Andre-Joseph Panckoucke was a French author and bookseller. He was the first of the Panckoucke family directly or indirectly involved in French publishing. Take a look below for 13 fascinating and interesting facts about Andre-Joseph Panckoucke.

1. Panckoucke was born in Lille in France.

2. He was the son of Pierre Panckoucke and Marie Angélique Hennion.

3. Firstly trader haberdasher, he founded his bookshop on Place Rihour, Lille, between 1728 and 1733.

4. On 12 February 1730, he married Marie-Marguerite Gandouin, the daughter of Pierre Gandouin (1672-1743), a Parisian scholar and bookseller whose bookshop was located at Quai des Grands-Augustins in Paris and named A la belle image.

5. They had 15 children.

6. André-Joseph published several well-known works: in 1746 the periodical L’abeille flamande (a Flemish historical review stopped after 10 issues), in 1745 La bataille de Fontenoy (Battle of Fontenoy), in 1759 L’heureux citoyen, discours à M. J.J. Rousseau.

7. He was the father of Charles-Joseph Panckoucke and of Amélie Panckoucke, French writer and salonnière, wife of the journalist, translator and man of letters Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Suard.

8. He was the father-in-law of the Brussels printer Jean-Louis de Boubers.

9. He was Jansenist, opposed to the absolutism of royal power and admired Voltaire with whom he corresponded for a time.

10. He died in Lille.

11. He could not have been buried without orders from the Bishop of Tournai.

12. His widow took over the direction of the family business and developed the publishing catalog.

13. In 1759, she was prosecuted for publishing Voltaire Précis de l’Ecclésiaste en vers and her son Charles-Joseph Panckoucke was imprisoned for 6 months.