Nicolas-François Dupré de Saint-Maur

Nicolas-François Dupré de Saint-Maur (born January 5, 1695 in Paris , † November 30, 1774 ibid) was a French economist, statistician, translator and member of the Académie française . He is not to be confused with his son, the regional administrator Nicolas du Pré de Saint-Maur (1732–1791).

life and work

Nicolas-François Dupré de Saint-Maur was the cousin of the academic Jean-Baptiste-Henri de Valincour (whose mother was his aunt). He made a civil servant career in the Paris financial administration and researched the fluctuations in the value of money in the past and present. In 1746 and 1762 he published books on this, which recently found a publisher again. He died in 1774 at the age of 79. Further writings on financial history that he left behind have remained in manuscript.

In addition, Dupré had foreign language and literary interests. He was friends with Montesquieu . His wife ran a literary salon . He learned English and in 1729 translated the epic poem Paradise Lost by John Milton into French prose (allegedly with the assistance of Claude Jean Chéron de Boismorand, 1680-1740). This achievement earned him a seat (No. 38) in the Académie française. His text has been translated back into English.

Works

• (Translator) Le Paradis perdu de Milton . Poëme herroïque traduit de l'anglois. Avec les remarques de M. Addisson. Paris 1729, 1736, 1743, 1765. Amsterdam 1770, 1781.
  • (Back translation into English) The state of innocence, and fall of man , described in Milton's Paradise lost. Rendered into prose. With historical, philosophical, and explanatory notes. From the French of the Learned Raymond de St. Maur. By a Gentleman of Oxford [George Smith Green]. John Boyle, Aberdeen 1770.
    • (Reprint) Milton's Paradise lost, or, the fall of man . With historical, philosophical, critical, and explanatory notes, from the learned Raymond de St. Maur. Wherein the Technical Terms in the Arts and Sciences are explained; the original Signification of the Names of Men, Cities, Animals, & c. and from what language derived, render'd easy and intelligible. Also the Mythological Fables of the Heathens, wherever referr'd to, historically related; difficult passages cleared of their obscurity; and the Whole reduced to the Standard of the English Idiom. In twelve books. Embellished with fourteen copper plates. Cengage Gale, Farmington Hills, Me 2009.
• Essai sur les monnoies, ou Réflexions sur le rapport entre l'argent et les denrées . J.-B. Coignard, Paris 1746. Thomson Gale, Farmington Hills, Mich 2005.
• Research on the valeur des monnoies et sur le prix des grains avant et après le concile de Francfort . Nyon, Paris 1762. Thomson Gale, Farmington Hills, Mich 2005.

Web links

• Information on Nicolas-François Dupré de Saint-Maur in the database of the Bibliothèque nationale de France .
• Literature by and about Nicolas-François Dupré de Saint-Maur in the SUDOC catalog (Association of French University Libraries)
• Short biography and list of works of the Académie française (French)
• Inaugural address by the successor of Dupré at the Académie française with a brief appreciation of the predecessor , in French
• Academic speech by Claude-François Lysarde de Radonvilliers to welcome the successor of Dupré with appreciation of the predecessor , French