Louis Gustave Vapereau (4 April 1819 – 18 April 1906) was a French writer and
lexicographer
Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries.
* Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries.
* Theoretica ...
famous primarily for his dictionaries, the ''Dictionnaire universel des contemporains'' and the ''Dictionnaire universel des littérateurs''.
Biography
Born in
Orléans
Orléans (;"Orleans" (US) and philosophy at the ''
École Normale Supérieure
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, S ...
'' from 1838 to 1843, writing his thesis on Pascal's ''
Pensées
The ''Pensées'' ("Thoughts") is a collection of fragments written by the French 17th-century philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal. Pascal's religious conversion led him into a life of asceticism, and the ''Pensées'' was in many ways h ...
'' under the supervision of
Victor Cousin
Victor Cousin (; 28 November 179214 January 1867) was a French philosopher. He was the founder of "eclecticism", a briefly influential school of French philosophy that combined elements of German idealism and Scottish Common Sense Realism. As ...
. He taught philosophy at
Tours
Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...
until the establishment of the
Second French Empire
The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the Second and the Third Republic of France.
Historians in the 1930 ...
in 1852, when his republican principles cost him his position.
Vapereau returned to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...
to study law, and in 1854 joined the French
bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar (u ...
. He did not engage in any legal practice and returned to writing shortly afterwards. In 1858, he published the ''Dictionnaire universel des contemporains'' and from 1859 to 1869 he edited the ''L'Année littéraire et dramatique''.
After the collapse of the Empire, Vapereau was appointed
prefect
Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area.
A prefect's ...
of
Cantal
Cantal (; oc, Cantal or ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France, with its prefecture in Aurillac. Its other principal towns are Saint-Flour (the episcopal see) and Mauriac; its residents are known as Cantalians (fren ...
on 14 September 1870 by
Jules Trochu
Louis-Jules Trochu (; 12 March 18157 October 1896) was a French military leader and politician. He served as President of the Government of National Defense—France's ''de facto'' head of state—from 4 September 1870 until his resignation on 2 ...
's ''Government of National Defense''. He then became prefect of
Tarn-et-Garonne
Tarn-et-Garonne (; oc, Tarn e Garona ) is a department in the Occitania region in Southern France. It is traversed by the rivers Tarn and Garonne, from which it takes its name. The area was originally part of the former provinces of Quercy and ...
from 26 March 1871 until 15 February 1873, when, under pressure from the
Catholic church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, he was released from the prefecture. He also assembled the ''Dictionnaire universel des littérateurs'', publishing it in 1876. From January 1877 to 1888 he was named inspector-general of public elementary schools.
Vapereau was the author of some excellent editions of the classics, and of works on political and social questions, but he is famous for his two dictionaries. He also contributed to a number of journals, including ''Revue de l'instruction publique'', ''Revue française'', ''Le Petit Journal'' and ''L'Illustration''. At the time of his death at
Morsang-sur-Orge
Morsang-sur-Orge (, literally ''Morsang on Orge'') is a Communes of France, commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris.
Population
Inhabitants of Morsang-sur-Orge are known as ''Mor ...