Antoine-Augustin Renouard (21 September 1765 – 15 December 1853) was an industrialist and political activist in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

at the time of the French Revolution who became a

book dealer Book collecting is the collecting of books, including seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever books are of interest to a given collector. The love of books is ''bibliophilia'', and someo ...

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 ...

and

bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliograph ...

Life

Renouard was born in

in 1765. His father, Jacques-Augustin Renouard (1736-1806) was a merchant and manufacturer, originally from Guise, who specialised in

Gauze Gauze is a thin, translucent Textile, fabric with a wikt:loose, loose open Weaving, weave. In technical terms, "gauze" is a weave structure in which the weft yarns are arranged in pairs and are crossed before and after each Warp (weaving), w ...

and

Silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...

from premises in the centre of Paris. In 1781 Antoine-Augustin followed his father into the

and

businesses, father and son working together from premises in the "rue Sainte-Apolline", in what would later become the city's 2nd arrondissement. Antoine-Augustin Renouard was an active participant during the early years of the

revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

, joining the

Jacobin The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential political cl ...

s, and serving as a member of the Paris Commune General Council and, in 1793, a Civil Commissioner. He embarked in a career as a book dealer and publisher in 1792, while at the same time continuing to work in the

and

businesses until approximately 1797. His early publications were of works in both Latin and the French vernacular, and were noteworthy for their elegance and precision. Many were enhanced with engravings by artists including Jean-Michel Moreau, Alexandre-Joseph Desenne and

Pierre-Paul Prud'hon Pierre-Paul Prud'hon (, 4 April 1758 – 16 February 16, 1823) was a French Romantic Painting, painter and drawing, draughtsman best known for his allegorical paintings and portraits such as ''Madame Georges Anthony and Her Two Sons'' (1796). ...

. For his publishing business Renouard used as a trademark the patriotic image of a cockerel above an

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ', which itself comes from the Greek (). Anch ...

. His business career was interrupted by the Thermidore coup d'état in July 1794 which led to the execution of the revolutionary leader

Robespierre Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; ; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman, widely recognised as one of the most influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. Robespierre fer ...

before the end of the month and the imprisonment of most of the members of the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...

, including Renouard. He had recently married and his eldest son was born while he was still in prison. He was released on 3 December 1794, after which he seems to have concentrated on his book business, to the exclusion of high-profile political activism, till 1830. After the 1830 revolution had put an end, for a second time, to the

Bourbon monarchy The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a dynasty that originated in the Kingdom of France as a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Kingdom of Navarre, Navarre in the 16th century. A br ...

in France, Renouard returned to front-line politics, becoming mayor of the

11th arrondissement of Paris The 11th arrondissement of Paris (''XIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, the arrondissement is referred to as ''le onzième'' (; "the eleventh"). The ar ...

. He was rewarded with the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

in 1831. In 1834 he was able to acquire the Abbey of Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, which had previously been a royal property, but was then declared a national asset and nationalised during the revolution, before being sold off to bolster state finances.

Publications

As a publisher, Renouard's output included the following volumes: *''Coup-d'oeil sur les monnoies, sur leur administration et sur le ministre des contributions publiques'', Paris : Garnery : Desenne, 1793 *''Catalogue de la bibliothèque d'un amateur'', 1819 *''Annales de l'imprimerie des Alde, ou Histoire des trois Manuce et de leurs éditions'', Paris, 1803-1812; 2nd edition Paris, 1825 * ''Annales de l'imprimerie des Alde, ou l'histoire des trois Manuce et de leurs éditions''; 3rd} edition. *''Annales de l'imprimerie des Estienne'', 1837 & 1843. *''Recueil de 123 fables en 5 livres, imitées d'Ésope. - Complété par l'"Appendix Perottina", contenant 30 ou 32 fables et le "Phaedrus solutus", contenant 30 autres fables'' *''Sorte de journal, écrit en grec, divisé actuellement en 12 livres, méditations sur la vanité des choses terrestres'', Pensées : Antoine-Augustin Renouard (1765-1853) as éditeur scientifique

Family

In 1794 Renouard married Catherine de Saintes (1772-1858), the illegitimate daughter of The Marquis of Beauchamps and the Countess Ferdinanda Louise de Horion (at the time of Ferdiandna Louise's birth the widowed third wife of Maximilian of Arberg). Renouard's five recorded children were: * (1794-1878), magistrate, moralist and politician * Eugénie Renouard (1795-1871) * Jules Renouard (1794-1854), book dealer-editor * Paul Renouard (1803-1871), consul and painter * Hippolyte Renouard (1808-1871), squadron leader Renouard's grandchildren included :* Albert Ricot (1826-1902), iron master and politician :* Léopold Renouard (1833-1910), financier and deputy governor of the Bank of France :* Georges Renouard (1843-1897) who became son-in-law to city planner

Baron Haussmann Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

:* Lucie Renouard who married the populist politician Général Boulanger

References

External links

Antoine-Augustin Renouard
on data.bnf.fr {{DEFAULTSORT:Renouard, Antoine-Augustin French booksellers Industrialists French bibliographers Publishing companies of France Businesspeople from Paris 1765 births 1853 deaths