René Alleau

René Alleau (1917 – 18 October 2013) was a French author, historian and consulting engineer. The focus of his numerous works are symbology and alchemy, the occult and secret societies. As well as his own works, he contributed articles in these fields to the Encyclopædia Universalis.

Biography
Alleau was the director of the Bibliotheca hermetica collection at the French publishing house Éditions Denoël. The aim of this project was to republish ancient works of esotericism and make them available to purchase. Alleau contributed to the Planète magazine of Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier (authors of The Morning of the Magicians). In his later life he wrote online articles for Symbole associated with Frédérick Tristan and which focused heavily on the works of René Guénon.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Alleau was a close associate of André Breton, a prominent personality in Surrealism. René Alleau's article in the first issue of Surréalisme Même in 1961 was the occasion of the rapprochement between Breton and the young Frédérick Tristan, who was to remain a faithful friend until his death.

Alleau was a freemason, belonging to the Grande Loge de France. As a member of the Thebah lodge in Paris, he was associated with the Guénonian-Traditionalist School wing of the Loge, rather than the Anglo-Saxon element.