before coming to Leyden, held in Antwerp the title of Printer to the King. Silvius was a scholar as well as a printer, and having given evidence of sympathy with the Protestant group, he found it desirable to get away from Antwerp. He held the post in Leyden for but a few months, dying in 1580. For nearly four years, the University appears to have dispensed with the services of a University printer and publisher, but in 1584, the position was given to Christophe Plantin, the famous Antwerp publisher, who was at the time, in connection with certain difficulties, an exile from his home city. It is probable from his acceptance of the post and from the labour given by him to the organisation of an effective printing establishment, that Plantin had seriously in view at the time the plan of a permanent transfer to Leyden of his business interests. In 1585, however, his difficulties having been adjusted, Plantin found it practicable to return to Antwerp, but he was able, in leaving Leyden, to secure from the University authorities the appointment as his successor of his son-in-law Raphelengius. The latter added to his duties as a printer the professorship of Hebrew in the University, and it is evident from the record that he was more assiduous in his work as an instructor than in attention to the rather complex responsibilities of the University printing-office. On the death of Raphelengius, in 1597, the post was given to his son Christopher, who survived his father, however, but for four years. The successor of the younger Raphelengius was a certain Johannes Patius (Jean Paedts). His work appears to have been unsatisfactory, and, in 1620, Isaac Elzevir, grandson of Louis, came into direction of the University printing.

The annual compensation given to Silvius and, later, to Plantin, was two hundred florins. Under the agreement with Isaac Elzevir, the money payment was fixed at fifty florins. It seems probable, however, that during the thirty-five years that had passed since the first establishment of the office, there had been a sufficient development in the incidental business connected with the University printing and publishing to render the post more valuable in 1620 with a stipend of fifty florins, than it had been in 1585 with a payment of two hundred.

The agreement with Isaac Elzevir provided that he should hold at the disposition of members of the University Faculty one press and during certain seasons of the year two presses, the work of which was apparently devoted to the précis or papers of instruction recognised for use in the class-room. The productions of more considerable compass of which the professors were the authors, were passed upon by the curators of the Press and by the senate of the University with reference to their publication through the University Press and at the charge of the University treasury. The printer was under obligations to secure for the Press the service of correctors competent to supervise the text of any language required. In the majority of cases there should, of course, have been no difficulty in securing such correctors from the membership of the University itself. Any illustrations to be included in the University publications were to be “supplied to the printer,” but it is not clear whether this provision implies that the authors of books, the remaining expense of which was provided by the University, must themselves meet the outlay for the production of the illustrations.

One copy of every work printed by the Publisher to the University was to be deposited in the University library. The publishing undertakings were, in the matter of Press censorship or supervision, to be subject to the regulations of the States-General. What censorship was put in force appears, however, to have been exercised through certain selected members of the Theological Faculty of the University. I find no reference to any political questions arising in connection with these Leyden publications, and apparently there was, outside of the theologians, no keen interest in censorship or in Press supervision. The privilege of occupying for the printing-office a portion of the court or quadrangle of the University buildings, was doubtless estimated as a portion of the compensation and must have been of material service for the prestige of the concern, irrespective of the detail of the saving of rent.

Reference has been made to a certain Erpenius (Th. van Erpen), whose Oriental fonts were taken over, later, by the Elzevirs. Erpenius was one of the more noteworthy scholars who brought prestige to the Faculty of the University. Not content with the task of giving instruction in the languages and literatures of the Orient, or possibly influenced by the difficulty of carrying on such instruction without an adequate supply of texts, Erpenius set up a printing-office in his own house and undertook at his own cost the production of a series of the works of representative Eastern writers. His death, at the early age of forty, interrupted the scholarly undertaking. His widow had had in view the sale to some printers in Paris of the costly collection of type moulds and punches, which constituted, in fact, almost the entire property that had been left to her. The University authorities were averse to permitting this collection to go out of the country, but there happened to be at the time no funds in the treasury adequate to give to the widow the sum she had been offered from Paris. Isaac Elzevir himself provided the amount required, and purchased the material in his own name. It was transferred to his successors, but when the University confirmed them as the official printers, it was made a condition that this Oriental material should be retained in Leyden at the disposition of the University. The annual compensation was at the same time raised to one hundred florins. There was a further specification in the agreement to the effect that any books required by the professors or notabilités académiques, the University publisher was to procure (from Frankfort or Paris) “at his own risk or peril,” and was to charge for the same no higher price than was to be charged by other booksellers. In 1631, the annual stipend was increased to three hundred florins, “in consideration of the exceptional outlays required by the Oriental work of the printing-office and of the cost of providing a special corrector for the Oriental works.”

Up to the time of the death of Abraham, the last member of the Leyden family, no further changes of importance occurred in the relations between the University and its Press. In a number of respects the general organisation and regulation of the Leyden University Press appear to have been quite similar to the arrangement which was put into force, in 1632, in Oxford at the institution of the Clarendon Press.[133] It is, of course, probable enough that the history of the University of Leyden was well known in Oxford and that the regulations controlling the Leyden Press may have served, if not as a model, at least as a general suggestion for the scheme of the organisation of the Clarendon Press.

The number of theses printed by the University printer increased steadily, the increase being an indication, in part, of the growth of the University, and, in part, of the development of the literary activities of its members. The summary of the theses is as follows:

1654, printed by John and Daniel Elzevir 2

1655-1662, printed by John 61

1662-1681, printed by the widow of John 775

1681-1712, printed by Abraham 1899

The cost of the several buildings erected for the work of the printers was borne by the Elzevirs. These buildings all stood, however, upon land owned by the University, and were, in fact, immediately connected with the buildings of instruction. The printing-offices remained, therefore, the property of the University, doubtless under the usual conditions of a ground lease. In August, 1641, John Evelyn, writing from Leyden, speaks of visiting the famous Heinsius, and also of inspecting the famous book-shop and the printing-office of the Elzevirs, “renowned throughout Europe for the importance of their publications and for the beauty of their typography.”[134] Evelyn goes on to speak of a statue carved in stone which stood opposite the gateway of the printing-office enclosure, a “representation of the fortunate monk who, as is claimed by the Hollanders, was the first inventor of printing, an opinion combated by the Germans, who insist that the glory of the invention belongs to Gutenberg.” It is not quite certain that the printing-office enclosure or the University court did include at this time a statue of Koster. There was, however, such a statue in the city, in the Haarlemmerstraat, and the English tourist may either have confused his memory as to the location of this, or possibly have thought himself justified, for the sake of dramatic effect, in placing the statue where, according to his judgment, it properly belonged, in front of the headquarters of the printing interests in Holland.

The work of the Elzevirs in Leyden had continued from 1621 to 1712, a period of ninety-one years. The printing and publishing House instituted by the Elzevirs in The Hague began its operations in 1590. Its first head was Louis, the second son of the founder of the dynasty. His work was, however, limited to the business of bookselling, his establishment containing one of the most comprehensive and best organised collections of scholarly publications to be found in the North of Europe. After his death, in 1621, the business was carried on for about twenty years, first by his brother Bonaventure and, later, by his nephews and their cousins. In 1661, the book-shop at The Hague was finally closed, the stock being, in part, transferred to Amsterdam, and in part, sold at auction.

The continuity of the printing and publishing work originated in Leyden, was maintained by the branch of the Elzevir family which settled at Amsterdam, and the Amsterdam House continued active operations until about the close of the seventeenth century. The book-shop in Amsterdam was instituted in 1638, by Louis, grandson of Louis of Louvain. In 1640, Louis added to his book-shop the plant of a printing-office, and when, in 1655, he obtained the coöperation of his cousin Daniel from Leyden, the Amsterdam House was able to secure for itself a foundation and a prestige which exceeded that of the parent concern in Leyden. In fact the series of publications issued from Amsterdam during the twenty years following 1655 was more considerable and important than the list of the Leyden Elzevirs during the same period. It is proper to add, however, that even for the books of this period the experts give the palm for typographical excellence to the volumes bearing the Leyden imprint. The most noteworthy of the publications of the first ten years of the new partnership, from the point of view at least of typographical excellence, were the Corpus Juris, published in folio in 1663, and the French text of the Scriptures edited by Desmarets, issued in 1669.

Louis retired in 1665, and on the death of Daniel, in 1680, there being no sons old enough to carry on the concern and no cousins available, the business was wound up. The last publication bearing the imprint of Elzevir of Amsterdam was issued in 1680, by Anna, the widow of Daniel. The emblem of the Elzevirs, which appeared on the signs of the several buildings occupied by them in Amsterdam, was an elm. An important feature in the rapid development of the publishing business of the Elzevirs, a feature which may be considered partly as cause and partly as effect, was the extensive series of foreign connections, connections initiated by the first Louis, and maintained and extended by two generations of his successors. The majority of the Dutch publishers of the time were content to limit their trade connections to the towns of their own country, with an occasional correspondent in Frankfort. But Louis Elzevir, with a larger ambition and a more comprehensive view of the requirements of a high-grade publishing business, decided from the outset that the widest possible connections with the scholarly book-buyers of Europe was essential in order to ensure adequate support for the class of undertakings he had in view. Within fifteen years of the death of the founder, the firm had a direct representation in nearly every one of the book-selling centres of Europe. A number of these agencies were placed, either temporarily or permanently, in the charge of some member of the family, and it became the usual routine for the younger Elzevirs to secure in turn in this manner an important part of their education and their business training, in different foreign cities. The fact that during nearly a century the family circle was so large, facilitated not a little the carrying out of a general scheme of a federation of book-selling agencies, whose special purpose it was to make known to the reading public of Europe, and to find an outlet for the productions of the Elzevir Presses. The first Louis was able, notwithstanding his active labours in Leyden, to pass a considerable portion of each year on the trade routes of Germany and France. His youngest son, Bonaventure, had, before his twenty-third year, sojourned in all the more important of the cities of Italy, and the nephews and grandchildren appear to have, so to speak, parcelled out Europe between them, carrying on literary campaigns from Naples in the South, to Copenhagen in the North. These “campaigns” had for their purpose not only the distribution of the Elzevir publications, but the collection from literary centres throughout Europe of “copy,” “texts,” and literary suggestions, to utilise for future publishing undertakings. The travelling Elzevirs were also, of course, in a position to secure to advantage the supplies required for their retail concerns in Leyden, Amsterdam, and The Hague. Willems finds records of large purchases of books made by the Elzevirs in Italy between 1606 and 1652. In 1622, there are references showing the existence in Venice of a depot for the sale of the Elzevir publications, and it appears that this depot was within a stone’s throw of the site of the establishment of Aldus, closed nearly half a century earlier. It was the Aldine classics that served as a model or at least as a suggestion for the more beautiful and more accurate sixteenmo editions of Elzevir. There was also an agency in Florence which, in the seventeenth century, was more nearly than Venice the literary centre of Italy.

Even at this time, 1675-1700, there was no organised system of transportation between Holland and Italy that could be depended upon for regular shipments of books. There is a reference in the Elzevir correspondence in 1675, and again in 1679, to the forwarding of bales of books through the kindness of travellers, in the former instance through Charles Dati,[135] and in the latter through the Abbé Brassetti. De exemplaren von Virgilius sign door schipper Jan Willis op Livorno versonden ende geaddresseert aen Abbate Brassetti, soo dat met twyffele ofte sullen wel te recht koomen.[136]

With England the Elzevirs had important relations, not only in the matter of buying and selling books, but in connection with the publication of a considerable number of books by English authors. Some of these publications were undertaken either for the account of the authors or of English publishers, who desired to secure the advantage of the Elzevir typography, which could not at that time be equalled by the work of any printers in England. It was the England of Charles II., of Pepys, Evelyn, Dryden, and Baxter, of which we are speaking.

In Frankfort the Elzevirs instituted, as early as 1595, a permanent depot for their publications, utilising their agency also for the collection of stock for the retail departments both of the Leyden and of the Amsterdam House. The first general catalogue of the books offered at the Frankfort Fair was printed in 1564, by George Willer, a bookseller of Augsburg. After 1595, these semi-annual Fair catalogues always contained an important representation of the Elzevir publications. The semi-annual gatherings of the booksellers at Frankfort were maintained, at least in form, during the stormy period of the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), although at certain of the appointed dates the attendance was very small and the business done but trifling. The records of the Fair give evidence, however, that notwithstanding the serious difficulties and dangers of travel during this period, a representative of the Elzevirs made his way from Holland and was recorded as present at every one of the Fairs during the thirty years. From the middle of the seventeenth century, the Frankfort Fair decreased in importance, the centre of the book-trade of Germany being transferred to Leipzig. For a number of years the Fair was held in both places, but before 1700 its business was transferred entirely to Leipzig, which became the headquarters of the book-trade in Germany, the best organised book-trade in Europe. The change was brought about through a variety of influences. The operations and results of the Thirty Years’ War had doubtless something to do with the matter, but it is possible that a large factor was the increasing intellectual activity of the Protestant States of North Germany as compared with that of the territory, in the main Catholic, of the South. Leipzig was of course better situated to serve as a centre for book production and for book distribution for these Northern States. It lacked, however, the very important advantage which had so long furthered the trade of Frankfort, the convenience, namely, of direct connection by water (the river Main) with the great highway of the Continent, the Rhine. For the traders from Holland, the Rhine was the natural means of communication with Germany, and made easy an important portion of the route to Italy. For this and for other reasons, the Elzevirs opposed the removal of the Fair from Frankfort to Leipzig, and their influence was sufficiently powerful to delay this removal for a quarter of a century.

The Elzevirs retained in their hands for many years a very large proportion of the business of supplying Germany with foreign publications, including more particularly those from Holland, England, and France. The German booksellers of this period appear to have been comparatively unenterprising in the matter of maintaining direct foreign connections. With Paris, the energetic Louis had taken pains to open relations almost at the outset of his business career. Reference is made as early as 1602 to a sojourn by Louis in Paris, and to a privilege extended to him for a term of three weeks of accepting orders for his books from the Paris dealers. Under the regulations which had been established for the French book-trade, regulations emanating in part from the University that had from an early period assumed the right to control bookselling, and in part from the Booksellers’ Guild itself, foreign dealers could do business in Paris only under a very narrow system of restrictions. They were forbidden either to buy or to sell at the Fairs of St. Germain and St. Laurent; they were forbidden to come to Paris more frequently than once a year, or to sojourn there for a longer period than three weeks, counting from the date of the opening of their bales; they were, further, forbidden to accept orders from any but the booksellers of the Guild (les libraires jurés). Bonaventure, the son of Louis, appears to have made, after 1624, regular annual sojourns in Paris. In 1626, he brought back with him to Leyden a series of unpublished letters of the scholar Scaliger, who had died in Leyden seventeen years before. Scaliger had held in Leyden the Chair of Belles-Lettres, and had done much to add to the prestige of the University. Among his pupils was Grotius. The list of the Leyden publications gives evidence that these Paris visits were utilised for the collection of material from French authors and editors. Against this kind of competition on the part of foreign publishers the French book-trade was evidently unable to frame any effective regulations.

One of the most distinctive of the Elzevir undertakings in foreign parts was the branch House established in 1632 in Copenhagen. The Danish community proved to be a good customer as well for the publications from Holland as for the books which the Elzevirs were able to supply to advantage from Germany, Italy, and France. One evidence of the importance attached by the Elzevirs to this branch House in Copenhagen was the printing (in 1642) of a separate catalogue of the books there offered for sale. The first of the Elzevirs to visit Denmark was probably Louis (the second) in 1632. There are references to later visits by him in 1634, and in 1637. On the occasion of his first visit, he had opened a shop and appointed a permanent representative. The record of the town library of Copenhagen contains an entry of the payment to Elzevir, in 1632, of two hundred and sixty-four rigsdaler for books imported, and of a further payment, in 1634, of one hundred and twenty rigsdaler.[137]

In 1650, it was Daniel who represented the House in the North, sojourning in both Sweden and Denmark, and having for his travelling companion one of his famous authors, Nicholas Heinsius. While Daniel Elzevir was in Sweden, he received a proposition from Queen Christina to establish a printing and publishing concern in Stockholm. Christina of Sweden was a daughter of Gustavus Adolphus. She was at the time but twenty-eight years of age, but she had already given evidence of a strength of character and a brilliancy of intellect that made her personality a very distinctive one. She was a scholar of varied attainments and a great collector of books, and she was ambitious to make her capital city a literary centre for the North of Europe. Mr. Myrop speaks of the proposition made to Elzevir as being a very flattering one, and it is easy to understand that the ambitious Queen could hope to secure in her literary undertakings the kind of service she required from a House like the Elzevirs, who were alike the greatest publishers, the most distinguished printers, and the most extensive booksellers of their time. For some reason, however, the suggestion of a Stockholm branch did not happen to fit in with the policy of the House, and the proposition was declined.[138] A few years later, a printing and publishing concern was established in Stockholm, under the protection of King Charles Gustavus, by Johann Janssons of Amsterdam. The visit to Stockholm of Daniel Elzevir and his negotiations with Christina preceded by but four years the abdication of the brilliant but erratic Queen, which took place in 1654. She became a Catholic (her intention of abandoning Protestantism was one ground for her abdication) and made her home in Rome. She brought with her to Rome no less than 2145 books in manuscript, and after becoming a Roman citizen, she added to the collection several hundred valuable works. With a few exceptions, the entire collection now rests in the Vatican.

The most valuable of the books she had owned in Stockholm was the famous Codex Argenteus, which contains a portion of the Gospels in the Merso-Gothic version of Ulfilas. This Codex the Queen had, however, given away, before her abdication, to a certain Count Magnus de la Gardie, and it remained in Sweden, where it is still preserved as one of the greatest treasures of the State. Among the more important of the literary antiquities that the Queen had taken with her to Rome, were the codices of the Septuagint, written in the seventh century, several manuscripts dating from the Carlovingian times, a very old Psalter, and a copy of the Theodosian Code and the Laws of the Visigoths, which was said to have been written in the middle of the seventh century. There is also a fragment of the Theodosian Code, written in the Tironian character. In addition to this great series of manuscripts, the Queen left nearly six thousand printed books, an enormous library for a collection made as early as the middle of the seventeenth century. She died in 1689.[139]

The many who have admired the typographical chefs-d’œuvre which issued from the presses of the Elzevirs, neglect to give due credit to the name of the man to whose artistic skill is to be credited the designing and engraving of the punches from which were produced the exquisite Elzevir fonts of type. It is the general opinion of typographical experts that these fonts, in the beauty of their proportion, the delicacy of their outline, and the distinctive grace of their general effect, surpassed anything that had as yet been produced in Europe. The discovery that the designer of these fonts was Christophe Van Dyck is due to the researches of Willems. Van Dyck’s work appears to have been done between the years 1630 and 1640. The name is a famous one in the annals of the Netherlands, but there is, I understand, nothing to show that this artistic engraver and type-founder was connected with Sir Anthony Van Dyck, the Flemish painter. The latter was born in 1599, and died (in England) in 1641, so that the two men were, however, contemporaries.

During the larger portion of time in which the presses of the Elzevirs were active, the publishers had the advantage of carrying on their work under comparatively slight restrictions in the matter of government censorship, while to censorship on the part of the Church there are but few references. It is probable that during the seventeenth century the Press of the Dutch Republic was more untrammelled than that of any State in Europe. It is true that there is record of various edicts and regulations on the part of the States-General prohibiting the printing of libellous material, or of works directed against princes or governments which were allied with the Republic. There is also an occasional edict against the circulation of publications classed as “irreligious” or “obscene.” With the latter class of publications the Elzevirs took no part either as printers or as booksellers. It did occasionally happen, however, that they interested themselves in the production and in the circulation of publications, the purpose or influence of which might evoke criticisms or complaints from friendly governments or from individual statesmen. For such publications they found it wise to make use of some nom de presse or to issue the same without imprint of name or place. Such publications can be identified as coming from the Elzevirs either by means of books of account or through the evidence of their very distinctive fonts of type.

Among the books for the anonymous circulation of which the House was responsible, were the Defensio Regia of Saumaise, the Defensio Populi Anglicani of Milton, and the Mare Clausum of Selden. The interest of the Elzevirs in circulating the last named treatise (which was an argument to justify certain pretensions of England) is somewhat to be wondered at, because, only shortly before, they had published with their imprint the famous argument of Grotius, Mare Liberum, in which was upheld the Dutch contention in behalf of the freedom of the seas.

On a number of the unavowed publications of this kind, the Elzevirs placed the imprint Lugduni (Lyons), in place of Lugduni Batavorum (Leyden). This was done particularly in the case of the writings of the French Jansenists, who would not wish to emphasise the fact that these were printed in such an heretical headquarters as Leyden. One of the bogus names employed quite frequently for these unavowed publications was that of Jouxte, and another was Jean Sambix. The imprint of Nic Schouten, Köln, was also utilised, together with a number of mythical or manufactured names connected with actual places.

The Elzevirs, following the example set a century and a half earlier by Aldus, but since that time very generally lost sight of by the later publishers, initiated a number of series of books in small and convenient forms, twelvemo and sixteenmo, which were offered to book-buyers at prices considerably lower than those they had been in the habit of paying for similar material printed in folio, quarto, or octavo. For volumes of classics printed in twelvemo, such as the Virgil of 1636, the Pliny of 1640, and the Cicero of 1642, volumes containing an average of five hundred pages, the catalogue price was one florin, the equivalent in currency of about forty-three cents. Quintus Curtius, published in 1633, is catalogued at sixteen sous, the equivalent of thirty-five cents. Sallust, Terence, and Florus, sold at fifteen sous; and Livy, in three volumes, at four florins ten sous.

These well edited, carefully printed, and low priced editions of the classics won for the Elzevirs the cordial appreciation of scholars and of students throughout Europe. Matthew Berneggerus, professor of Strasburg, in the preface to his translation of Galileo’s System of the Universe, speaks of the Elzevirs as unquestionably the first typographers of the world, Elzevirios Leydenses typographus, artis nobilissime facile princeps universio de studiis præclare meritos. The professor was writing in 1635, only six years after the appearance of the earliest of the noteworthy specimens of the Elzevir typography, which gives the impression that, notwithstanding all the general obstacles and the special hindrances of war times, the diffusion of information concerning new publications, at least in the university centres, must have been fairly prompt. A few years later, Galileo (who died in 1642) himself gave testimony to the excellence of the work done by his Dutch publishers.[140] I do not find record of the arrangements entered into by Galileo for the publication of the translation of his treatise, but it is evident that he considered the undertaking a desirable one. The approval on the part of the scholars of these smaller and more economical editions of the Elzevirs was, however, not unanimous. The scholar, De Put (Erycius Puteanus), writing to Heinsius, in 1629, to acknowledge the receipt of the new Horace, says: “The Elzevirs are certainly great typographers. I can but think, however, that their reputation will suffer in connection with these trifling little volumes with such slender type. An author like Horace deserves to be produced in a dignified form, with a certain majesty of appearance, and not to have his thoughts buried in shabby little type like this.” It was not unnatural that the long-time association of great authors with big volumes should have brought about the impression, not easily to be outgrown, that the size of the book should be in direct proportion to the literary importance of its contents. This view of the requirements and limitations of book-making was, however, based on the assumption that books were for the use of the wealthier classes only, or for placing in libraries which were accessible only to privileged bodies of scholars. The tendency of the age was, on the other hand, towards a continually increasing distribution of literature among impecunious scholars and with the public at large; and the Elzevirs, while doubtless shaping their publishing plans with a view to securing the largest business returns, were also, in popularising the best literature, doing their part towards the spread of the higher education of the community.

Some authors of their time were, in fact, so fully appreciative of the service rendered to their fame by the circulation of their writings in the attractive form given to them by the Elzevirs, that in place of considering the appropriation of their productions as a grievance, they were ready to express their satisfaction at the compliment thus paid to them. In 1648, the Elzevirs printed an unauthorised edition of Les Lettres Choisies of Balzac (Jean Louis Guez), putting on the title-page, according to their usual routine for “appropriated” books, the words Suivant la copie imprimée à Paris. So far was the author from feeling any annoyance at this proceeding, that he promptly wrote to express his gratification, and to suggest that the Elzevirs might also be interested in publishing in the same form an edition of his Œuvres Diverses. A further correspondence followed, and finally the Elzevirs received from Balzac (some time in 1651) a letter of which the following is the substance:

“To the Elzevirs,

Publishers and Printers of Leyden.

Gentlemen:

I am under larger obligations to you than you may yourselves fully realise. I consider the right of Roman citizenship to be a small privilege compared with that which you have conferred upon me in including my name in the list of your authors. This is to give me rank with the consuls and senators of Rome; I am made an associate of the Ciceros and the Sallusts. What glory comes to me when I can say ‘I am a citizen of the Republic of Immortals; I have been received into the circle of the demi-gods.’ In the literary palace of Leyden we have in fact all been made sojourners under the same roof. Thanks to your efforts, I find myself at one moment opposite Pliny, at the next by the side of Seneca, or a little later placed with Tacitus and Livy; and although I may myself occupy but an inconsiderable place, I have at least the satisfaction of making part of a great company, a company of which Homer himself is the patriarch.... For them, as for myself, the repute has been extended by the skill and judgment of the typographical artist. For some architects reputation has come through the construction of pyramids and colossi, while others have gained no less fame through the art put into rings and seals.... The excellence of work depends not upon its extent but upon its appropriateness and perfection. I am therefore well pleased for my part that in place of putting me into folio, you have printed my productions in these exquisite little volumes.... I subscribe myself

Your obliged servant,

Balzac.”[141]

The letter is worth quoting if only to indicate the different point of view of the author of the seventeenth century and of him of the nineteenth. The letters written, prior to the Convention of Berne, by the Parisian authors of the present time concerning the books which the publishers of the Low Countries had done them the honour of reprinting, are expressed in a very different manner.

In 1663, Daniel Elzevir had consented (this is the phrase used in the correspondence) to reprint a collection of the poetry of Ménage. The poet was so well pleased to have secured the imprint of the great publisher of Europe, that he took pains to insert in the volume an introduction in Latin verse to express his gratification. The lines begin somewhat as follows:

At the time when Ménage was expressing in florid eloquence his gratification at being accepted as an Elzevir author, the new typographical form had finally established itself against all criticism. A large proportion of the publishers, not only of the Netherlands, but also of Paris and of Florence, had adopted the Elzevir model, and the folios and quartos which had characterised the first two centuries of printing were put to one side as representing the literature of the middle ages. The earlier forms of printed volumes, at least in the divisions of classics and theology, were preserved to a later date in England than on the Continent.

As was necessarily the case with a firm acting as printers for the University and whose publications included so long a list of scholarly works, the Elzevirs had associated with their publishing office a group of scholarly editors and press-revisers. Apart also from the men who were directly in their employ or with whom they had arranged for editorial service, they enjoyed the benefit of the suggestions and the counsel of a number of scholarly friends and correspondents, without whose aid it would in fact not have been practicable to initiate or to carry on to a successful completion not a few of their important undertakings. The adviser whose coöperation was most important, and whose influence in directing the publishing policy of the House was most considerable, was Daniel Heinsius. After the year 1630, Heinsius acted as the chief literary adviser of the House, and to his hand can be traced a number of the dedicatory epistles, announcements, and introductions which (written nearly always in Latin) found place in a large number of the Elzevir editions.

Heinsius was a native of Ghent. He studied at Leyden, where he was the favourite pupil, and, later, the successor of the celebrated Scaliger. He filled in succession the Chairs in the University, of Greek, of History, and of Political Science. Later, he was placed in charge of the library of the University, and served also as secretary of the Academic Senate. He was so far accepted as an authority on orthodox Calvinistic theology that he was selected to be the secretary of the Synod of Dort. He possessed the faculty, not very common with a man of scholarship, of writing and speaking gracefully not only in Latin, the literary language of the time, but also in his mother tongue. The young publisher, Louis Elzevir, while a man of ready intelligence and of rather varied attainments, had never had the leisure or the opportunity for scholarship. He may well, therefore, have considered himself fortunate in being able to secure at the outset of his ambitious publishing schemes the coöperation of a man like Heinsius, and it is not surprising that the influence of the professor became all-important in the direction of the publishing business. In many ways this relation was a fortunate one, but there were some offsetting considerations. The scholars of the time appear to have been not only a controversial but an irritable group, and Heinsius possessed the genus irritabile to an exceptionable degree. He succeeded in embroiling the firm with a number of its scholarly friends and correspondents whose influence and whose coöperation it was important to retain. He was charged with having a special prejudice against, or hate of the German scholars, even of those who had associated themselves with Flemish or Dutch institutions. Among the men of note in the scholarly world who brought accusations against Heinsius for bad treatment and for malice, and who contended that the Elzevirs were seriously interfering with their relations with the scholarly world in retaining as their adviser so bad tempered, so unreasonable and so malicious a person, were Gebhardt, who held in the University of Groningen the Chair of Greek, Grotius the well-known publicist, Vossius, and, above all, Saumaise. The controversies between Saumaise and Heinsius, controversies carried on in part, so to speak, over the bodies of their publishers, continued over a series of years, and might well have formed the subject of a text in Disraeli’s Amenities of Literature. Saumaise, or Salmasius, was by birth a Frenchman, and his earlier university work was carried on in Paris. He then became intimate with Casaubon, through whose influence he became a Protestant. Later, he studied at Heidelberg, and the years between 1632 and 1650 he was associated with the University of Leyden. He then, at the instance of Queen Christina, passed some years in Sweden. Famous in various departments of learning, he was probably the chief authority of his time on philology. At the request of Charles II., at the time an exile in Holland, Saumaise wrote, in 1649, his Defensio Regia pro Carolo I., which brought forth the more famous Defensio pro Populo Anglicano of Milton. Hallam says that “what Saumaise did not know was considered to be beyond the bounds of knowledge.”[142] Notwithstanding some frictions caused by the antagonism of Daniel Heinsius, Saumaise remained a valued friend to two generations of the Elzevirs, by whom were issued editions of most of his works. The most important of them was Plinianæ Exercitationes in c. j. Solini Polyhistoria, published (by Bonaventure) in two volumes in 1629, three years before the author’s arrival in Leyden.

Bonaventure, whose control of the business had covered the most noteworthy and prosperous years of the Leyden House, died, as we have noted, in 1652. Among the undertakings which were at the time in train and which were interrupted by his death, was a complete edition, based upon the Vatican manuscripts, of the Greek historian Procopius; a Latin version of the same, to be prepared by Grotius; a complete edition of Alemanus, edited by Holstenius; the complete works of Galileo, in folio; the Latin epistles of Grotius; the works of Montaigne, which were to follow Comines in the collection of French classics; an edition of Tacitus, edited by Gronovius; the Latin Dictionary of Calepino, as a companion to the Greek Lexicon of Scapula; and, finally, a complete and definitive edition of the Corpus Juris. This summary of the undertakings that were in hand during the month of Bonaventure’s death, gives an indication of the activity of the House at the time, and of the direction of its enterprises. The Corpus Juris was afterwards completed by the Amsterdam firm.

The most famous of the authors whose works were associated with the imprint of the second Louis, who was the founder of the publishing establishment of Amsterdam, were Descartes, Velthuysen, Wittichius, Coronius, Vossius, and Grotius. The first complete edition of the works of Descartes was issued in 1643, with the imprint of Louis of Amsterdam. The new philosophy became at once a cause of strife not only with the metaphysicians but with the theologians. The partisans of Aristotle made common cause with the ministers of the Reform Church against the “Cartesian heresies.”

By the year 1655, the publishing undertakings of the Amsterdam House exceeded in importance those issued from Leyden. It is with this date that the presses of Amsterdam begin to produce the series of Latin authors in the twelvemo form of which Leyden heretofore held the monopoly. It is also with this date that the Amsterdam imprint finds place upon the works of Balzac, Barclay, Charron, Du Refuye, etc. The most considerable of the undertakings of Louis of Amsterdam, in respect at least to the risk incurred and the investment required, was the French Bible of Desmarets, a work that had been begun in 1664 and that was completed, in two folio volumes, in 1669. This work was the culmination of the publishing career of Louis, whose death occurred in the year following its completion.

His successor in the management of the Amsterdam House, his cousin Daniel, gave to the business a large measure of skill, experience, judgment, and activity, which appears to have been without break. Daniel’s first experience as sole partner came in a time of difficulty. The disastrous war with England during the years 1665-1667 interfered very seriously with the general prosperity of the State, and caused special embarrassments to the book-trade and publishing interests. This was the war which resulted in the transfer to the English flag of the colony of New Amsterdam, thereafter to be known as New York. Daniel succeeded in weathering the storm, and by the time of the Peace of Breda, he had been able, with the aid of his editorial adviser Wetterus and of the skilled typographer Wetstein, to place the business on what seemed to be an assured foundation. One of his correspondents of the time was the ingenious Nicholas Thoynard, author of the Harmony of the Gospels. Thoynard gave special study to the possibility of improving the methods of printing, and, as early as 1680, put before Elzevir a scheme for placing on the presses formes solides, apparently the first suggestion of the modern stereotype plates. Daniel dismissed the scheme as impracticable. “To print two forms at one time,” he said, “is something absolutely impossible to carry out, and it would in any case be of no service.” Nicholas Heinsius (the son of Daniel Heinsius), who had first been associated with Daniel in Leyden, had, when the latter migrated to Amsterdam, transferred his own literary interests and editorial service to the Amsterdam House. The intimacy of the two men continued through their lives, and they died within a few months of each other.

The work of Heinsius as adviser for and business associate with his publishing friend was interrupted by various periods of public service, as he served as Ambassador both in Sweden and in Russia, but on being relieved from office, he always returned to his literary studies and to his friend’s publishing-office. It is somewhat surprising that the States-General should have favoured Heinsius with posts of honour, as he appears to have been wanting in public spirit, or at least in patriotic feeling. When, in 1674, the armies of Louis XIV. were carrying ruin and devastation through the territory of Holland, Heinsius, in a country retreat at Vianen (well out of the course of the campaigning) was amusing his leisure in composing verses in honour of the oppressor of his country, verses which he utilised later as a dedication to his Virgil. “The true country of Heinsius,” says his biographer, “was imperial Rome, and in looking upon Louis XIV. as Augustus, he thought of himself as a Horace or a Virgil.”

The war with France, which continued for six years (1672-1678), a war which brought with it all the horrors of occupation of the country by invading armies, caused almost a complete cessation of all business undertakings and of all literary enterprises. The presses stopped work and the book-shops were closed. The whole energy of the people (excepting only in the case of an occasional dilettante like Heinsius) was concentrated in the defence of the country. Daniel Elzevir devoted a part of this period of enforced idleness to the preparation of a classified catalogue of his general stock, a catalogue more extensive and more comprehensive than any heretofore issued. Daniel died in 1680, in the midst of a long series of unfinished undertakings and of literary plans. Graevius, in sending the news to Heinsius, says, “This is a great loss to letters.” The philosopher Locke writes, “The death of Elzevir is a public misfortune.” Such indeed was the universal feeling throughout the world of letters and the community of scholars. With the death of Daniel, the history of the House of Elzevir comes to a close. Some printing of college theses was, in 1680, still being done by Abraham in Leyden, but the work of the great family, which had for nearly a century stood at the head of the book-making and of the bookselling business of Europe, occupying the first places alike among typographers, publishers, and booksellers, was completed. Daniel left no son, and the widow dying the year following, the concern was wound up by the administrators.

The limits of this sketch will not permit even a summary of the long list of books issued by the Elzevirs during this century in which they were doing business as publishers. It is only practicable to refer to the general character of these publications and to point out that they included the most considerable and comprehensive series of important literature that had been associated with any imprint since the invention of printing, while it is also in order to remember that a very large proportion of the volumes represented the highest development of the art of typography. After two centuries of competition, the country of Koster had, in the work of the printing-press, unquestionably outclassed the country of Gutenberg and the rest of the world.

The publishing career of Louis Elzevir, the founder of the House, continued from 1583 to 1617, a period of thirty-four years. During this term he published a hundred and one separate works. His first book, the work which initiated the publishing undertakings of the Elzevirs, bears the title:

“Drusii Ebraicarum quæstrinum, sive quæstrinum æ responsionum, libri duo, videlicet secondus œ tertrus. In Academia Lugdunensi.” 8vo. 1582

The following were the more noteworthy of the later publications of Louis:

“Chronique et Histoire Universelle,” etc., “Par Jean Carion, Ph. Melanchthon, et Gaspar Pencer,” 2 vols., 8vo. This was the first work printed in French by the Elzevirs. 1596

Sundry Treatises of Scaliger.

A Memoir of Scaliger by Heinsius. 1607

The first work of an author whose name was to appear in the Elzevir lists more frequently than that of any other writer.

Certain works of Aristotle, edited by Heinsius. 1609

The complete works of Horace, edited by Heinsius. 1612

The Essays of Heinsius. 1612

The Homilies of Heinsius. 1613

The Letters of Puteanus. 1614

A History of the Frisians, by Emmius. 1616

“The Catechism of the Reformed Church.” 1617

With a few exceptions in Dutch and in French, the works of Louis were printed in Latin.

The greater number bear on their title-page the words cum privilegio. The privilege, when secured, was issued by the States-General, and the usual term was from ten to fifteen years. I find in the catalogue of titles no specification (such as was at this time usual in France) of an official censorship.

The association of Matthew, Bonaventure, and Abraham Elzevir, who succeeded to the business of their father Louis, and with whom was associated as the printer to the concern their brother, Isaac Elzevir, continued from 1617 to 1625. During these seven years, they published one hundred and twenty-two separate works and editions. I specify certain of the more important:

The works of the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, edited by Mersius. 8vo. 1617

The Decisions of the Courts of Holland, Zealand, and West Frisia, edited by Weytsen. 4to. 1617

The Life of Thuanus, by Heinsius. Folio. 1617

The Lectures of Mersius on Greek Literature. 4to. 1617

The “Mare Liberum” of Grotius. 8vo. 1618

The Works of Puteanus. 8vo. 1618

The writings of Julius Cæsar. 8vo. 1619

The complete works of Mersius. 2 vols. 8vo. 1619

An Analysis of the Arminian Heresy, by Peter Molinæus. 4to. 1619

The works of Terence, edited by Maretus. 8vo. 1619

The Acts of the Synod of Dort. Folio. 1620

The Orations of Heinsius, a reissue. 8vo. 1620

The Works of Aristotle, edited by Heinsius. 8vo. 1621

Paraphrase of the Psalms of David, by George Buchanan. 24mo. 1621

The Poetical works of George Buchanan. 8vo. 1621

Various Treatises of Heinsius. 4to. 1621

Essays and Addresses of Mersius. 4to. 1621

The works of Virgil, edited by Mersius. 8vo. 1622

The New Testament in Greek. 8vo. 1622

History of the Saracens, by George Elmacenus. 4to. 1625

Further Orations and Treatises of Heinsius and of Mersius. 8vo. 1625

The “Epistles” of Sir Thomas More. 8vo. 1625

The Psalms of David, printed in Syriac (from the press of Erpenius). 8vo. 1625

“Republica Anglicorum,” by Thomas Smith. 8vo. 1625

The third concern, comprising Bonaventure and Abraham, continued from 1625 to 1652, a period of twenty-seven years. Their list comprises four hundred and sixty-one works. These included: A long series of Greek and Latin classics, in the new twelvemo form. The texts were officially adopted or prescribed for use by the University, and the titles bear the words editus in usum scholarum Hollandiæ et West Frisiæ; ex decreto Illustriss. D. D. Ordinum ejusdem provinciæ. There is also a long series of theological works, an increasing proportion of which are printed in Dutch, indicating an extending popular interest in this class of literature.

A Series of Court Decisions and of Codes.

A new edition of the works of Scaliger.

The Oriental Series of Erpenius.

“L’Académie de l’espée,” de Girard Thibault d’Anvers. Folio, with 46 elaborate double or folding plates. 1628

This was the most sumptuous publication yet issued by the Elzevirs. It was protected by privileges from both the King of France and the States-General.

A Description of the West Indies, by John de Laet, in Dutch, with maps. 4to. 1628

The Babylonian “Talmud.” Folio, with plates. 4to. 1630

The “Republica Anglicorum,” by Thos. Smith (a reissue)

The Histories of Quintus Rufus, edited by Heinsius. 12mo. 1633

The Essays of Grotius. 24mo. 1633

The Mathematical works of Simon Stevin, of Bruges. Folio. 1634

A series of Treatises on Fortification, by Fritach. Folio. 1635

The works of Galileo, translated into Latin by Berneggerus. 4to. 1635

The Natural History of Pliny. 3 vols. 12mo. 1635

The Life of Tamerlane, in Arabic. 4to. 1636

The Dissertation of Beza on the Plague. 12mo. 1636

The “Colloquies” of Erasmus. 12mo. 1636

The “Mare Clausum” of John Selden. 12mo. 1636

“Le Cid. Tragi-comédie nouvelle, par le Sieur Corneille. Jouxte, suivant la copie imprimée à Paris.” 8vo. 1638

This volume belongs to the books (the list of which is quite considerable) which were “appropriated” by the Elzevirs.

Their edition was issued in 1638, two years after the first appearance of the tragedy in Paris. It was the third work of the dramatist, and probably the first which made his name known outside of France.

“L’Annaeus Florus,” Cl. Salmasius addidit Lucium Ampelium, etc. 12mo. 1638

This publication brought out a complaint from the learned editor, who had evidently not been consulted concerning the reissue, and who did not think the small form of the volume was fitting for the dignity of either the author or the editor. He writes in May, 1683, as follows: “Je suis en cholère contre les Elzevirs, de ce qu’ils ont mis mon nom au Florus à mon insceu et contre ma volonté. Je suis meshui trop vieux pour rechercher de la réputation par de si petites rubriques, oultre que de tout temps j’ai toujours esté ennemi de la vanité. Ces gens ne sont dévoués qu’ à leur proffit, et ne se soucient point aux despens de qui.”[143] Later, Salmasius forgave his Dutch publishers, and came into friendly relations with them.

A treatise by Salmasius (Saumaise) in defense of Usury. 8vo. 1638

The treatise of Comenius entitled “A golden method for the mastery of four languages” (Latin, German, French, and Italian). 8vo. 1642

This had a great popularity.

The complete works of Grotius. 8vo. 1642

Various reissues of the different works of Heinsius. 12mo. 1642

The Greek Commentaries of Salmasius. 8vo. 1643

“L’Illustre Théâtre de Corneille.” This edition, printed in 1644, bears the Elzevir imprint. It is probable, however, that like the “Jouxte” issue of the “Cid,” it was unauthorised. 12mo. 1644

“De la Sagesse,” by Charron. 12mo. 1646

This had been issued in Paris in 1592. The author died in 1603.

“Lettres Choisies du Sieur de Balzac. Suivant la copie imprimée à Paris.” 12mo. 1648

A Greek version (attributed to Hierotheus, abbot of Cephalonia) of the Confession of faith of the Reformed Church. 4to. 1648

Further Treatises of Saumaise. 8vo. 1648

“Defensio Regio pro Carolo I.” by Saumaise. 8vo. 1649

A third edition, revised by the author, was issued in 1652, by the Amsterdam House.

“Histoire du ministère d’Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Duc de Richelieu,” etc. 4 vols. 12mo. 1650

“Les Oeuvres Diverses” du Sieur de Balzac. 12mo. 1651

The firm of John and Daniel Elzevir continued for three years, from 1652 to 1655, during which time it published fifty-four works. The list includes an increasing proportion of light literature. I cite a few titles:

“Recueil de Diverses Poésies.” 12mo. 1652

“Les Satyres” by Sieur Regnier. 12mo. 1652

A collection of Proverbs from Greek Authors, in Greek. 4to. 1653

The Poems of Nicholas Heinsius (son of Daniel). 12mo. 1653

“The Civil Polity” of Thomas Hobbes, translated by Sorbière. 12mo. 1653

Burlesque versions, in French, of Homer’s “Odyssey,” and of the “Odes” of Horace. 12mo. 1653

These two volumes bear the bogus imprint of “John Sambix,” as if the Elzevirs were somewhat ashamed to be associated with such frivolities.

“The Imitation of Christ,” by Thomas à Kempis, in Latin. 12mo. 1653

The most beautiful edition that had yet been printed of the famous Catholic Classic. The imprint is “Lugduni,” instead of “Lugduni Batavorum,” because the publishers expected to secure for it a sale in Catholic countries.

The “Institutes” of Calvin, in Latin. Folio. 1654

“Polyeucte martyr,” tragédie de Corneille. Chez “Jean Sambix.” 12mo. 1655

“Le Romant comique,” par Scarron. Chez “Jean Sambix.” 12mo. 1655

John Elzevir carried on the business for six years, from 1655 to 1661, during which time he printed one hundred and twelve works.

Among these were the following:

The works of Huygens, in Latin, reissue. 1655

These had been originally printed in 1644 by Bonaventure, and it is noted that the expense was borne by the author. We may, therefore, conclude that the reissue was a venture of the publishers. Huygens, who was famous as a physicist and a mathematician, lived till 1695.

“Lettres de Monsieur de Marigny.” 12mo. 1655

“A defence of the Doctrines of the Socinians,” by an unknown writer who uses the name of Slichtingius, in Latin. 4to. 1656

A Refutation of the same, by Cocceius, in Latin. 8vo. 1656

The fact that an Elzevir was willing to issue with his own imprint a Socinian volume, is evidence of an increasing liberality of view either of the University or of the publishers.

“Les Comédies de Scarron.” 12mo. 1659

(The author died the year following.)

“Medical Treatises of Celsius.” 12mo. 1657

“Les Lettres de Monsieur Descartes.”

Further Treatises of Salmasius, in Latin. 8vo. 1659

The Treatises of Hippocrates, in Greek and Latin. 8vo. 1659

“Les Oeuvres du Sieur de Balzac,” reissue, after the death of the author. 3 vols. 12mo. 1659

“Des Lettres Provinciales,” and “La Théologie Morale des Jésuites,” etc., of Pascal. 8vo. 1659

These two volumes, issued 8vo, 1659, bear the bogus imprint, “À Cologne, chez Nicholas Schoute.”

They had first appeared in Paris in 1656. Pascal died in 1662.

“Recueil de diverses pièces servans à l’histoire de Henry III.” 12mo. Bogus imprint, “À Cologne, chez P. du Marteau”. 1660

Treatises of Hippocrates, in Greek and Latin. 12mo. 1661

The widow of John continued the business for twenty years, from 1661 to 1681. During this period she issued or printed forty-seven works.

These included:

“The Bible,” printed in Dutch, in a handsome folio volume. 1663

“Mémoires Maréschal de Bassompierre.” 2 vols. 12mo. 1665

“À Cologne, chez Pierre du Marteau.”

“Hippocrates,” complete works, in Latin. The first edition issued to this date. 24mo. 1666

Abraham Elzevir, with whose life was terminated the record of the Leyden House, carried on the business for thirty-one years, from 1681 to 1712, during which time he printed but twenty-three works.

The last twenty years were devoted, as stated, entirely to the printing of theses, the publishing business having gradually been allowed to rust out.

His publications and printings included:

“Bibliotheca Heinsiana,” a catalogue of the collection of Nicholas Heinsius.

Epictetus, the “Enchiridion” of, in Latin, and various Funeral Orations and Memorial addresses on William III., of England, who died in 1702.

Louis Elzevir, the second of the name, initiated, in 1638, the publishing business of the Amsterdam House, which he conducted until 1655, when he was joined by his cousin Daniel, from Leyden.

During these seventeen years he published one hundred and eighty works. His first publication belonged to a lighter class of literature than had previously been associated with the Elzevir imprint. It bore the title: Dominici Baudii Amores, edente Petro Scriverio, inscripti. Th. Graswinkelio, equiti. 12mo. 1638. It comprised a series of letters and views in which Baudius gives an account of his various amorous misadventures. Willems speaks of the work as originating in Holland, but I do not understand that it could very well have been the work of the Baudius who held the Chair of History in Leyden up to 1613.

“Renati Descartes, Meditationes de primo-philosophia,” etc. 2 vols. 1642

On the title-page of the second volume appear the words cum authoris concensu.

Hooft’s “Nederlandsche Historien,” etc. Folio. 2 vols. This work was the most important of the Dutch national histories which had thus far appeared. Although published by Elzevir, it was printed by Blaen, who was a connection of the author. The first volume was issued in 1642, and the last only in 1654. The author died in 1647.

“Rerum Scoticarum historia, auctore Georgio Buchanano.” 8vo. 1643

“Renati Descartes Principia philosophiæ, cum privilegio.” 4to. 1644

” specimina philosophiæ, cum privilegio.” 4to. 1644

At the time of the publication of these first editions of treatises which were to revolutionise the thought or at least the metaphysical theories of Europe, Descartes was living at The Hague. He died in Stockholm (whither he had been called by Queen Christina) in 1650.

The works of Descartes were reprinted by the Amsterdam House no less than six times.

“Thomæ Cartwright, S. S. Theol. in Academia Cantabrigensi quondam professoris. Harmonia Evangelica,” etc. 4to. 1647

“Elementa philosophica de cive, auctore Thom. Hobbes, Malmesburiensi.” 12mo. 1647

The author was at this time 59 years old. He lived to be 91, dying in 1679.

Fr. Baconis de Verulamio “Sylva Sylvarum.” 12mo. 1648

“Les Passions de l’Ame, par René Descartes.” 8vo. 1649

“L’Alcoran de Mahomet, traduit d’arabic en françois par le Sieur du Ryer, suivant la copie imprimée à Paris,” etc. Another issue of the same date bears the words “Jouxte la copie,” the old indication of an “appropriated” work.

A series of Latin and Greek classics in 12mo, in the general style of the series issued some years earlier in Leyden, was published between the years 1640 and 1655.

“Adagiorum Des. Erasmi Roterodami epitome.” 12mo. 1650

“Colloquia Desid. Erasmi Roterodami, nunc emendatiora,” etc. 12mo. 1650

“Hugonis Grotii, quaedam haetenus inedita aliaque ex belgice editio latine versa,” etc. 12mo. 1652

“Francisci Baconi Scripta in naturali et universali philosophia.” 12mo. 1653

“Historia Gothorum, Vandalorum et Longobardorum, ab Hugone Grotio,” etc. 8vo. 1655

With this important history, Louis completed the record of his individual publications.

Louis and David Elzevir were associated from 1655 to 1664, a period of nine years, during which time they published one hundred and forty-nine works. These included a number of new editions of works previously published by the House, either in Leyden or in Amsterdam.

I cite the following titles, omitting all reissues:

“Le secrétaire à la mode, par le Sieur de la Serre, contenant l’instruction d’escrire des lettres,” etc. 12mo. 1656

“Le Pastissier François.” 12mo. 1656

Two volumes of practical household instruction, forming an exception to the general character of the list.

“Johannis Maccovii, S. S. Theol. Doct. et Profess. Opuscula philosophica omnia,” etc. 4to. 1660

“Histoire du Roy Henri le Grand, composé par messire Hardouin de Perefixe, ci-devant précepteur du roi.” 12mo. 1661

Hugo Grotius, “de Veritate religionis christianæ.” 12mo. 1662

This work was later reprinted by the Elzevirs five times.

“Corpus juris civilis, Pandectis ad Florentinum archetypum expressio,” etc. 2 volumes. Folio. This is described as the most beautiful piece of typography produced from the Press of the msterdam House. 1663

Four volumes of the “Comedies” of Molière, printed (in French) “suivant la copie imprimée à Paris.”

The last of these, “L’Étourdi,” was printed the same year in which the original appeared in Paris.

Molière’s first comedy, “Les précieuses Ridicules,” was performed and was printed in 1659. He died in 1673.

“Les Oeuvres” de M. François Rabelais. 2 vols. 12mo. 1663

“Recueil de quelques pièces nouvelles et galantes tant en prose qu’en vers. ‘À Cologne, chez Pierre du Marteau.’”

One of the pieces of “lighter” literature upon which the Elzevirs did not wish to place their imprint, and they, therefore, utilise their “John Doe,” the mythical du Marteau of Cologne.

“Dictionarium gallico-germanico-latinum. Dictionnaire françois-allemand-latin, par Nathanael Duez, avec priviléges.” 4to. 1115 pp. 1664

The final publication of the firm was a reissue of the Heinsius edition of Virgil, printed in 1664.

Daniel Elzevir, with whose death terminated the publishing work of the House, carried on the business after the retirement of his cousin, from 1664 to 1680, a period of sixteen years. During this term, he published two hundred and fifty-nine works, a very large proportion of which were reissues, often corrected and improved, of the earlier publications of the House.

I cite a few titles, omitting for the most part the re-issues.

The first undertaking was a third edition of the “Oeuvres diverses du Sieur de Balzac,” which had evidently retained their popularity for Dutch readers.

“Il Decameron di Messer Giovanni Boccacci, cittadino Fiorentino,” etc. 12mo. 1665

“Les constitutions du monastère de Port Royal du S. Sacrement, avec privilége et approbation.” 12mo. 1665

Issued without imprint.

“Recueil des défenses de M. Fouquet.” 5 vols. 12mo. 1665

“Suite du Recueil des Défenses de M. Fouquet.” 7 vols. 12mo. 1667

“Conclusion des Défenses,” etc. 1 vol. 12mo. 1668

These volumes appeared without imprint, but were promptly identified in Paris as coming from Elzevir.

Fouquet, who died in 1680, had been minister of Finance for Louis XIV., and had achieved exceptional success in dissipating the resources of the realm. His trial lasted three years, and he was condemned to imprisonment for life.

“Le Nouveau Testament” from the Vulgate. “À Mons, chez Gaspard Migeot.” 2 vols. 12mo. 1667

This is the first edition of this translation, known as the “New Testament of Mons.” It was printed for Migeot by Elzevir, and was also sold by Elzevir in the Low Countries.

“La Vie du Roy Almansor, écrite par le vertueux capitaine Aly Abencufian, traduit de l’espagnol par le P. Fr. d. Obeilh.” 12mo. 1671

“Les Fourberies de Scapin” and the other comedies of Moliere were printed by Elzevir promptly after their appearance in Paris.

“Augustini Confessionum Sommalii.”

This bears the imprint Lugduni (Lyons), in place of Lugduni Batavorum, for the purpose, as before explained, of facilitating its sale in Catholic countries. This was one of the first editions of the Fathers of the Church issued by the Elzevirs.

“Les Oeuvres complètes de Molière.” 5 vols. 12mo. 1675

“P. Virgilii Maronis, Opera. Nic. Heinsius recensuit.” 12mo. 1676

A famous specimen of the best of the typography of the Elzevir Press. The long series of Latin classics previously issued by his uncle and cousins were frequently reprinted by Daniel, indicating that the increasing reputation secured for the series had kept them in continued demand throughout Europe.

“Gierusalemme Liberata, poema heroico del Sig. Torquato Tasso,” printed in the Italian, with twenty illustrations. 2 vols. 1678

Several other of Tasso’s poems were, later, issued by Elzevir. Tasso had died in 1595.

The last work issued by Daniel Elzevir was an edition by Francis Delebve of the “Opera medica” of Sylvius, printed in a handsome quarto volume.

The widow of Daniel Elzevir (who survived him but a year) was able to complete the printing of a few volumes which had been left unfinished, but the publishing record of the House was practically closed with the death of Daniel in 1680.

The Elzevirs had carried on business as printers, publishers, and booksellers, in their several Houses in Leyden, Amsterdam, Utrecht, and The Hague, from 1583 to 1681, a period covering nearly a century. Their several catalogues give the titles of 1608 separate works or editions issued or printed by them during this time, an average of about sixteen each year. It was naturally the case, however, that the publications issued annually during the later period very much exceeded those for which the founder of the House was responsible.

A very large proportion, and, as the years went by, an increasing proportion of the publications of each year consisted of new editions of the earlier issues of the House, but it is to be borne in mind that while, as a rule, these reissues did not call for further publishing initiative or editorial labour they did require an entire resetting of the type, and, therefore, involved a repetition (except perhaps as to the item of illustrations) of the first publishing outlay. The invention of stereotyping and electro-typing, by means of which the form of type once set can be cast, and the plates preserved for use in printing further editions, belongs to a later century. The process of stereotyping was probably first perfected in Paris in 1795, by Firmin Didot.

The categories and bibliographies from which I have cited the preceding statistics include not only the books printed and published by the Elzevirs, but the more important of the works which were printed by them for the account of other publishers, and which were, therefore, not issued with their publishing imprint. In the majority of instances, however, the Elzevirs retained, in their hands as booksellers, the agencies for the sale of these books for the Low Countries, for Scandinavia, and frequently for Germany. The lists cited also include the titles of certain books (the number being at best but inconsiderable) which, while published by the Elzevirs, had been printed for them by other printers; and, finally, they include the titles of a number of works which, while not bearing the name of Elzevir, and in fact usually having on their title-page a Lyons or a Cologne imprint, have been identified, through the character of their typography, as coming from one of the Elzevir printing-offices, while, later, it was discovered, chiefly through the investigation of Willems, that for certain classes of books the Elzevirs had made a practice of utilising one of two or three bogus imprints which they had invented for the purpose. By far the larger proportion of the Elzevir publications, probably more than nine-tenths, were printed in Latin. The texts in French were the next in importance, followed, in the order named, by those in Dutch, Greek, Italian, and Arabic.

The general character of the literature in the production of which the family had interested itself, is indicated, however roughly, by the titles cited. The books belonged, in the main, to the class that would to-day be described as “heavy literature.” The classics, Greek and Latin, form the larger portion of the list, while there were also groups of important works in Calvinistic Theology, Metaphysics, Medicine, Natural Science, Political Science, History, and Biography. Fiction and legend were represented not at all, and poetry to but an inconsiderable extent. The dramatic list, while not large, was important, including as it did the great productions of Corneille and Molière.

The works of the Fathers of the Church, which had formed so important a portion of the undertakings of the printer-publishers of the preceding century, were represented on the Elzevir list only by an edition of the Confessions of S. Augustine. It is evident that the demand for these had been naturally lessened by the influence of the Reformation. It is rather surprising that the Elzevirs did not give a larger measure of attention to the publication of editions of the Scriptures, as the interest in the Bible was unquestionably very great in the communities which had accepted the Calvinistic and Lutheran doctrines. According to the catalogues, however, they published during the century but one edition of the Bible in Dutch and one in French. To these should be added several issues of the New Testament, printed in Greek, and evidently planned to meet the University requirements. The most noteworthy publishing undertaking, and the one which probably brought to the name of Elzevir the largest measure of prestige throughout Europe, and also the largest business returns, was the magnificent series of Classics, printed in duodecimo.

While by far the larger proportion of the publications of the century were the work of authors of a past generation, the Elzevir catalogues included the names of a number of contemporary writers, the works of whom have achieved an abiding fame. Without repeating the catalogue, I will refer here only to Descartes, Galileo, Grotius, Salmasius, Heinsius (father and son), Molière, Hobbes, etc. The historians of the Elzevirs do not give (doubtless because they have not been able to find) the record of the arrangements entered into between these contemporary authors and their publishers. They can only point out that, according to the evidence of the correspondence, the relations between the Elzevirs and the scholars resident in the Low Countries, whose works they printed, appear to have been very satisfactory, and resulted in a number of cases in close personal friendship. As far as the foreign authors were concerned, the Elzevirs appear to have followed simply the dictates of their own convenience and advantage. They took what material they thought they could use, without troubling themselves to make either requests or acknowledgments. They were, in fact, the most extensive piratical publishers that the world had as yet seen, and may be said to have reduced piracy to a business system.

It would, however, be very absurd to pass judgment by the standard of later times, upon the literary appropriations of the publishers of the seventeenth century. It is not probable that either the Elzevirs or their publishing contemporaries had any thought that in reprinting French, English, or German books, they were causing wrong either to the writers or to the original publishers, or that their action could be considered as an interference with any existing rights. Using the term in its strict legal sense, there were, of course, at this time no “rights” in literary productions outside of the territory covered by any particular “privilege.” The Elzevirs were accustomed to protect their own books, both the works of contemporary authors and the editions of old time writers, by privileges covering the territories of the Republic, and they occasionally secured also a privilege from the French Crown.

It does not appear that any of the foreign works reprinted by them had been placed under the protection of a Dutch privilege, and, in fact, I find no references in the correspondence that has been preserved to any questions of infringement of privilege protection, with which the Elzevirs had to do either as complainants or as defendants. It is probable that even in the territory covered by a privilege, the difficulty of enforcing the same under the law was considerable, and that publishers and editors found it wise for the most part to accept the annoyance of interference and of competition rather than to incur the labour and expense of an appeal to the authorities. It was also doubtless the case that the superior facilities for production and for distribution possessed by the Elzevirs, enabled them to protect themselves pretty effectively against any unauthorised competition, at least in the Low Countries.

I find record of no complaints from Molière, Scarron, or Hobbes, or from any other of the foreign authors whose works the Elzevirs printed, and it is probable either that these authors did not think it worth while to waste words on an evil for which there was no remedy, or that (as was the case with the Sieur de Balzac, whose letters have been quoted) they considered the issue of Elzevir editions of their writings as an honour which added to their literary fame.

While many details have been preserved of the business history of the Elzevirs, I find no reference to their books of account, and no record of manufacturing expenditures such as has been preserved of the Antwerp publisher, Plantin. I have, therefore, been unable to ascertain what payments were made to the home authors like Descartes, Grotius, Heinsius, and others, of whose works repeated editions were issued. As these later editions were in the majority of cases revised by the authors themselves, it is evident that they must have been published under some satisfactory arrangement. It would also have been interesting to ascertain what remuneration was paid for editorial service, especially in such undertakings as the great series of Classics, for translations, for the work of press supervision, and for the service of literary counsel, of which the Elzevirs secured from scholarly associates a very full measure. But the data for such information are not available.

There is a similar lack of information concerning the success or the lack of success of the different publishing undertakings. We can only conclude from the fact that so large a proportion of the books printed reached later editions, in some cases being reprinted five or six times, that for these works, at least, a continued and a remunerative sale was secured. The references in the correspondence from different parts of Europe give evidence that the most important of the undertakings of the House, the series of Latin and Greek Classics, had won for itself a favourable reception with students and scholars in far distant educational centres, and it is evident that the total sale of these volumes must have been very considerable.

There is also what might be called the negative testimony to the general success of the publishing judgment of the Elzevirs, that there is record on their long list of no single undertaking of importance which proved a burdensome failure, as was the case, for instance, with the great Bible of Plantin. It was certainly the case that the thorough organisation of the bookselling business of the House, an organisation which included connections not only throughout the Netherlands, but with the principal book-centres of Germany, France, Scandinavia, and Italy, gave them in the work of finding a market for the output of their presses, a very material advantage over the firms whose business was limited to printing and publishing. The catalogues issued by the several retail concerns carried on by the Elzevirs were by far the most comprehensive, the best classified, and in every way the most complete that had as yet been known in the book trade, and these catalogues served as models for the trade bibliographies of the succeeding half century.

One very material advantage which was enjoyed by the Elzevirs as compared with other families whose names belong to the record of publishing, was the continued vitality of the family itself, a vitality which ensured the carrying on of the work of the House effectively through three generations. In each one of the two generations which succeeded that of Louis the founder, there were from two to five representatives who had the interest and the ability to continue the special work which had brought fame to the family. Such a persistency of family purpose and of living representatives of the family competent to carry out such purpose has been paralleled in but few other instances. The publishing business of the Rivingtons of London is now (1896) being directed by a Rivington of the fifth generation from its foundation by Charles Rivington, in 1711, and with an existence of one hundred and eighty-five years, has doubtless a longer career to boast of than can be credited to any other family which has devoted itself to publishing. The House of Murray, of London, is now in the hands of two Murrays of the fourth generation, and can show an unbroken record of about a century.

In certain respects, however, the Harpers, of New York, present a closer parallel to the Elzevirs. The two English firms above referred to, have depended for their continuation in more than one of their generations upon a single representative. The Harpers, however, whose business is now in the hands of a third generation assisted by active members of a fourth, have, like the Elzevirs, found in each generation a sturdy group of representatives, imbued with the traditions of the House, and able and willing to devote themselves to carrying forward its work, and the activities and prestige of the House bid fair to be extended and expanded through the twentieth century.

Omitting the names of certain Elzevirs of the fourth and fifth generation who, while continuing certain interests in connection with book-selling, did not continue the business of printing or of publishing, eleven Elzevirs were, in the three generations from the founder, actively engaged as typographers and as publishers. Four names are, however, to be borne more particularly in mind, of the men who impressed their individual force and character upon the business and to whom its creation, expansion, and direction were practically due. Louis, the founder, had, in various respects, by far the most difficult task of the four. The special character of his work and the nature of the obstacles overcome by him, have already been described. His ambition and ability passed in largest measure to his youngest son, Bonaventure (leaving out of the count Adrian, who died young). Bonaventure directed the fortunes of the Leyden House during the most successful period of its existence. The grandsons of Louis, Louis the second and Daniel, can share between them the responsibility for the distinctive work done by the House in Amsterdam, a work which, by the time Daniel was left in sole control, very much exceeded in importance all that had been accomplished in Leyden.