Melchior Tavernier (1594 – May 1665) was a French engraver, printmaker and print publisher. Heritage, early life, and training He was the son of Gabriel II Tavernier (1566–1607), an engraver, who in 1573 moved with his father Gabriel I Tavernier (born Bailleul c. 1520; died 1614) and his brother Melchior Tavernier (born 1544 or 1564; died 1641) from Antwerp to Paris. The younger Melchior Tavernier's mother was Suzanne Tonnelier. He had four siblings: Jean-Baptiste (who became a well-known writer and traveller), Gabriel III, Daniel, and Marie. His father, Gabriel II Tavernier, died in 1607; the inventory after his decease is dated 23 February 1607. By a contract of 30 June 1609, the younger Melchior Tavernier apprenticed with Thomas de Leu for four years at the age of fourteen, and from this Préaud et al. concluded he was born in 1594 or 1595. According to the Haag Brothers, he was baptised in 1594. It is often very difficult, with our current state of knowledge, to distinguish the work of the younger Melchior Tavernier from that of his uncle. In 1589, when the Catholic League occupied Paris, the Tavernier family had fled to Tours, where Henri IV's court and the Parlement of Paris ruled in exile; the family lived there from 1590 to 1594. French engraving was of lower quality compared to the Flemish school, and Protestants, such as the family of Gabriel I Tavernier, brought high quality copperplate engraving to France. The first atlas of France, Le Théâtre françois, où sont comprises les chartes générales et particulières de la France, was published in Tours in 1594 by . It contained twenty maps of the provinces of France, the engraving of which was done by Gabriel Tavernier. Bouguereau said that the opportunity to use a highly skilled engraver encouraged him to publish the atlas. After Gabriel I Tavernier returned to Paris, he resided on the Île du Palais, at 'L'Épi d'or', on the quai facing the . After 1609 he was on the , at the sign of 'La Huppe', parish of Saint-Barthélémy, where he remained in 1612. The elder Melchior Tavernier, who is otherwise obscure, claimed at a legal proceeding in 1620 that Gabriel I Tavernier introduced the art of etching to Paris and stated that his father died in 1614. On 7 December 1615, the assets of the elder Gabriel Tavernier's business and the lease for the house of 'La