Jean Ballesdens (1595 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 ...

– 1675 in Paris) was a French lawyer, editor, and

bibliophile A bookworm or bibliophile is an individual who loves and frequently reads or collects books. Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Bibliophiles may have large, specialized book collections. They may highly value old editions, aut ...

, 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 ''Parlement'' of Paris () was the oldest ''parlement'' in the Kingdom of France, formed in the 14th century. Parlements were judicial, rather than legislative, bodies and were composed of magistrates. Though not representative bodies in the p ...

and secretary to chancellor Séguier, he was elected to the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

in 1648 - though he had renounced a place when it was first offered him, in favour of

Pierre Corneille Pierre Corneille (; ; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great 17th-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. As a young man, he earned the valuable patronage ...

. 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 is 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), '' Ac ...

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 People from the Province of Île-de-France {{France-law-bio-stub