an influential Renaissance humanist and book printer and publisher. 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 Riviere, set-up shop in Paris, but after three years they chose to relocate to the booming commercial center 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.
