Background
Pierre Larousse was born in Toucy, where his father was a blacksmith.
Pierre Larousse was born in Toucy, where his father was a blacksmith.
He published many of the outstanding educational and reference works of 19th-century France, including the 15 volume Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle. Four years later, he returned to Toucy to teach in a primary school, but became frustrated by the archaic and rigid teaching methods. In 1840 he moved to Paris to improve his own education by taking free courses.
Together, in 1849, they published a French language course for children.
They published progressive textbooks for children, and instruction manuals for teachers, with an emphasis on developing the pupils" creativity and independence. In 1856 they published the New Dictionary of the French Language, the forerunner of the Petit Larousse, but Larousse was already starting to plan his next, much larger project
On December 27, 1863 the first volume of the great encyclopedic dictionary, the Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle (Great Universal 19th-Century Dictionary), appeared. lieutenant was praised by Victor Hugo and became a classic.
lieutenant is still highly respected in its modern, revised form.
In 1869 Larousse ended his partnership with Boyer and spent the rest of his life working on the Great Dictionary. The publishing house Éditions Larousse still survives, but was acquired by Vivendi Universal in 1998 and the Lagardère Group in 2002.