The Association Guillaume Budé, named after the 16th century humanist Guillaume Budé

Guillaume Budé

Guillaume Budé was a French scholar.-Life:Budé was born in Paris. He went to the University of Orléans to study law, but for several years, being possessed of ample means, he led an idle and dissipated life...

, is a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 cultural and learned society dedicated to the promotion of Humanities

Humanities

The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....

. The current president of the society is the hellenist Jacques Jouanna.

The society was founded in 1917 by the philologists Maurice Croiset, Paul Mazon, Louis Bodin and Alfred Ernout. The society's initial goal was to publish critical editions of Greek

Ancient Greek literature

Ancient Greek literature refers to literature written in the Ancient Greek language until the 4th century.- Classical and Pre-Classical Antiquity :...

 and Latin

Latin literature

Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings of the ancient Romans. In many ways, it seems to be a continuation of Greek literature, using many of the same forms...

 classics, competing with Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 which was then leading the field. The result was the Collection Budé

Collection Budé

The Collection Budé, or the Collection des Universités de France, is a series of books comprising the Greek and Latin classics up to the middle of the 6th century...

, first published in 1920. The society soon founded its own publishing house Les Belles Lettres

Les Belles Lettres

Les Belles Lettres is a French publisher specializing in the publication of ancient authors. Its publications include the Collection Budé.The publisher house, originally named Société Les Belles Lettres pour le développement de la culture classique, was founded by the Association Guillaume Budé,...

, and went beyond the classical world, getting involved in the studies of Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 and medieval

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

worlds. A bulletin has been published by the society since 1923. Besides publishing, the society organizes conferences, symposia and cultural tours.