Eugène Goupil : collector and patron The Mexican manuscript collection of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, one of the richest in the world, is in very large part constituted from the former Aubin collection. Eugène Goupil, a manufacturer of « metallic beads in all colors » born in Mexico and of Mexican descent through his mother, acquired the Aubin collection in 1889 to bequeath it to the Bibliothèque nationale. As early as 1891, he brought out the catalog, written by Eugène Boban who he also hired to publish the major manuscripts of his collection. Goupil's wife, Augustine Élie, scrupulously respected his intentions and offered to the Bibliothèque nationale in 1898, along with the extraordinary collection of manuscripts, the rarest pr...