Guillaume Rouillé ( la, Gulielmus Rovillium; 15181589), 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. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "human ...

bookseller-

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 ...

s in 16th-century

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

. 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 one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

. Though he was a Frenchman, he served his apprenticeship in the Venetian printing-house of Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari, 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 Com ...

and Gabriele Simeoni. Another work of iconography was the useful compilation of portrait types of Antiquity, ''

Promptuarii iconum insigniorum à seculo hominum, subiectis eorum vitis, per compendium ex probatissimis autoribus desumptis ''Promptuarium Iconum Insigniorum'' (full title: ''Prima pars Promptuarii iconum insigniorum à seculo hominum, subiectis eorum vitis, per compendium ex probatissimis autoribus desumptis''; ) is an iconography book by Guillaume Rouillé. Its tit ...

'' (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 int ...

-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", who was executed for heresy.2011 Gonzalez Echeverria, "The love for truth. Life and work of Michael Servetus", (El amor a la verdad. Vida y obra de Miguel Servet.), printed by Navarro y Navarro, Zaragoza, collaboration with the Government of Navarra, Department of Institutional Relations and Education of the Government of Navarra,p179-181. 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 (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

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

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rouille, Guillaume French printers French Renaissance humanists 1518 births 1589 deaths Businesspeople from Tours, France