Jean vicomte d'Aguisy Grolier de Servières

Grolier de Servières, Jean, vicomte d'Aguisy (grōl'yər, Fr. zhäN grôlyā' də sĕrvyĕr' vēkôNt' dägēzē'), 1479-1565, French bibliophile. Grolier served Francis I as government treasurer and was later ambassador to Italy. There he met the printer Aldus Manutius and began collecting books. His library consisted of some 3,000 richly bound volumes, which remained in his family until 1675. About 350 volumes are now known to be in existence; many are in the Bibliothèque nationale. These books bear their owner's ex libris, "J. Grolerii et amicorum," which probably indicates that he also secured copies of the book for his friends. A New York club of bibliophiles, the Grolier Club (1884), and the American publishing company Grolier Incorporated are named after him.

Bibliography

See B. Matthews, Bookbindings … with an Account of the Grolier Club (1895).