Octave Uzanne

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Portrait of Uzanne by Félix Vallotton
Signature of Octave Uzanne

Louis-Octave Uzanne (born September 14, 1851 in Auxerre , † October 31, 1931 in Saint-Cloud ; pseudonyms: Jehan Du Guet , La Cagoule , Louis de Villotte ) was a French writer, bibliophile and publisher of precious books.

life and work

Uzanne came from a middle-class family from Auxerre in Burgundy. After the death of his father, he received classical training at the prestigious Collège Rollin in Paris. An inheritance in 1872 allowed him to devote himself to his literary inclinations.

He founded the magazines Miscellannées bibliographiques (1878-1880), Le Livre, Bibliographie Moderne (1880-89), Le Livre Moderne, Revue du Monde Littéraire et des Bibliophiles Contemporains (1890/91) and L'Art et L'Idée, Revue Contemporaine du Dilettantisme Littéraire et de la Curiosité (1892/93).

In 1893 he took a trip to America, where he interviewed the President of the USA Grover Cleveland and the inventor Thomas Alva Edison and visited the world exhibition in Chicago .

In 1889 Octave Uzanne co-founded the Societé des bibliophiles contemporains , which was followed in 1896 by the Societé des bibliophiles indépendants . Artists such as Félicien Rops , Paul Avril , Félix Vallotton and Albert Robida helped him illustrate the books he edited for an elite circle of bibliophiles . Robida also worked as a co-author of the Contes pour les bibliophiles .

Uzanne has worked on numerous newspapers and magazines, including La Plume , Le Figaro , L'Echo de Paris , The Studio and the Magazine of Art .

A pioneer in the application of new technologies, such as color printing , he nevertheless detested mass production and the democratization of the book that came with it. According to Silverman, Uzanne takes on a paradoxical position: on the one hand, a snobbish, reactionary dandy with a preference for forgotten authors of the 17th and 18th centuries, on the other hand, an innovator in book art and bibliophilia who rallies against the old guard of the mostly aristocratic who only collect antiquarian books Turned to book lovers who were organized in the Société des Bibliophiles François . He had many connections to artists and supporters of Symbolism and Art Nouveau , including Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly , whose foreword to Le Bric-à-Brac de l'amour in 1880 gave him access to that world, the writer Jean Lorrain , the painter James McNeill Whistler and the jewelry artist and representative of Japonism Henri Vever .

Uzanne's style is characterized by the use of anglicisms and eccentric neologisms .

Publications (selection)

Illustration by Félicien Rops from: Octave Uzanne u. a .: Féminies, huit chapitres inédits dévoués à la femme, à l'amour, à la beauté , Paris, Académie des Beaux-Livres (1896).
  • Poètes de ruelles au XVIIe siècle ( Benserade , François Sarrazin, Mathieu de Montreuil), 4 volumes, 1875–1878
  • Caprices d'un bibliophile , 1878 Internet Archive
  • Petits conteurs du XVIIIe siècle , 12 volumes, 1878–1883
  • Le bric-à-brac de l'amour; préf. de Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly , 1879 Gallica
  • L'Éventail , 1882 Gallica
  • L'Ombrelle, le Gant, le Manchon , 1883 Gallica
  • Son altesse la femme , 1885 Internet Archive
  • La Française du siècle, modes, mœurs, usages , 1886 Gallica
  • Nos Amis les livres, causeries sur la littérature curieuse et la librairie , 1886 Internet Archive
  • La reliure moderne, artistique et fantaisiste , 1887
  • Les Zigzags d'un curieux, causeries sur l'art des livres et la littérature d'art , 1888 Gallica
  • Bouquinistes et bouquineurs , 1893 Gallica
  • La Femme et la mode, métamorphoses de la Parisienne de 1792 à 1892 , 1893
  • Contes pour les bibliophiles , 1895 Gallica
  • Les Evolutions du bouquin: la Nouvelle Bibliopolis, voyage d'un novateur au pays des Néo-Icono-Bibliomanes , 1897
  • Monument esthématique du XIXe siécle, les modes de Paris, variations du goût et de l'esthéthique de la femme 1797-1897 , 1898 Gallica
  • L'art dans la décoration extérieure des livres , 1898
  • Dictionnaire bibliophilosophique, typologique, iconophilesque, bibliopégique et bibliotechnique à l'usage des bibliognostes, des bibliomanes et des bibliophilistins , 1896
  • La Locomotion à travers l'histoire. Sports et transports , 1900
  • Les Deux Canaletto , 1907 Internet Archive
  • L'esprit de J. Barbey d'Aurevilly , 1908 Gallica
  • Le célibat et l'amour, traité de vie passionelle et de dilection féminine , 1912 Gallica
  • Les Parfums et les fards à travers les âges , 1927

In German translation

  • The libraries of the future In: Zeitschrift für Bücherfreunde NF 4, 1912/13, pp. 65–69
  • Perfume and make-up through the ages , Geneva, 1927
  • The secret customs of the 18th century translated by Waltram., Dresden, around 1928
  • The Parisian: Studies on the history of women, society, French gallantry and contemporary customs , translated by J. von Oppen, Dresden, 1929
  • The mysterious customs of the gallant century: spicy incidents from a frivolous time , Munich, 1982
  • Canaletto , New York, 2008

literature

  • Mariagiulia Longhi: Octave Uzanne (1851-1931), “un esprit moderne” In: Cahiers de littérature française. VII-VIII. Décadents méconnus (Eds .: Guy Ducrey, Hélène Védrine), Bergamo University Press, 2009
  • Willa Z. Silverman: The new bibliopolis: French book collectors and the culture of print, 1880-1914 , University of Toronto Press, Toronto u. a., 2008

Web links

Wikisource: Octave Uzanne  - Sources and full texts (French)
Commons : Octave Uzanne  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

proof

  1. ↑ In it the story La fin des livres , where portable phonographs are predicted as successors to the book. See Friedemann Mattern: One Hundred Years of Future - Visions for the Computer and Information Age , 2007. PDF
  2. ↑ Sources: C.-E. Curinier (Ed.): Dictionnaire national des contemporains vol. IV, Paris 1914, p. 66. Internet Archive and Jean-Paul Fontaine: Uzanne  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Encyclopédie Larousse.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.larousse.fr  
  3. ^ Willa Z. Silverman: The new bibliopolis , 2008, p. 42
  4. ↑ Silverman: The new Bibliopolis , 2008, pp 16-19, p 23, p 67
  5. ↑ Silverman: The new Bibliopolis , 2008, p 30
personal data
SURNAME Uzanne, Octave
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Uzanne, Louis-Octave
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French writer, bibliophile and publisher
DATE OF BIRTH September 14, 1851
PLACE OF BIRTH Auxerre
DATE OF DEATH October 31, 1931
Place of death Saint-Cloud