Charlotte Guillard

Charlotte Guillard was a 16th century Parisian publisher and printer. Although women could not start this kind of business on their own, they could inherit business from their husbands, as Charlotte did. In order to compete in the publishing world Charlotte must have possessed both scholarly training and managerial and business skills.

She was probably born around 1480, and entered the publishing business by chance. She married Berthold Rembolt who entered into a business association with Ulrich Gering, owner of one of the most prestigious printing houses in Paris, the Soleil d’Or. In late 1518 or early 1519 her husband died and Charlotte took over management of her husband's print shop. During her short widowhood she published at least seven books. She remarried in 1520 to Claude Chevallon, a bookseller, and continued to publish books under his name within the printing mark of Berthold Rembolt. Charlotte’s second husband passed away in 1537, for it is then that her name began to reappear in books published at the Soleil d’Or.

From 1537 until her death in 1557, Charlotte printed or published approximately 158 different titles. These books varied in size, from 31 page editions to 11 volume set of the Corpus Juris Civilis. Her clientele was mostly student and professional population of Paris, as well as religious institutions with libraries. Two thirds of her productions were theological and religious works. Most of her publications were in Latin, few in Greek, and a small part was in French.