Famous French Publishers

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais was a French polymath who had worked as a watchmaker, playwright, musician, financier, and diplomat. He was also an inventor and revolutionary. He was much respected in French society and held influence in the court of King Louis XV. He supported American independence and actively participated in the early stages of the 1789 French Revolution. 

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours was a French-American writer and economist. An ambitious man, he served as French inspector general of commerce under Louis XVI. He moved to America during the French Revolution and was later elected a member of the American Philosophical Society. His son Éleuthère Irénée du Pont founded E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. 

Jacques Pierre Brissot was a French journalist and publisher. He was one of the most important members of the Girondins, who played a prominent role during the French Revolution. Brissot is also credited with founding the Society of the Friends of the Blacks, an abolitionist society, which aimed at abolishing the institution of slavery.

Apart from being an essayist and a filmmaker, Alain Soral is also a far-right extremist, who has been in trouble for his antisemitic tendencies. Once imprisoned for racism and Holocaust denial, he also established his own political organization, Égalité & Réconciliation, with the help of far-right students’ unions.

Edmond de Goncourt was a French writer, book publisher, art critic, and literary critic. He is credited with founding the popular French literary organization, the Goncourt Literary Society. Between 1856 and 1875, he published essays on 18th-century art, which helped revive appreciation for the Late Baroque.

Albert Robida was a French illustrator, lithographer, etcher, caricaturist, and novelist. The son of a carpenter, he initially trained to be a notary. However, he eventually chose to pursue a literary career. He wrote several futuristic novels and created over 500 illustrations for  Pierre Giffard's weekly serial La Guerre Infernale. He also published the La Caricature magazine. 

Charles Forbes René de Montalembert was a French publicist and historian. He was the Count of Montalembert, Deux-Sèvres. Born into a prominent family, he was educated at the Collège Sainte-Barbe in Paris. He was a liberal and wished to see the Church free from the control of the state. He was an eloquent orator and a prolific writer. 

Raoul Auger Feuillet is remembered for introducing the Beauchamp–Feuillet notation of Baroque dance in his iconic work Chorégraphie. The dancer and choreographer is also known for his collaborative work with the Royal Academy of Dance conductor André Lorin and for his masterpiece Recueil de danses.