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Louis Gustave Vapereau (4 April 1819 – 18 April 1906) was a French writer and
lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionary, dictionaries. * The ...
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 Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
at the ''
École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...
'' from 1838 to 1843, writing his thesis on Pascal's ''
Pensées The (''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 was in many ways his life's work. It repre ...
'' 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. ...
. He taught philosophy at
Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...
until the establishment of the
Second French Empire The Second French Empire, officially the French Empire, was the government of France from 1852 to 1870. It was established on 2 December 1852 by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, president of France under the French Second Republic, who proclaimed hi ...
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, 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 ...
to study law, and in 1854 joined the French bar. 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' ...
of
Cantal Cantal (; or ) is a rural Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region of France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Aurillac. Its other principal towns are Saint-Flour, Cantal, Saint-Flou ...
on 14 September 1870 by Jules Trochu's ''Government of National Defense''. He then became prefect of
Tarn-et-Garonne Tarn-et-Garonne (; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania Regions of France, region in Southern France. It is traversed by the rivers Tarn (river), Tarn and Garonne, from which it takes its n ...
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 List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
, 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 commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Population Inhabitants of Morsang-sur-Orge are known as ''Morsaintois''. Transport Morsang- ...
(
Essonne Essonne () is a department in the southern part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. It is named after the river Essonne. In 2019, it had a population of 1,301,659, across 194 communes.Entry at ''Les archives Émile Zola''
– in French *''Dictionnaire universel des littératures'' (1876), vol
1 (A–I) 2 (H–Z)
at the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
. 1819 births 1906 deaths Writers from Orléans Prefects of France Prefects of Cantal Prefects of Tarn-et-Garonne French male writers 19th-century French writers 19th-century French lexicographers {{France-writer-stub