a French ecclesiastic, statesman, writer and preacher and librarian to Louis XIV of France. He was charged by the minister Colbert to head the Bignon Commission, which investigated the feasibility and then began the compilation of a guide to French artistic and industrial processes, published in the following century as the Descriptions of the Arts and Trades. Bignon also contributed to the Médailles du règne de Louis le Grand, Sacre de Louis XV. From 1706 to 1714, he presided over the committee of men of letters who edited the Journal des sçavans, which position he took again in 1724, with the Abbé Pierre Desfontaines
