his Gallic training and taste. Partly through the political situation of the Netherlands-still under Spanish ruleand partly through his eminence as a scholarly typographer, he came to have extended relations with many notable men. He began to print at Antwerp in 1555, and established a foundry in connection with his press in 1563, where a certain Sabon-whose name was given to a size of German type-was employed. At first Plantin apparently purchased current and local material; later he began to import matrices of foreign fonts or to have his types cut for him. Though he made Antwerp a centre of printing, this printing was characteristic not so much of the Netherlands as of France. This was not solely because Plantin was a Frenchman, but because he so constantly procured and used French products. François Guyot of Antwerp, a type-cutter and founder, who was one of the earliest fournisseurs to the Plantin press, was a Frenchman of Parisian origin. With Robert Granjon of Lyons-who for a time lived at Antwerp-Plantin had continuous dealings. Sanlecque supplied some of Plantin's fonts; at the Garamond sale he acquired certain important "strikes" and types; and Guillaume Le Bé I and Hautin supplied part of his equipment. Some delightful roman and italic fonts came, apparently, from the office of Simon de Colines. Granjon supplied some of Plantin's civilité, and also cut the Greek and Syriac type for his Polyglot Bible-the Hebrew being from Le Bé. This famous Polyglot in eight volumes (printed by Plantin under the patronage of Philip II of Spain, and edited by Benito Arias Montano, Philip's chaplain) was his masterpiece and also almost his ruin. "Learning hath gained most by those books by which the Printers have lost," says Thomas Fuller in his Holy State. "Christopher Plantine [sic] by printing of his curious interlineary Bible

in Anwerp [sic] through the unreasonable exactions of the King's officers, sunk and almost ruined his estate." The Spanish Crown later granted the Plantin press special privileges for printing service-books for the Spanish Church. This was a monopoly retained for a long time by Plantin's descendants, and (as we shall see) proved an obstacle to the progress of liturgical printing in Spain. Between 1568 and 1570, Plantin bought the Netherlands "rights" of the new Breviary of Pius V; for the new Missal he purchased a monopoly for the Netherlands, Hungary, and portions of Germany. These privileges assured the press of a staple product which was a veritable gold mine to him and his descendants.

Plantin, after the death of Guyot and the cessation of his relations with Granjon, appears to have taken up with a Ghent type-founder, Henric van der Keere the younger, or, as he preferred to call himself, Henri du Tour; and between the years 1570 and 1580 Plantin's own foundry apparently was closed-Du Tour supplying everything. He, too, seems to have been of French origin-indeed, Fournier speaks of him as living at Paris. The music fonts in Plantin's office were of remarkable magnificence, and some of his books of Masses, especially those by Georges de la Hèle, are strikingly handsome (fig. 193). Of these music types some of the best were cut by Du Tour. In 1580, the year of Du Tour's death, he was, according to Rooses,' the only type-founder in the country. There were also Netherlands founders from whom Plantin purchased types, whose names have come down to us, but the greater part of his equipment was by French hands.

The following letter to Moretus, written from Paris, De'Max Rooses, Christophe Plantin, Imprimeur Anversois, 2ème Édition. Antwerp, 1896.

cember 12, 1598, tells something of the relations between Garamond and Plantin, as well as Plantin's dealings with Guillaume Le Bé I, whose son, Guillaume Le Bé II, writes

it.

"I have long had a great desire to write you, understanding you to be son-in-law of the late M. Plantin (whom may God absolve), who during his lifetime was a great friend of my late father's, which has caused me, through the kindness with which your nephew, M. de Varennes, has addressed me, to take up my pen, in order that thereby I may make overtures toward renewing between us the acquaintance which existed between our fathers-which is the first reason moving me to write; the second being, that as I know you have the matrices and punches which M. Plantin had and likewise punches of the petit texte cut by Garamond, I would pray and beg you to accommodate me with a set of these matrices (without justifying them, as long as they are struck on copper of good quality and are deeply sunk), and as a 'trade.' I have Garamond's other punches which my late father purchased from Garamond's widow, of which I will accommodate you with any, in even exchange, such as the parangon romain, the gros romain, the canon and the petit romain. It was my late father who sold M. Plantin the said punches of petit texte and those of the Saint-Augustin which I know you have, for my father bought all these from Garamond, and then, at the desire of Monsieur your father, he sold him these two kinds, although my father retained for himself a set of matrices of each. But in selling a large assortment to a merchant, he had to dispose of his petit texte because this customer wanted so much to have it; and that is why, not possessing it, I desire to secure it. I have also several fine fonts of Hebrew letters-for text as well as notes-with which