s period was Arthur
Gouffier, Seigneur de Boissy, another of the faithful followers of
Charles VII. who were so fortunate as to gain the confidence of his
jealous successor.

He was a lover of fine bindings in the style rendered famous by Grolier.
One of his books belonged to the late Baron Jerome Pichon, the head of
the French _Societe des Bibliophiles_, and it is admitted that nothing
even in Grolier's library could excel it in delicacy of execution. His
son, Claude Gouffier, created Duc de Rouannais, was a collector of an
essentially modern type. He bought autographs and historical portraits,
as well as rare MSS. and good specimens of printing, and was careful to
have his books well clothed in the fashionable painted binding. Claude
Gouffier was tutor to the young Duc d'Angouleme, who came to the throne
as Francis I.; and to him may be due his royal pupil's affection for the
books bedecked with the salamander in flames and the silver
_fleurs-de-lys_.

Francis I. cared little for printed books in comparison with manuscript
rarities; he added very few to the collection at Fontainebleau beyond
what he received as presents from his mother, Queen Louise, and his
sister Marguerite d'Angouleme. The royal library owed many of its finest
manuscripts to the delicate taste of the princess who was compared to the
'blossom of poetry' and praised as the 'Marguerite des Marguerites.' Its
wealth was much increased by the confiscation of the property of the
Constable de Bourbon; and it should be remembered that among the
additions from this source were most of the magnificently illuminated
manuscripts that had belonged to Jean Duc de Berri.

The King was much attracted by the hope of making literary discoveries
in the East; he obtained much information on the subject from John
Lascaris, and despatched Pierre Gilles to make purchases in the Levantine
monasteries. A similar commission was entrusted to Guillaume Postel, one
of the greatest linguists that ever lived, but so crazy that he believed
himself to be Adam born to live again, and so unfortunate that he could
seldom keep out of a prison.

The reign of Henri Deux is of great importance in the annals of
bibliography. An ordinance was made in 1558, through the influence, as it
is supposed, of Diane de Poitiers, by which every publisher was compelled
to present copies of his books, printed on vellum and suitably bound, to
the libraries at Blois and Fontainebleau, and such others