Auguste Chicken Malassis

Portrait drawing from 1884

Auguste Poulet-Malassis (born March 16, 1825 in Alençon , † February 11, 1878 in Paris ) was a French book publisher. He is best known as Charles Baudelaire's publisher .

Auguste Poulet-Malassis came from an old family of printers. He received his education in the family business and he attended the Jesuit school in Alençon. In 1845 he went to study in Paris, where he became acquainted with early socialist circles. He took part in the Parisian February Revolution of 1848 and published his own magazine, L'Aimable Faubourien, journal de la canaille - vendu par la crapule et acheté par les honnêtes gens ("The lovable suburbanite, a magazine of the rabble - sold by scoundrels, bought by people of honor ”), for which he received a seven-month sentence.

In 1850 he and his brother-in-law Eugène de Broise took over the family print shop and also opened a bookstore in Paris. In the same year he met Charles Baudelaire, and they signed the contract to publish the Fleurs du Mal on December 30, 1856 . After the book was published, there was a trial in which Charles Baudelaire and Poulet-Malassis were sentenced to heavy fines for insulting public morality. On May 24, 1861, Baudelaire and Poulet-Malassis signed another contract with which Baudelaire gave Edgar Allan Poe the exclusive rights to all of his literary works and translations .

Also Lautreamont wanted his Songs of Maldoror issue at Poulet-Malassis. He asked the latter to send review copies to the literary critics to enable publication. However, Poulet-Malassis contented himself with mentioning it in a literary magazine, which had no effect on the success of the book.

The preference for eclectic, political or offensive texts brought Poulet-Malassis time and again into conflict with the judiciary and into economic difficulties. He had to file for bankruptcy on September 2, 1862 and was put into custody. He exiled to Belgium, where he resumed his publishing activities and printed again for Baudelaire. In 1875 he returned to Paris, where he also died.

literature

• Claude Pichois: Auguste Poulet Malassis: l'éditeur de Baudelaire. Paris, Fayard 1996, ISBN 2-213-59600-X
• Gérard Oberlé: Auguste Poulet-Malassis, un imprimeur sur le Parnasse. Ses ancêtres, ses auteurs, ses amis, ses écrits , Montigny-sur-Canne, Manoir de Pron et Imprimerie alençonnaise, 1996
• Benoît Noël: Auguste Poulet-Malassis & Charles Baudelaire, 150 ans de l'édition des Fleurs du Mal , Ville d'Alençon éditeur, 2007.
• Benoît Noël and Laurent Paturaud: Auguste Poulet-Malassis, éditeur alençonnais d'avant-garde , Ville d'Alençon éditeur, 2007.