Jean de Tournes III

Jean de Tournes was a Swiss printer, publisher, and bookseller, and member of a long-lasting family printing business. The family business was first established by his grandfather, Jean de Tournes, in 1542, then passed on to his father Jean II de Tournes in 1564, and after his father’s death in 1615 the business passed on to Jean III de Tournes.

The family originated from Lyon, where the family business has started, but Jean II had to leave for Geneva because of religious prosecutions of Huguenots. Jean III was born in Geneva, and in 1619 he sold the family property in Lyon to the printer and bookseller Guichard Julliéron. Jean III worked in Geneva until his retirement in 1653, and was succeeded in the family business by his sons Jean Antoine and Samuel de Tournes.