Jean-Pierre Nicéron (11 March 1685 – 8 July 1738) was a French lexicographer.

Biography

Nicéron was born in Paris, a relative of the mathematician and Minim friar

Jean François Niceron Jean-François Niceron (5 July 1613 – 22 September 1646) was a French mathematician, Minim friar, and painter of anamorphic art, on which he wrote the ground-breaking book ''La Perspective Curieuse'' (Curious Perspectives). Biography Jean ...

. After his studies at the Collège Mazarin, he joined the

Barnabites The Barnabites (), officially named as the Clerics Regular of Saint Paul (), are a religious order of clerics regular founded in 1530 in the Catholic Church. They are associated with the Angelic Sisters of Saint Paul and the members of the Ba ...

, where he had an uncle, in August, 1702. Nicéron taught rhetoric in the college of

Loches Loches (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is situated southeast of Tours by road, on the left bank of the river Indre (river), Indre. History Loch ...

, and soon after at Montargis, where he remained ten years. While engaged in teaching, Nicéron made a thorough study of modern languages. In 1716 he went to Paris and devoted his time to literary work. His aim was to put together, in a logically arranged compendium, a series of biographical and bibliographical articles on the men who had distinguished themselves in literature and sciences since the time of the Renaissance. After eleven years Nicéron published the first volume of his monumental work under the title of "Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire des hommes illustres de la république des lettres avec le catalogue raisonné de leurs ouvrages" (Paris, 1727). Thirty-eight volumes followed from 1728 to 1738. The last volume from his pen was published two years after the author's death (Paris, 1740).

Casimir Oudin Remi-Casimir Oudin (14 February 1638 – September 1717) was a French Premonstratensian monk and bibliographer, who later in life was a Protestant convert, and a librarian in Leyden. He engaged in controversy with Anselmo Banduri. His major work ...

, J.-B. Michauld, and Abbé Goujet later contributed three volumes to the collection and a German translation of it was published in 1747–1777. Louis Delamarre the author of Nicéron's biography in the

Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...

states it has been said that "Mémoires" lacks method, and that the length of many articles is out of proportion to the value of the men to whom they are devoted, but the work does contain a great amount of information that could hardly be obtained elsewhere. They refer also to sources which could be easily overlooked or ignored. Nicéron translated also various books from English, including "Le voyage de John Ovington à Surate et en divers autres lieux de l'Asie et de l'Afrique, avec l'histoire de la révolution arrivée dans le royaume de Golconde" (Paris, 1725); "La Conversion de l'Angleterre au Christianisme comparée avec sa prétendue réformation" (Paris, 1729).

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Niceron, Jean-Pierre Writers from Paris 1685 births 1738 deaths Barnabites University of Paris alumni French encyclopedists English–French translators 18th-century French translators 18th-century French memoirists