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

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) 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 ...

(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 __NOTOC__ 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 men's clothing st ...

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 Café Voltaire, named after the writer and philosopher Voltaire, was a former café and restaurant located on the Place de l'Odéon in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. The café was open from the early 19 ...

on the

Place de l'Odeon Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government * "Place", a type of street or road name ** Of ...

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 French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' ('' The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de Parme'' ('' T ...

, Balzac,

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

, Zola,

Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, celebrated as a master of the short story, as well as a representative of the Naturalism (literature), naturalist School of thought, sc ...

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 ...

, 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: Organizations Arts and entertainment * Radio Corporation of Singapore * Radcliffe Choral Society, a choral ensemble at Harvard University *RCS MediaGroup (Rizzoli-Corriere della Sera), an Italian publishing group *Royal Conserva ...

. 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, operated by the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC). History Discussions about having a joint int ...

(

)
ISNI - International Standard Name Identifier
( ISNI - International Standard Name Identifier) {{DEFAULTSORT:Flammarion, Ernest 1846 births 1936 deaths 19th-century French publishers (people) French company founders French publishing families People from Haute-Marne

Biography

Flammarion Foundation

Posterity of editions

See also

References

External links