Octave Uzanne
Encyclopedia
Louis Octave Uzanne known as Octave Uzanne, was a 19th-century French bibliophile, non-fiction writer, publisher and journalist.
Born in Auxerre, of a bourgeois
family, he came to Paris after his father's death. At first he studied at the upper-class Collège Rollin
in Paris, then during the Franco-Prussian War
of 1870–1871 was attached to a school at Richmond in England. Continuing with law studies, he abandoned this line of work when he came into an inheritance in 1872. He became a regular visitor of the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal
, where he formed part of a group of followers of the former librarian Charles Nodier
, together with journalist Charles Monselet
, writer Loredan Larchey, and author and bibliophile Paul Lacroix
. He also joined the Société des Amis des Livres, the first French bibliophilic association.
At the start of his career, Uzanne focused on the lesser-known writers of the 18th century, with 4 volumes of work published by Jouast, and an additional 20+ volumes published by Albert Quantin. He was an admirer of the Goncourt brothers
, who also wrote on 18th-century France. While looking backwards for his subjects, he was very up-to-date for the technical side of the printing and publishing. His 1879 work Le bric-à-brac de l'amour was one of the first to employ the gillotage, a Zincography
technique, and photomechanical reproduction.
After leaving the Société des Amis des Livres, which he deemed as too conservative and too concerned with the re-edition of older works, he started two new bibliographic societies, the Societé des Bibliophiles Contemporaines (1889–1894) and the Societé des Bibliophiles Indépendants (1896–1901). The first one consisted of 160 people, including writers Jules Claretie
and Jean Richepin
, artists Albert Robida
and Paul Avril
, and journalist and critic Francisque Sarcey
. Uzanne also edited two magazines, Conseiller du bibliophile (1876–1877) and Les Miscellanées Bibliographiques (1878–1880), and then ran three consecutive bibliophilic revues: Le Livre: Bibliographie Moderne (1880–1889), Le Livre Moderne: Revue du Monde Littéraire et des Bibliophiles Contemporaines (1890–1891), and L'Art et l'Idée: Revue Contemporaine du Dilettantisme Littéraire et de la Curiosité (1892–1893). In the early 1890s, he was considered to be "[...] the best authority that book lovers know on subjects specially interesting to book lovers".
In contrast to the common bibliophiles of his time, he was most interested in the creation of new, luxurious bibliophile works, collaborating closely with printers, binders, typographers and artists (especially the Symbolists
and early Art Nouveau
artists). One of the main artists collaborating with Uzanne was the Belgian Félicien Rops
, who illustrated some of his books and created the cover illustration for Le Livre Moderne, and who called Octave Uzanne "the Bibliophile's dream". The overall quality of Uzanne's books was remarked upon by the New York Times when reviewing his 1894 work La Femme à Paris: "The book is a highly-artistic achievement in a typographical sense[...] This artistic element and the style of the author [...] elevate the work from its sphere of usefulness into the sphere of pure literature. It will be serviceable a century from now to students of our civilization."
His collection of contemporary bibliophilic books was sold in 1894 by Hôtel Drouot
. It contained some of the finest examples of late 19th century French bookbinding
, by binders like Charles Meunier, Lucien Magnin, Pétrus Ruban, Camille Martin
, René Wiener and Victor Prouvé.
Uzanne was also well-known in the literary circles of his day, as attested by this poem from the Vers de circomstance from Stéphane Mallarmé
from 1920:
As a journalist, sometimes employing the pseudonym "la Cagoule", Uzanne wrote for L'Écho de Paris
and other newspapers, including a collaboration with Edouard Drumont
on his antisemitic newspaper La Libre Parole, and for other French and foreign magazines like The Studio and Scribner's Magazine
, for which he wrote in 1894 an article about The End of Books which he thought would come because of the upcoming phonograph
y, predicting the rise of radio and television. Uzanne was fascinated by modern technology and the possibilities it offered for the reproduction and dissemination of words, sounds, and images, which wasn't only evidenced in that article or in his groundbreaking work in book publishing, but also in an article he wrote in 1893 for the French newspaper Le Figaro
, about a visit he made to Thomas Edison
, where he witnessed the Kinetograph
shortly before it went public.
Another interest of Uzanne was female fashion, about which he wrote a number of books and articles, which were also translated in English, and more specifically the image of the Parisienne, the women of Paris. His 1898 work Monument esthématique du XIXe siècle: Les Modes de Paris, translated as Fashions in Paris, was according to the review in the New York Times "[...]the most complete and exhaustive work on the subject of French fashions that has yet appeared".
He died at Saint-Cloud
on 31 October 1931.
Born in Auxerre, of a bourgeois
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
family, he came to Paris after his father's death. At first he studied at the upper-class Collège Rollin
Collège Rollin
The collège-lycée Jacques-Decour is a school in Paris on the avenue Trudaine.-History:The school was founded as the private collège Sainte-Barbe in 1821, renamed the private collège Rollin in 1830...
in Paris, then during the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
of 1870–1871 was attached to a school at Richmond in England. Continuing with law studies, he abandoned this line of work when he came into an inheritance in 1872. He became a regular visitor of the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal
Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal
The Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in Paris is one of the branches of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.-History:...
, where he formed part of a group of followers of the former librarian Charles Nodier
Charles Nodier
Jean Charles Emmanuel Nodier , was a French author who introduced a younger generation of Romanticists to the conte fantastique, gothic literature, vampire tales, and the importance of dreams as part of literary creation, and whose career as a librarian is often underestimated by literary...
, together with journalist Charles Monselet
Charles Monselet
Charles Monselet was a French journalist, novelist, poet and playwright, nicknamed "the king of the gastronomes" by his contemporaries. He specialised in comedic and romantic novels and his total output was around 40 volumes.-References:* Kilien Stengel...
, writer Loredan Larchey, and author and bibliophile Paul Lacroix
Paul Lacroix
Paul Lacroix , French author and journalist, was born in Paris, the son of a novelist.He is best known under his pseudonym of P.L. Jacob, bibliophile, or Bibliophile Jacob, suggested by the constant interest he took in public libraries and books generally. Lacroix was an extremely prolific and...
. He also joined the Société des Amis des Livres, the first French bibliophilic association.
At the start of his career, Uzanne focused on the lesser-known writers of the 18th century, with 4 volumes of work published by Jouast, and an additional 20+ volumes published by Albert Quantin. He was an admirer of the Goncourt brothers
Goncourt brothers
The Goncourt brothers were Edmond de Goncourt and Jules de Goncourt , both French naturalist writers. They formed a partnership that "is possibly unique in literary history...
, who also wrote on 18th-century France. While looking backwards for his subjects, he was very up-to-date for the technical side of the printing and publishing. His 1879 work Le bric-à-brac de l'amour was one of the first to employ the gillotage, a Zincography
Zincography
Zincography was a planographic printing process that used zinc plates. Alois Senefelder first mentioned zinc's lithographic use as a substitute for Bavarian limestone in his 1801 English patent specifications . In 1834, the Frenchman Breugnot patented a zincographic printing process, producing...
technique, and photomechanical reproduction.
After leaving the Société des Amis des Livres, which he deemed as too conservative and too concerned with the re-edition of older works, he started two new bibliographic societies, the Societé des Bibliophiles Contemporaines (1889–1894) and the Societé des Bibliophiles Indépendants (1896–1901). The first one consisted of 160 people, including writers Jules Claretie
Jules Arsène Arnaud Claretie
Jules Arsène Arnaud Claretie was a French literary figure and director of the Théâtre Français.He was born at Limoges. After studying at the lycée Bonaparte in Paris, he became a journalist, achieving great success as dramatic critic to Le Figaro and to the Opinion nationale...
and Jean Richepin
Jean Richepin
Jean Richepin , French poet, novelist and dramatist, the son of an army doctor, was born at Médéa, French Algeria.At school and at the École Normale Supérieure he gave evidence of brilliant, if somewhat undisciplined, powers, for which he found physical vent in different directions—first as a...
, artists Albert Robida
Albert Robida
Albert Robida was an illustrator, etcher, lithographer, caricaturist, and novelist. He edited and published La Caricature magazine for 12 years. Through the 1880s he wrote an acclaimed trilogy of futuristic novels...
and Paul Avril
Édouard-Henri Avril
Édouard-Henri Avril was a French painter and commercial artist. Under the pseudonym Paul Avril, he was an illustrator of erotic literature....
, and journalist and critic Francisque Sarcey
Francisque Sarcey
Francisque Sarcey was a French journalist and dramatic critic.He was born in Dourdan, Essonne. After some years as schoolmaster, a job for which his temperament was ill-fitted, he entered journalism in 1858...
. Uzanne also edited two magazines, Conseiller du bibliophile (1876–1877) and Les Miscellanées Bibliographiques (1878–1880), and then ran three consecutive bibliophilic revues: Le Livre: Bibliographie Moderne (1880–1889), Le Livre Moderne: Revue du Monde Littéraire et des Bibliophiles Contemporaines (1890–1891), and L'Art et l'Idée: Revue Contemporaine du Dilettantisme Littéraire et de la Curiosité (1892–1893). In the early 1890s, he was considered to be "[...] the best authority that book lovers know on subjects specially interesting to book lovers".
In contrast to the common bibliophiles of his time, he was most interested in the creation of new, luxurious bibliophile works, collaborating closely with printers, binders, typographers and artists (especially the Symbolists
Symbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
and early Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
artists). One of the main artists collaborating with Uzanne was the Belgian Félicien Rops
Félicien Rops
Félicien Rops was a Belgian artist, and printmaker in etching and aquatint.-Early life:Rops was born in Namur as the only son to Nicholas Rops and Sophie Maubile. He was educated at the University of Brussels...
, who illustrated some of his books and created the cover illustration for Le Livre Moderne, and who called Octave Uzanne "the Bibliophile's dream". The overall quality of Uzanne's books was remarked upon by the New York Times when reviewing his 1894 work La Femme à Paris: "The book is a highly-artistic achievement in a typographical sense[...] This artistic element and the style of the author [...] elevate the work from its sphere of usefulness into the sphere of pure literature. It will be serviceable a century from now to students of our civilization."
His collection of contemporary bibliophilic books was sold in 1894 by Hôtel Drouot
Hôtel Drouot
Hôtel Drouot is a large auction house in Paris, known for fine art, antiques, and antiquities. It consists of 16 halls hosting 70 independent auction firms, which operate under the umbrella grouping of Drouot....
. It contained some of the finest examples of late 19th century French bookbinding
Bookbinding
Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book from a number of folded or unfolded sheets of paper or other material. It usually involves attaching covers to the resulting text-block.-Origins of the book:...
, by binders like Charles Meunier, Lucien Magnin, Pétrus Ruban, Camille Martin
Camille Martin
Camille Martin is an American-Canadian poet and collage artist who lives in Toronto, Canada. After residing in New Orleans for fourteen years, in 2005 she moved to Toronto following Hurricane Katrina.-Early life and education:...
, René Wiener and Victor Prouvé.
Uzanne was also well-known in the literary circles of his day, as attested by this poem from the Vers de circomstance from Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé , whose real name was Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of the early 20th century, such as Dadaism, Surrealism, and Futurism.-Biography:Stéphane...
from 1920:
Non comme pour étinceler
Aux immortels dos de basane
Tard avec mon laisser-aller
je vous salue, Octave Uzanne
(Not as if to sparkle with mirth
at the immortal sheepskin spines
late with my usual sloppiness
I greet you, Octave Uzanne)
As a journalist, sometimes employing the pseudonym "la Cagoule", Uzanne wrote for L'Écho de Paris
L'Écho de Paris
L'Écho de Paris was a daily newspaper in Paris from 1884 to 1944.The paper's editorial stance was initially conservative and nationalistic, although it did later become close to the French Socialist Party. Its writers included Octave Mirbeau, Georges Clemenceau, Henry Bordeaux, François Mitterrand,...
and other newspapers, including a collaboration with Edouard Drumont
Edouard Drumont
Édouard Adolphe Drumont was a French journalist and writer. He founded the Antisemitic League of France in 1889, and was the founder and editor of the newspaper La Libre Parole.- Early life :...
on his antisemitic newspaper La Libre Parole, and for other French and foreign magazines like The Studio and Scribner's Magazine
Scribner's Magazine
Scribner's Magazine was an American periodical published by the publishing house of Charles Scribner's Sons from January 1887 to May 1939. Scribner's Magazine was the second magazine out of the "Scribner's" firm, after the publication of Scribner's Monthly...
, for which he wrote in 1894 an article about The End of Books which he thought would come because of the upcoming phonograph
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
y, predicting the rise of radio and television. Uzanne was fascinated by modern technology and the possibilities it offered for the reproduction and dissemination of words, sounds, and images, which wasn't only evidenced in that article or in his groundbreaking work in book publishing, but also in an article he wrote in 1893 for the French newspaper Le Figaro
Le Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
, about a visit he made to Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
, where he witnessed the Kinetograph
Kinetoscope
The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device. Though not a movie projector—it was designed for films to be viewed individually through the window of a cabinet housing its components—the Kinetoscope introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic...
shortly before it went public.
Another interest of Uzanne was female fashion, about which he wrote a number of books and articles, which were also translated in English, and more specifically the image of the Parisienne, the women of Paris. His 1898 work Monument esthématique du XIXe siècle: Les Modes de Paris, translated as Fashions in Paris, was according to the review in the New York Times "[...]the most complete and exhaustive work on the subject of French fashions that has yet appeared".
He died at Saint-Cloud
Saint-Cloud
Saint-Cloud is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.Like other communes of the Hauts-de-Seine such as Marnes-la-Coquette, Neuilly-sur-Seine or Vaucresson, Saint-Cloud is one of the wealthiest cities in France, ranked 22nd out of the 36500 in...
on 31 October 1931.