In 1693 he was made commendatory abbot of Saint-Quentin-en-l'Isle and preacher to King Louis; he was also appointed to succeed to Seat 20 in the French Academy.

[2] He was charged by the minister Colbert to head the Bignon Commission, which investigated the feasibility and then began the compilation of a guide to French artistic and industrial processes, published in the following century as the Descriptions of the Arts and Trades.

[3] Bignon worked with his uncle to prepare a new set of rules for the Academy, allowing for honorary membership, which were signed by the king in January 1699.

[4] He was also the author of Les aventures d'Abdalla, fils d'Hanif (The adventures of Abdalla, son of Hanif), published in 1712–1714, a novel framed as the title character's search for the fountain of youth and composed of "stories of adventure and love" in which "great stress is laid upon the 'horrid,' the grotesque, the fantastic.

From 1706 to 1714, he presided over the committee of men of letters who edited the Journal des sçavans, which position he took again in 1724, with the Abbé Pierre Desfontaines.