Jean Ballesdens (1595 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

– 1675 in Paris) was a French lawyer, editor and bibliophile, though he has left practically no writings. He is the first known collector of books with historic bindings.

Biography

A lawyer to the

parlement de Paris The Parliament of Paris (french: Parlement de Paris) was the oldest ''parlement'' in the Kingdom of France, formed in the 14th century. It was fixed in Paris by Philip IV of France in 1302. The Parliament of Paris would hold sessions inside the ...

and secretary to chancellor Séguier, he was elected to the Académie française in 1648 - though he had renounced a place when it was first offered him, in favour of Pierre Corneille. He collected books and formed a library that was the rival of his master's in terms of numbers, choice and the editions' beauty. Notable books from it were the nine volumes in

Grolier Grolier was one of the largest American publishers of general encyclopedias, including '' The Book of Knowledge'' (1910), ''The New Book of Knowledge'' (1966), ''The New Book of Popular Science'' (1972), ''Encyclopedia Americana'' (1945), ''Acad ...

bindings.

References

External links

Académie française
(in French)
Le Roux de Lincy, "Researches Concerning Jean Grolier: His Life and His Library."(Grolier Club, 1907) pp.90-92
1595 births 1675 deaths Lawyers from Paris French book and manuscript collectors Members of the Académie Française {{France-law-bio-stub