JACQUES

LELONG (1665–1721)  , French bibliographer, was born at Paris on the 19th of April 1665 . He was a priest of the Oratory, and was librarian to the establishment of the Order in Paris, where he spent his life in seclusion . He died at Paris on the 13th of August 1721 . He first published a Bibliotheca sacra (1709), an index of all the editions of the Bible, then a Bibliotheque historique de la France (1719), a volume of considerable size, containing 17,487 items to which Lelong sometimes appends useful notes . His work is far from complete . He vainly hoped that his friend and successor Father Desmolets, would continue it; but it was resumed by Charles-Marie Fevret de Fontette, a councillor of the parlement of Dijon, who spent fifteen years of his life and a great deal of money in rewriting the Bibliotheque historique . The first two volumes (1768 and 1769) contained as many as 29,143 items . Fevret de Fontette died on the 16th of February 1772, leaving the third volume almost finished . It appeared in 1772, thanks to Barbaud de La Bruyere, who later brought out the 4th and 5th volumes (1775 and 1778) . 11.e. the three first books of the Historia Polonica of Vincentius (Kadlbek), bishop of Cracow (d . 1223), wrongly ascribed by Lelewel to Matthaeus Cholewa, bishop of Cracow . See Potthast, Bibliotheca hist. med. aev., s.v .

" Vincentius." In this new edition the Bibliotheque historique is a work of reference of the highest order; it is still of great value .