Series 1 > History of Greater Britain, as well England as Scotland

JOHN MAJOR’S HISTORY
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Jean Treschel, one of the earliest Lyons printers. Marrying
the daughter of Treschel, he migrated to Paris about 1498,
and there began to print on his own account. His press, of
which a facsimile is given on the title-page of his books,
was established in the Aedes Ascensianae, and, till his death
about 1536, was the most prolific in Paris. No less than 400
volumes, the greater part folios and quartos, issued from it.
They included the most important Latin classics, on several
of which he wrote a Commentary, a translation by his own
hand of Sebastian Brand’s Ship of Fools, and many historical,
philosophical, and theological works. He was employed not
only by French but also by English and Scottish authors, who
were doubtless attracted to a printer who was also a scholar.
He began to print for Major in 1516, and continued to do so
down to 1530. His eldest daughter, the wife of Robert
Stephen or Etienne, became the ancestress of a famous race
of printers. The second was the wife of Jean Roygny, who
carried on his father-in-law’s press, and the youngest of
Michael Vascosanus, also a well-known Parisian printer. His
son Conrad became a Protestant, and retired with his brother-
in-law Robert Stephen to Geneva. If the epigram of his
grandson Henry Stephen could be trusted, Radius must have
had several other children, though his books were his most
numerous progeny. A sentence which he inscribed on several
of his volumes may be commended to publishers:—‘ Aere
Meret Radius Laudem Auctorum Arte Legentium,’ which may
be freely translated :—
‘ His authors praised his grateful heart.
His readers praised his graceful art.’
In one of Major’s volumes Radius celebrates the author in
Latin verse1, and Major frequently records his gratitude for
1 Iodocus Badius Lectori.
Quartum Maioris, Lector studiose, suprema
lam tersum lima, perlege, disce, cole.
Quern si cum reliquis trutina perpenderis eque :
Pridem alijs maior, se modo maior erit. [From the In Quartum, ed. 1521.]