MAIOLI, TOMASO. - Italianized name of the bibliophile Thomas Mahieu, secretary to Caterina de' Medici from 1549 to 1560, who died around 1572 and concerning whom more reliable biographical data are lacking.
According to a commonly accepted opinion, a group of bindings produced in France, contemporary with and similar to the very finely executed Grolier bindings (v.), belonged to M. G. D. Hobson describes nearly a hundred of them, divided into seven groups; they mostly cover Latin works and, less frequently, Italian works; they often bear on the boards, stamped in gold, the inscription «Tho. Maioli et amicorum», as well as other mottos and initials. Together with the Grolier bindings, they constitute the most valuable type of sixteenth-century bindings.