Armand-Jérôme Bignon

In 1743, on his brother's death he was made royal librarian (a post Armand-Jérôme had inherited in turn from their uncle Jean-Paul Bignon).

It was his negligence in the latter post that caused the accidents in the firework display for the marriage of the Dauphin (later Louis XVI) and Marie-Antoinette in May 1770 that left over 300 dead and a greater number of wounded.

Under Louis XIII, the prévôt des marchands de Paris and the two premiers échevins were fined for not having repaired a bridge whose collapse killed four or five people.

Paris thus avenged itself by bon mots against him, including the Latin anagram of his name as Ibi non rem, damna gero (I don't do good, I do evil).

Armand Jérôme Bignon never published anything, though he did leave manuscript memoirs of a journey to Spain and Italy (now held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France).

Bignon coat of arms: d'azur à la croix haute d'argent, posée sur une terrasse de sinople d'où sort un cep de vigne qui accole et entoure ladite croix, laquelle est cantonnée de 4 flammes d'argent
The vine around the cross is a reminder of the family's birthplace of Saint-Denis-d'Anjou