Elzevir Press

Dutch publishing house founded in Leiden in 1593 by the printer and bookseller Louis Elzevir (1546-1617). Establishing a high reputation for classic texts that were both well edited and inexpensive, the Elzevir press continued as a family business, opening branches in The Hague, Amsterdam, and Utrecht. The first contemporary author published by the Elzevirs was Grotius. It remained a family business until 1712.

The founder of the dynasty, Louis Elzevir, born in Louvain, worked for Plantin in Antwerp, and settled in Leiden in 1580 as a binder and bookseller. His publishing started with an edition of Eutropius, and classical authors continued to be the main stock of the firm.

Louis's son Bonaventura (1583-1652) and grandsons Abraham (1592-1652) and Izaak (1596-1651) - the offspring of Louis's oldest son, Matthias - began the series of pocket classics in 1629, providing accurate texts for a large market. These little thirty-twomos, with their narrow margins and solid slabs of type, often with engraved title pages, became the family's most famous product. Izaak, who had established a press of his own in 1616, became printer to the university of Leyden in 1620, and his successors retained the office.

The Amsterdam branch was established by Louis III (1604-70) in 1639, and concentrated on modern books in Dutch, German, English, and French until the death of Daniel Elzevir (1626-80), Bonaventura's son, when it was wound up. The Leyden branch lasted a little longer, under the control of Abraham's grandson, Abraham II (1653-1712).

The Elzevirs, from Louis I on, sold new or second-hand books throughout Europe, an activity just as important as their printing and publishing.