Ernest Flammarion (; May 30, 1846, Montigny-le-Roi - January 21, 1936,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

) was a French publisher, founder of

Groupe Flammarion Groupe Flammarion () is a French publishing group, comprising many units, including its namesake, founded in 1876 by Ernest Flammarion, as well as units in distribution, sales, printing and bookshops (La Hune and Flammarion Center). Flammarion b ...

(Flammarion-Marpon Editions).

Biography

Ernest Flammarion is the fourth in a family of six children whose eldest son, Camille, was a famous astronomer. His parents Jules and Françoise Flammarion ran a

haberdasher In British English, a haberdasher is a business or person who sells small articles for sewing, dressmaking and knitting, such as buttons, ribbons, and zippers; in the United States, the term refers instead to a retailer who sells men's clothing, ...

y business. In 1867, he began working in the bookstore business of Mr. Didier in Paris thanks to the recommendation of his brother Camille.

Flammarion Foundation

He owes his fame to the publishing house that he founded in association with the Charles Marpon bookstore in 1876, the Flammarion-Marpon editions (now Groupe Flammarion), located in the former Café Voltaire on the

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in the current

6th arrondissement of Paris The 6th arrondissement of Paris (''VIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ''le sixième''. The arrondissement, called Luxembourg in ...

. The success of this business is due to the commercial success of ''Popular Astronomy'', his brother's book that he published in 1878. It was a huge bestseller in the late 19th century. Subsequently, Flammarion Editions turned towards literature by publishing a wide variety of classical, modern authors (

Stendhal Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, ; ), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (''The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de P ...

, Balzac,

Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...

, Zola,

Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, as well as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives, destin ...

Jules Renard Pierre-Jules Renard (; 22 February 1864 – 22 May 1910) was a French author and member of the Académie Goncourt, most famous for the works ''Poil de carotte'' (Carrot Top, 1894) and ''Les Histoires Naturelles'' (Nature Stories, 1896). Among ...

) or more popular authors like

Hector Malot Hector-Henri Malot (Hector Malot) (20 May 1830 – 18 July 1907) was a French writer born in La Bouille, Seine-Maritime. He studied law in Rouen and Paris, but eventually literature became his passion. He worked as a dramatic critic for ''Lloyd Fra ...

, then the catalog was diversified and now covers virtually all publishing sectors with a predilection for popular science and humanities publications.

Posterity of editions

The house remained family-run, run by Ernest's son, Charles, then his grandson, Henri Flammarion, who took over in 1967. The last of the family's descendants, Charles-Henri Flammarion ran the company from 1985 to 2000, when it came under the control of the Italian group

RCS RCS may refer to: Organisations *Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace * Radio Corporation of Singapore *Radcliffe Choral Society * Rawmarsh Community School *Red Crescent Society *Red Cross Society * Representation of Czechs and Slovaks, a football t ...

. The latter then went through a period when he encountered financial difficulties. To bail out, in June 2016, he sold the Flammarion editions to the Gallimard group.

References

External links

Virtual International Authority File The Virtual International Authority File (VIAF) is an international authority file. It is a joint project of several national libraries and operated by the OCLC, Online Computer Library Center (OCLC). History Discussion about having a c ...

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ISNI - International Standard Name Identifier
( ISNI - International Standard Name Identifier) {{DEFAULTSORT:Flammarion, Ernest 1846 births 1936 deaths French publishers (people) French publishing families

Biography

Flammarion Foundation

Posterity of editions

See also

References

External links