The Estienne Family
The Estienne (Stephanus in Latin) family was the most important aggregate of scholar-printers of the sixteenth century. Based in Geneva and Paris, they edited, translated and published the best scholarly and literary works of the Renaissance. They accomplished outstanding philological, editorial and textual work, whose excellencies have rarely been matched, insuring that the most significant writings of both the Classical and Christian worlds were transmitted to later centuries through beautiful scholarly editions. Over twenty devices have been attributed to Estienne publications; however, the most common device contains an olive tree with the motto "noli altum sapere, sed time," which means "be not high-minded, but fear."