__NOTOC__ Guillaume Rouillé (; ; 15041589), also called Roville or Rovillius, was one of the most prominent

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

bookseller-

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James Printer (1640 ...

s in 16th-century

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. He invented the pocket book format called the '' sextodecimo'', printed with sixteen leaves to the folio sheet, half the size of the

octavo Octavo, a Latin word meaning "in eighth" or "for the eighth time", (abbreviated 8vo, 8º, or In-8) is a technical term describing the format of a book, which refers to the size of leaves produced from folding a full sheet of paper on which multip ...

format, and published many works of history and poetry as well as medicine, in addition to his useful compilations and handbooks. Rouillé was born in

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

. Though he was a Frenchman, he served his apprenticeship in the Venetian printing-house of

Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari (c. 1508 – 1578) was a 16th-century Italian printer active in Venice. He was one of the first major publishers of literature in the vernacular Italian language. Early life and career Giolito was born at Trino to ...

, and retained his connections with Venice as a source of texts after his arrival in Lyon around 1543. Among his works was the French translation by Barthélemy Aneau of

Andrea Alciato Andrea Alciato (8 May 149212 January 1550), commonly known as Alciati (Andreas Alciatus), was an Italian jurist and writer. He is regarded as the founder of the French school of legal humanists. Biography Alciati was born in Alzate Brianza, n ...

's pioneering

emblem book An emblem book is a book collecting emblems (allegorical illustrations) with accompanying explanatory text, typically morals or poems. This category of books was popular in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries. Emblem books are collection ...

, which formed part of a major publishing venture in Lyons by the team of Guillaume Rouillé and his printer Macé Bonhomme, 1549, which extended to translations in Italian and Spanish. Rouillé also published books of ''imprese'' by

Paolo Giovio Paolo Giovio (also spelled ''Paulo Jovio''; Latin: ''Paulus Jovius''; 19 April 1483 – 11 December 1552) was an Italian physician, historian, biographer, and prelate. Early life Little is known about Giovio's youth. He was a native of Co ...

and Gabriele Simeoni. Another work of

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

was the useful compilation of portrait types of

Antiquity Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to: Historical objects or periods Artifacts *Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures Eras Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...

, (First and second parts, 1553, etc.) in which each

medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be in ...

-like portrait head was followed by a brief biography. Later he was one of the four printers that edited the "Lyon printers tribute to Michael de Villanueva" edition of a Materia Medica, as a tribute for his friend,

Michael Servetus Michael Servetus (; ; ; also known as ''Michel Servetus'', ''Miguel de Villanueva'', ''Revés'', or ''Michel de Villeneuve''; 29 September 1509 or 1511 – 27 October 1553) was a Spanish theologian, physician, cartographer, and Renaissance ...

, who was executed for heresy. French editions followed, ''Promptuaire des Medalles des plus renommées personnes...'', 1581, etc. His ''Sententiae omnes undiquaque selectissimae'', 1555, compiled moral maxims from the works of

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

. On his title pages his emblem was prominently displayed: an eagle triumphant atop a globe on a pedestal, flanked by serpents with entwined tails. His heirs continued the press into the 17th century. Rouillé died in Lyon on 20 June 1589.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rouille, Guillaume French printers French Renaissance humanists Businesspeople from Tours, France People from Touraine 1510s births 1589 deaths Year of birth uncertain