Plantin was born in France, probably in
Saint-Avertin, near the city of
Tours,
Touraine. He was not born to a wealthy family, and his mother died when Plantin was still quite young. As a youth he apprenticed as a bookbinder in
Caen,
Normandy, and also married there. In 1545, he and his wife, Joanna Rivière, set up shop in Paris, but after three years, they chose to relocate to the booming commercial centre of Antwerp, where Plantin became a free citizen and a member of the
Guild of St Luke, the guild responsible for painters, sculptors, engravers and printers. The quality of his work as a bookbinder brought him into contact with nobility and wealth. By 1549, he headed one of the most well-respected publishing houses in Europe. He was responsible for printing a wide range of titles, from
Cicero to religious
hymnals. While delivering a prestigious commission, he was mistakenly attacked and received an arm wound that prevented him from labouring as a bookbinder and led him to concentrate on
typography and printing. By 1555, he had his own print shop and was an accomplished printer. The first book he is known to have printed was
La Institutione di una fanciulla nata nobilmente, by Giovanni Michele Bruto, with a French translation. This was soon followed by many other works in French and Latin, which in point of execution rivalled the best printing of his time. The art of
engraving then flourished in the
Habsburg Netherlands, and Dutch engravers illustrated many of his editions. Antwerp was a dangerous place for publishers around the time. In 1561, the Spanish governor ordered a raid on Plantin's workshop for possibly housing heretical works and being a Protestant sympathizer. To avoid being jailed, Plantin quickly sold all of his works so that nothing would be found in his possession. As soon as things calmed down around him, he bought them all back. In 1562, while Plantin was absent in Paris, his workmen printed a heretical pamphlet, which resulted in his presses and goods being seized and sold. It seems, however, that he eventually recovered much of the value that was taken from him. With the help of four Antwerp merchants, he was able to re-establish and expand his printing business significantly. Among these friends were two grand-nephews of
Daniel Bomberg, who furnished him with the fine Hebrew typefaces of that renowned Venetian printer. The co-venture lasted only until 1567 but enabled Plantin to acquire a house in the
Hoogstraat which he named "De Gulden Passer" (The Golden Compasses). This gesture mirrors the commercial success of publishing
emblem books, which present collections of images paired with short, often cryptic, text explanations. It is also at this time that Plantin adopted a printer's mark which would appear in various forms on the title pages of all
Plantin Press books. The motto
Labore et Constantia ("By Labor and Constancy") surrounds the symbol of a pair of compasses held by a hand extending from a bank of clouds and inscribing a circle. The center point of the compasses indicates constancy, the moving point which renders the circle is the labor. Plantin holds the instrument in portraits of him, such as the one commissioned from the Flemish painter
Peter Paul Rubens. In November 1576, the Spaniards
plundered and burned Antwerp, which essentially ended its supremacy as the commercial centre and richest city of Europe, and Plantin had to pay an exorbitant ransom to protect his printing works. He established a branch of his firm in Paris. In 1583, the
States of Holland sought a typographer for the newly erected
university of Leiden. Plantin temporarily moved to Leiden, leaving his business in Antwerp in the care of his sons-in-law
Jan Moretus and
Frans van Ravelingen (Raphelengius). After Antwerp became more settled with its surrender in 1585 to the
Prince of Parma, Plantin returned to the city, leaving his Leiden office to Raphelengius. Plantin laboured in Antwerp until his death. ==Printing work==