GROLIER, JEAN, Viscount d'AIGUISY. - Bibliophile, born at Lyon in 1479 to an Italian family, died in 1565. He spent a long time in Italy, from 1510 to 1529, as treasurer of the Duchy of Milan; from 1457 until his death he was general treasurer of the finances of the Kingdom of France.
He assembled a considerable library of Latin and Italian writers, comprising about 3,000 works, and maintained relations with the men of letters and scholars of his time. His fame is connected with the many elegant bindings which he had made for his books and which constitute one of the most notable experiments in this art form, precisely called “G.” bindings. These are morocco bindings, with boards decorated with geometric motifs (straight, rectangular, rhomboid, curved), with various floral and symmetrical interlacings, variously coloured, at first simple and then increasingly rich and showy; in the centre or at the foot of the front board they bear the phrase stamped in gold: « Io. Grolierii et amicorum ». The G. Library was sold and dispersed in 1676; more than 600 examples of its bindings are now known to exist in public and private collections.