Antoine-François Momoro

Antoine-François Momoro
Antoine-François Momoro
Born	1756 Besançon, France
Died	24 March 1794 Paris, France
Nationality	French
Occupation	Printer
Known for	Originator of the phrase ″Unité, Indivisibilité de la République; Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité ou la mort″, one of mottos of the French Republic
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Antoine-François Momoro (1756 – 24 March 1794) was a French printer, bookseller and politician during the French Revolution. An important figure in the Cordeliers club and in Hébertisme, he is the originator of the phrase ″Unité, Indivisibilité de la République; Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité ou la mort″, one of mottos of the French Republic.

Momoro's family was originally from Spain but settled in the Franche-Comté region of eastern France. Antoine-François Momoro studied in his home town and moved to Paris while still very young. He showed a particular talent as a typographer and he was admitted to the Parisian printers' guild in 1787. He was one of many publishers in the French capital, but he established his credentials quickly by issuing his own highly regarded printer's manual, Traité élémentaire de l’imprimerie, ou le manuel de l’imprimeur (1787). The outbreak of the Revolution and the declaration of the freedom of the press in August, 1789, massively boosted his output and would change his destiny.

An open opponent of even a constitutional monarchy and of the Roman Catholic religion, Momoro keenly threw himself into the revolutionary cause and put his abilities at the service of the new ideas. At the start of the Revolution he bought up several presses, opened a press at 171 rue de la Harpe and launched himself into politics. His initial output remained cautious however, as shown by his refusal in June, 1789, to be the first publisher of La France Libre by Camille Desmoulins. He won the exclusive concession to typography and printing from the Paris Commune and became secretary to the Société des droits de l’homme, which later became the Club des Cordeliers, whose journal he published as well as becoming one of its loudest orators.

Momoro was also among the signatories of the anti-monarchical petition which led to the Champ de Mars massacre, an event that would end in formalizing the split between the moderates and extremists. In the wake of this affair, which led to his imprisonment until September, 1791, Momoro resumed his printing activities under his self-given title of "first printer of the national liberty", publishing Jacques-René Hébert's radical newspaper, Le Père Duchesne.