Edme-Jean Le Jay
Contributions
- Jenneval ou le Barnevelt François has translation publisher
- Olinde et Sophronie, drame héroïque en 5 actes et en prose, par M. Mercier has translation publisher
Knows
- Victor Desenne bookseller publisher
- Nicolas-Bonaventure Duchesne publisher
- Pierre Jacques Duplain bookseller civil servant publisher
- Louis-Laurent-Edme Le Jay bookseller publisher
- Nicolas Ruault bookseller publisher translator writer
Notes
The son of a bailiff from Ervy, Aube, Le Jay started off as a soft drinks seller ("limonadier") before working for the Parisian bookseller, Nicolas-Bonaventure Duchesne as a hawker of clandestine literature ("sous le manteau"), for which he was arrested in 1763. Admitted to the publisher's guild in 1767, he took over François Babuty's business, based in rue Saint-Jacques, in 1768, and opened a reading room ("cabinet de lecture") in 1771. In 1781 he was declared bankrupt. After his death, his widow continued his business under his name until An VIII (1799-1800).
His motto was, "Je ne dois qu'à moi seul toute ma renommée".