Antoine Clet (1705–1785) was a French

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person or a company * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James ...

, publisher and writer of the

18th 18 (eighteen) is the natural number following 17 and preceding 19. In mathematics * Eighteen is a composite number, its divisors being 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9. Three of these divisors (3, 6 and 9) add up to 18, hence 18 is a semiperfect number. ...

century.

Early life

Clet's father came from

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

and settled in Le Puy at the end of the 17th century to become a printer's assistant. He published local edits and printed the local edition of the French cour "La

Gazette A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

". He was also the main printer of the books of

Jean Georges Lefranc de Pompignan Jean Georges Lefranc de Pompignan (22 February 1715 in Montauban – 29 December 1790 in Paris) was a French clergyman, younger brother of Jean-Jacques Lefranc, Marquis de Pompignan. Pompignan was the archbishop of Vienne against whose defense o ...

, bishop of Le Puy.

Career

Clet was established in

Le Puy-en-Velay Le Puy-en-Velay (, literally ''Le Puy in Velay''; oc, Lo Puèi de Velai ) is the prefecture of the Haute-Loire department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-central France. Located near the river Loire, the city is famous for its ca ...

and was awarded the title of "king's printer" by

Louis XV of France Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...

in 1751. This title recognizes a prominent skill in the art of printing and allows the nearly exclusive right to release the royal decrees ( :fr:Imprimeur du roi). Clet is also known as a satirist and writer: his production was huge but only three comedies are saved: ''The missed sermon'' (Le sermon manqué-1749), ''Monsieur Lambert'' (1751), ''le Borgne'' (the one-eyed and the Musketeers). The two first are in a mix of French and

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language Occitan (; o ...

. These comedies provide snapshots of the mid-18th century life in a town of France far from Versailles: people, language, mind-set, centre of interests. They use satire, innuendo and humour. It was a risky business to create these satirical comedies as a "king's printer" had to show a good behaviour and religious feelings, which might explain why he never printed his opus. They were released in Le Puy in the mid 19th century by one of his descendants. Portrait d'Antoine Clet enfant

Legacy

A street of Le Puy-en-Velay has been named for Clet since 1889.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clet, Antoine French printers 18th-century French writers 18th-century French male writers People from Le Puy-en-Velay 1705 births 1785 deaths