Born and raised in France, Jean-François Vilain studied English at the University of Bordeaux. After teaching, he emigrated to the United States and worked in publishing, becoming a senior editor at F.A. Davis Company in Philadelphia. According to Vilain, he began collecting private press books by accident, after seeing a limp-suede binding on a Roycroft book in a used bookstore. Beginning in the 1980s, as his collection grew, he began researching, writing, and presenting on private press history, including on Roycroft and Elbert Hubbard and on Thomas Bird Mosher. He investigated the publications of the Roycroft bestseller "A Message to Garcia," and there are many examples in the collection. The use of color in printing is a particular focus of his study, and two of his articles, "Arts and Crafts Book Illumination" and "Illuminating Americans" were published in Style 1900.
