founded in 1670
Jacques Herbin was a 17th century French adventurer who, following multiple journeys to India, returned to Paris with formulas for manufacturing sealing wax and inks. He established the House of Jacques Herbin in 1670, specializing in sealing wax and fine stationery. Located a stone’s throw from the Louvre in the district of the powerful Corporation des Marchands Merciers, of which it was a member, the House of Jacques Herbin traded with the Mediterranean and the Levant, and further afield with India. Jacques Herbin imported shellac for the preparation of chancery wax and Indian (Chinese) ink from East India Company trading posts in Pondicherry, India, and Mahé, Seychelles. Sailing to India’s Malabar coast was an arduous six-month ordeal, fraught with perils: storms, fevers, the dreaded “Passage de la Ligne,” the treacherous Cape of Good Hope, and the constant threat of pirates and English and Dutch ships.