LAIRE, FRANÇOIS-XAVIER. – Minim friar and bibliographer, b. at Vadas in Franche-Comté on 10 Nov. 1738, d. at Auxerre on 27 Mar. 1801. Passionate about books, he undertook journeys to study the principal libraries of Italy and his own country.
In Rome he became librarian to the Prince of Salm-Salm; Pius VI would also have wished to appoint him librarian of the Vatican Library, but he preferred to return home to become librarian to Cardinal Lomenie de Brienne, declining a similar post offered by Grand Duke Leopold in Vienna. In 1791 he was entrusted with the task of gathering at Sens the books from the dispersed libraries of suppressed convents; on that occasion he presented to the government a memorandum on measures to be taken to prevent the decay of precious monuments. Finally he was librarian of the Yonne department and founded the Library of Auxerre, where an oil portrait of him is still preserved. There he opened a course on bibliography and was appointed conservator of the central school. He was a member of the Arcadia in Rome, the Colombaria in Florence, the Academy of Besançon, etc.
His principal works are: Specimen historicum typographiae Romanae XV saec. (Rome 1778); Dissertation sur l'origine et le progrès de l'imprimerie en Franche
LAÍNEZ, DIEGO – The image of Gaspard de Coligny, 1524-1526, pp. 1-2.
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IOANNIS PHILIPPI DELIGNANI
NE EQUITIS SICVLI AD SEX. III. PON. MAX. PREFATIO.
Emper ego a paruolo studui
B.P. ut cum claris & illustribus uiris coetuiessem. ne sic
lucet a maioribus meis quos
uerius potum qitactantus
inter magnificos & inlignes
connumerare degentarem
Horum enim coetuctudine uirtutibus: moribus
generis mei nobilitatem cogitabam non solum
tueri & conseruare: uerum etiam augere. & dari
eam reddere. Cujus his opibus & fortunis par
esse ne poflem: ut uarii sunt hominum casus &
euentus: dedi operam ne ociosus essem: dedi
q & ignauia marcerebam: qua re mihi esse pos
t apud ignotos & se ne uarios homines magi
alienum. Sumpsi laborem huiusce: & in
dulciam non illaudabilem apud me: neq apud
posteros inutilem: ut me opera atq ingenio li
bri degentes imprimeretur. Atq ita plurimis
de me bene meritis essem non ingratus: praefla
