Many of his published Bibles included commentary which upset the Catholic theologians of the Sorbonne who sought to censor Estienne's work.

Eventually, overcome by the prejudice of the Sorbonne, Estienne and his family fled to Geneva where he continued his printing uncensored, publishing many of the works of John Calvin.

The second son of the famous humanist printer Henri Estienne,[6] he became knowledgeable in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.

[7] As Estienne was not yet of age at the time of his father's death, Colines and Gilles Nepveu (the husband or fiancé of his sister Nicole) became his legal guardians.

[8] In 1526, Robert Estienne assumed control of his father's printing shop while Colines established his own firm nearby.

[11] Though the nature of their relationship after this is largely unknown, scholars suggest that they had mutual respect for one another and may have continued to collaborate, sharing fonts and materials.

[12] Even though Estienne re-established his father's printing shop in 1526, his first independent project as a scholar-printer can be traced back to 1524.

[15] While he was working on the Bible, he increased his revenue and reputation by publishing a series of octavos, which in this case were small, inexpensive educational books from scholars such as Cicero and Lucian.

[17] With his title of "royal typographer"[18] Robert Estienne promoted the Estienne print shop by his numerous editions of grammatical works and other schoolbooks (among them many of Melanchthon's) and of classical and Patristic authors, such as Dio Cassius,[19] Cicero, Sallust, Julius Caesar, Justin, Socrates Scholasticus,[20] and Sozomen.

[21] During the first fifteen years of his career, Estienne focused his printing on five Latin classic authors, specifically, Cicero, Terence, Plautus, Pliny, and Virgil.

[23] Many of Estienne's published classics, especially the Greek editions (which were printed with typefaces made by Claude Garamond), were famous for their typographical elegance.

[27] He printed a large number of Latin grammars and other educational works, many of which were written by Mathurin Cordier, his friend and co-worker in the cause of humanism.

[12] Under Estienne, Garamond designed the Greek type used by the King of France which was used to print the first edition of Roman History.

[19] Consequently, Estienne was the first printer granted permission to use the grecs du roi or Greek types of the king.

[35] Considered his "greatest monument of Latin scholarship", he employed research assistants for the 1543 version: Andreas Gruntleus, Gerardus Clericus, and Adam Nodius.

[34] These dictionaries were superior to others at the time because non-classical elements had been edited out; when determining words, they were checked for correctness and applicability in context; and citations were exclusively from classical authors.

Additionally, he was interested in writing commentaries to help an average reader understand the academic texts to the point of adding his own interpretation.

[50] Furthermore, typographer and printing historian Stanley Morison claimed that Estienne's 1532 folio Bible contained, "what is probably the finest use ever made of [the Garamond] letter.

"[51] Estienne printed this edition of the Bible in a grand folio format; his expected buyers were the nobility and the wealthy rather than the university faculty/students.

[52] Though in 1543, his style shifted to that of sextodecimo format, printing Bibles in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, which assumes the buyers are students and professors.

On his arrival at Geneva, Robert Estienne published a defense against the attacks of the Sorbonne in 1552 called his Réponse.

[6] It was in part, due to Estienne that the reign of Francis I was considered the "Golden Age of French Typography.

Estienne's pressmark with an olive branch and a serpent wound around a spear was first seen in 1544 on the title page of Preparatio Evangelica.

[75] Uninterested in the Reformation, he stayed in Paris instead of following his father to Geneva, opening his own printing shop in 1556.

[75] Additionally, Estienne printed books in Hebrew for professors in Paris, but fled to Geneva in 1569, because he worked for Anglican clients.