Grollier, John

, an eminent patron of literature, was born at Lyons in 1479; and very early displayed a propensity towards those elegant and solid pursuits, which afterwards secured him the admiration and esteem of his contemporaries. His address was easy, his manners were frank, yet polished; his demeanour was engaging, and his liberality knew no bounds. As he advanced in years, he advanced in reputation; enjoying a princely fortune, the result, in some measure, of a faithful and honourable discharge of the important diplomatic situations which he filled. He was grand treasurer to Francis I. and ambassador from that monarch to pope Clement VII. During his abode at Rome he employed the Alduses to print for him an edition of Terence in 1521, 8vo, and another of Budaeus’s work “De Asse,” 1522, 4to. Of his liberality while in thiscity Egnatio gives the following instance “I dined along with Aldus, his son Manutius, and other learned men at Grollier’s table. After dinner, and just as the dessert had been placed on the table, our host presented each of his guests with a pair of gloves filled with ducats.” De Thou speaks very highly of his character. During his travels he had secured from Basil, Venice, and Rome, the most precious copies of books that could be purchased, which he bound in a peculiar style, described in our authority. Every library and every scholar has boasted of a book from Grollier’s library since it was dispersed, and during his life-time it was his pride to accommodate his friends with the use of them. He died at Paris in 1565. ²