Christophe Plantin (Dutch: Christoffel Plantijn; c. 1520 – 1 July 1589) was a French Renaissance humanist and book printer and publisher who resided and worked in Antwerp.

[2] 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.

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.

[1] 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.

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.

Plantin moved there after he had left his much-reduced business in Antwerp to his sons-in-law Jan Moretus and Frans van Ravelingen (Raphelengius).

Facing increasing pressure and turmoil in the Habsburg Netherlands, Plantin needed to find a patron that would not fall victim to claims of heresy or being a Protestant sympathizer.

[2] In spite of clerical opposition, Plantin was encouraged by King Philip II of Spain, who sent him the learned Benito Arias Montano to lead the editorship.

[4] This work earned Plantin little profit, but resulted in Philip's granting him the privilege of printing all Roman Catholic liturgical books (missals, breviaries, etc.)

Moretus and his descendants continued to print many works of note in officina Plantiniana, but the firm began to decline in the second half of the 17th century.

It remained, however, in the possession of the Moretus family, which left everything in the office untouched, and when the city of Antwerp acquired (for 1.2 million francs) the old buildings with all their contents, the authorities created, with little trouble, the Musee Plantin, which opened on 19 August 1877.

In 1968, the Christophe Plantin Prize was created in his memory, given to a Belgian civilian who resides abroad, who has made significant contributions to cultural, artistic or scientific activities.