Belin (fl. 1777 - present)

Belin (fl. 1777 - present) is a French publishing concern active in Paris from 1777 to present. The Belin firm was founded by Francois Bellin, who founded the "Librarie Belin" on March 10, 1777. Librarie Belin opened up shop on Paris' Rue Saint-Jacques, where the nearby Sorbonne proved to be his best customer. By the start of the French Revolution Belin was one of the most prominent publishers in Paris with about 412 titles and some 177 publishing partnerships. After his death the Belin publishing library fell into the hands of two competing brothers, Belin-Le Prieur and Belin-Mandar, with the latter being the more prominent. It was Belin-Mandar, under Adele Belin, who, in 1844, made the profitable contract with the educational writer Abbe Drioux - leading to the rise of Belin as one of the most profitable publishing firms in France. Adele Belin died one year later, in 1845 leaving the business to her son Augustus Eugene Belin (1816 - 1868), who renamed the firm Librarie Classique Eugene Belin. Eugene retained the Drioux contract and over the next fifty years cornered the market on French educational atlases and textbooks. Following Eugene's death the firm was managed by his many decedents who published as Belin Freres. Today Belin remains one of the largest publishing concerns in France. Care should be taken not to confuse Belin with Jacques Nicholas Bellin, a French hydrographer of the 18th century.