Michel Lévy (bookseller)

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Michel Lévy (born February 20, 1821 in Phalsbourg ( Lorraine ), † May 4, 1875 in Paris ) was a French bookseller . Together with his brother Kalmus he created the publishing house Calmann-Lévy .

Life

Michel Lévy was the youngest son of the Jewish Lorraine peddler Simon Lévy, who moved to Paris with his children in 1826. At the age of 14, Michel left the Conservatory and took part in the establishment of a theater business and a lending library that his father Simon and his brothers Kalmus (French: Calmann; * 1819; † 1891) and Nathan on Rue Marie-Stuart in the 2nd Opened in the 4th arrondissement of Paris . Michel soon became the soul of this company. When he was just under 20, he published a booklet for the first time, namely the libretto for the ballet Giselle by Théophile Gautier .

In 1841 Michel Lévy founded a bookstore in the Passage du Grand-Cerf . This took off such an upswing that as early as 1845 he was able to set up a branch on Rue Vivienne , the display of which stretched around part of the building of the National Library. In that year he involved his two brothers Calmann and Nathan Lévy, but the latter left in 1850. The shop on Rue Vivienne became a gathering place for literary figures. In 1871 the business, which was always growing in importance, was relocated again to Rue Auber .

The Lévy brothers, headed by Michel, were the publishers of works by outstanding French writers of their time, such as those of Alexandre Dumas the Elder and his son Alexandre Dumas the Younger , as well as those of Honoré de Balzac , George Sand , and Victor Hugo , Alphonse de Lamartine , Alfred de Vigny , Jules Janin , Octave Feuillet , Théophile Gautier, Edgar Quinet and others. Of scientific works, it was François Guizot's historical writings, Jules Michelet and Ernest Renan's famous books and others that emerged from their publishing house. The Lévy brothers also turned their attention to foreign contemporary writers, namely Heinrich Heine , Hendrik Conscience , Thomas Macaulay and William Makepeace Thackeray , whose knowledge they conveyed to the French public through good translations.

Michel Lévy was the creator of the cheap one-franc volumes, and the Michel Lévy Collection , founded by him in 1856 and named after him, already had 1,500 numbers at his death. Through this he made great contributions to the dissemination of good and cheap literature in France. He also edited the Bibliothèque dramatique and the Théâtre contemporain illustré as well as magazines such as L'Entracte and L'Univers illustré . In 1873 he was accepted into the Legion of Honor . When he suddenly died in Paris on May 4, 1875 at the age of 54, he left behind a fortune of several million francs. He was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery. After his death, his business became the property of his brother Calmann Lévy.

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personal data
SURNAME Lévy, Michel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French bookseller
DATE OF BIRTH February 20, 1821
PLACE OF BIRTH Phalsbourg ( Lorraine )
DATE OF DEATH May 4, 1875
Place of death Paris