Fleury Mesplet (January 10, 1734 – January 24, 1794) was a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

-born

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

printer best known for founding the ''Montreal Gazette'',

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

's oldest daily newspaper, in 1778.Galarneau, Claude.
Mesplet, Fleury
, in ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online'',

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

and

Université Laval Université Laval is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university was founded by royal charter issued by Queen Victoria in 1852, with roots in the founding of the Séminaire de Québec in 1663 by François de Montm ...

, 2000, retrieved January 15, 2009

Biography

Mesplet was born in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

, France, and was apprenticed as a printer in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

. He emigrated to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1773 where he set up shop in

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

. In 1774 he emigrated to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

; it is thought that he may have been persuaded to do so by

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading int ...

. In Philadelphia he again went into business as a printer, but received little work; he printed the ''Lettre adressée aux habitants de la province de Québec, ci-devant le Canada'' ( Letter to the Inhabitants of Canada) for the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...

in 1775, and travelled to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

the following year to set up a printing press in the newly captured city. As the Americans withdrew from Montreal, he was arrested and imprisoned, but released later in the year; however, he managed to publish several works in 1776. In 1778 he founded the ''Gazette Littéraire de Montréal'', edited by Valentin Jautard.Doyon, Nova,
L'Académie de Montréal (1778): fiction littéraire ou projet utopique ?
", in ''Mens'', vol 1, no 2, Spring 2001, pp. 115-140. Both were arrested in 1779 for

sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, esta ...

, and imprisoned for three years; on his release, Mesplet was $5,000 in debt but quickly dealt with his creditors,. In 1785, published ''La Gazette de Montréal'', now the ''

Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of t ...

'', the successor to the suspended ''Gazette Littéraire''. In total, he published some seventy or eighty works, in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

, and

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...

; ten of these ran to more than a hundred pages, and another seven were

almanac An almanac (also spelled ''almanack'' and ''almanach'') is an annual publication listing a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasts, farmers' planting dates, tide tables, and othe ...

References

* Brunet, Michel (1951). ''Les Idées politiques de la Gazette littéraire de Montréal (1778-1779)'', 8 p. * Derome, Robert, Bernard Andrès, Marc-André Bernier, and Yvan Lamonde.
The Publications of Mesplet and du Calvet
, in the site ''Images from the Turn of a Century 1760-1840. A Portrait of Arts, Literature and Eloquence in Québec'', 2000 (was also an exhibition presented at the Château Ramezay Museum between January 27 and May 28, 2000) *

Fauteux, Aegidius Aegidius Fauteux (27 September 1876 – 22 April 1941) was a journalist, librarian and historian. He was designated a Person of National Historic Significance by the Canadian Government in 1955. Rue Aegidius-Fauteux in Montreal is named after h ...

(1934). ''Fleury Mesplet; une étude sur les commencements de l'imprimerie dans la ville de Montréal'', United States, s.n, 35 p.
online
* , in the site of ALAQ'', 2002 * Lagrave, Jean-Paul de & Ruelland, Jacques G. (2001). ''L'imprimeur des Libertés : Fleury Mesplet (1734-1794) : roman historique'', Montréal: Éditions Point de Fuite, 391 p. * Lagrave, Jean-Paul de (1994). ''L'Époque de Voltaire au Canada: biographie politique de Fleury Mesplet, imprimeur'', Montreal: L'Étincelle éditeur, 502 p. * Lagrave, Jean-Paul de (1985). ''Fleury Mesplet, 1734-1794 : diffuseur des Lumières au Québec'', Montréal : Patenaude, 503 p. * McLachlan, Robert Wallace (1906). ''Fleury Mesplet, the First Printer at Montreal'', Ottawa: Royal Society of Canada, 113 p.
online
* Morin, Victor (1939). ''Fleury Mesplets, pionnier de l'imprimerie à Montréal : causerie faite au dîner annuel des Maîtres imprimeurs de Montréal le 19 avril 1939'', Montreal: Compagnie de papier Rolland limitée, 30 p. * Trudel, Marcel (1945). ''L'influence de Voltaire au Canada, Tome I: de 1760 à 1850'', Montréal: Publications de l'Université Laval, Fidès, 1945. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mesplet, Fleury 1734 births 1794 deaths Canadian printers Businesspeople from Lyon French emigrants to pre-Confederation Quebec Businesspeople from Marseille Canadian newspaper founders 18th-century Canadian newspaper publishers (people) Montreal Gazette publishers (people) Immigrants to the Province of Quebec (1763–1791)

Biography

References

Further reading