LAIRE, FRANÇOIS-XAVIER. – Minim religious and bibliographer, born at Vadans in Franche-Comté on 10 November 1738, died at Auxerre on 27 March 1801. Passionate about books, he undertook journeys, studying the principal libraries of Italy and of his own country.
In Rome he became librarian to the prince of Salm-Salm; Pius VI also wished to have him as librarian at the Vatican, but he preferred to return to his homeland as librarian to Cardinal Lomenie de Brienne, likewise declining the same office offered to him by Grand Duke Leopoldo in Vienna. In 1791 he was charged with bringing together at Sens the books from the dispersed libraries of the suppressed convents; on that occasion he presented the government with a memorial concerning the measures to be taken to prevent the deterioration of precious monuments. Finally, he was librarian of the department of Yonne and founded the Library of Auxerre, where an oil portrait of him is preserved today. There he opened a course in bibliography and was appointed curator of the central school. He was a member of the Arcadia in Rome, the Colombaria of 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-
Comté, pendant le XVᵉ siècle (Dôle 1785); Serie delle edizioni aldine (Pisa 1790); Index librorum ab inventa typographia usque ad annum 1500, chronologice dispositus (2 vols., Sens 1791). He also left many manuscripts.