Le Grand Larousse Available to Purchase

PIERRE‐ATHANASE LAROUSSE is best known as the co‐founder, in 1852, of the publishing house which has produced a wide range of encyclopedias and dictionaries. His greatest work, Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle, provides the main source of biographical information. He was born at Toucy, Yonne, on 23 October 1817, the son of a blacksmith. A model student at the local elementary school, he obtained a scholarship when he was seventeen and completed his studies at Versailles. Three years later he became head of a school at Toucy, but was disgusted with current teaching methods. In 1840, aged 22, he gave up his post and went to Paris, where he remained ten years. He led the life of a poor student, feeding mainly on bread and onion soup. He continued his studies at centres of learning such as the Sorbonne, the Collège de France, the Observatoire, and the Muséum, all the time collecting material which was later to be used in his encyclopedic works.