Samuel-Henri Berthoud

Samuel-Henri Berthoud

Samuel-Henri Berthoud (born January 19, 1804 in Cambrai , † March 26, 1891 in Paris ) was a French writer and cultural historian.

life and work

Samuel-Henri Berthoud, son of a printer, attended the Douai College from 1817 . In 1822 he won a prize for poetry donated by the Société d'émulation de Cambrai . At first he edited the journals published by his father and founded the Gazette de Cambrai in 1828 . Substantial feature articles secured him the collaboration on the most valued Paris magazines. He has been writing for fashion , Revue des Deux Mondes , Revue de Paris and L'Artiste since 1830 . In Cambrai he became permanent secretary of the Société d'émulation and gave free courses on hygiene, anatomy, geometry and commercial law. During the cholera epidemic of 1832, he distinguished himself as the administrator of the hospice system in his hometown . In 1834 he became the head of the literary magazine Musée des Familles , in 1835 he took over the editorial office of the Mercure de France and in the following year he worked for the press , which was mainly brought into being through his involvement and for which he was active as an author of scientific articles until 1848. For years he wrote under the pseudonym Sam in the magazine La Patrie popular science treatises that had a special audience and appeared collected under the titles Fantaisies scientifiques (4 vol., 1861) and Petites chroniques de la science (10 vol., 1867-71) .

Of Berthoud's historical works, the Chroniques et traditions surnaturelles de la Flandre (3 vols., 1831–34) are particularly noteworthy. Some of his novels contain interesting cultural and moral images, such as Pierre-Paul Rubens (1840), El-Hioudi (4 vols., 1848) and Le Zéphyr d'El-Arouch (1850); the last two works mentioned represent descriptions of Arab life. Among his other novels are: Contes misanthropiques (1831); La sœur de lait du vicaire, histoire de province (1832); Asraël et Nephta, histoire de province (1832); Le cheveu du diable (2 vols., 1833); Mater dolorosa (2 vols., 1834); L'honnête homme (1837); La bague antique (4 vols. In 2 series, 1842); L'enfant sans mère (2 vols., 1843); Berthe Frémicourt (2 vols., 1843); Le fils du rabbin (2 vols., 1844); Daniel (2 vols., 1845); Mémoires de ma cuisinière (2 vols., 1846). Berthoud also wrote attractive writings for young people with historical and scientific content: La France historique, industrial et pittoresque (3 vols., 1835–37); Histoires pour les petits et pour les grands enfants (1863); Le monde des insectes (1864); L'esprit des oiseaux (1866); Les hôtes du logis (1867) et al

literature

• Samuel-Henri Berthoud . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 2, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, pp. 795–796.