The founder: Pierre Larousse
The Larousse publishing house, founded in 1852, took off in the mid-19th century. Its history is linked to that of its founder, Pierre Larousse (1817–1875), who, in 1852, with his associate Pierre-Augustin Boyer (1821–1896), also a teacher, opened a bookstore in their names in the Latin Quarter: Maison Larousse & Boyer. The goal of these two anticlerical republicans was to write renewed textbooks for primary and secondary education, similar to those offered by Louis Hachette since 1833.[3]
The two Burgundian teachers (Pierre Larousse having more of a creator role and Augustin Boyer that of a salesman) rented a small premises at 2 rue Pierre-Sarrazin, then moved in 1856 to 49 rue Saint-André-des-Arts.[3]
In 1856, Pierre Larousse published, with the help of François Pillon, the Nouveau Dictionnaire de la langue française, ancestor of the Petit Larousse. Subsequently, for nearly twenty-five years, he launched in 1863, in the form of fascicles, the Grand Dictionnaire géographique, mythologique, bibliographique, littéraire, artistique, scientifique du 19th century, which would become the Grand Dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle (published from 1866 to 1877) in 15 volumes (20,800 pages). In the meantime, in 1869, Pierre separated from Boyer (the two families would reunite in 1889), took back the capital he had accumulated thanks to the profits of the house, and set himself up as author-publisher at 19, rue du Montparnasse and, as printer, thanks to a printing house, he rented rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs. He died at 57, exhausted by his work (he had already had a small stroke in 1868). His wife, Suzanne, created the company "Vve P. Larousse et Cie" with her nephew, Jules Hollier-Larousse (1842–1909).[4]
As Pierre Larousse had no children, the continuators of the Librairie Larousse were Émile Moreau (1842–1919) and his brother Georges Moreau (1853–1934), Paul Gillon, and Claude Augé; the latter had entered as an assistant accountant in the house.[4]
Georges Moreau, associate of Pierre Larousse, became a director of the Librairie Larousse in 1885. He founded in 1891 the Revue encyclopédique,[5] which became in 1901 the Revue universelle.[6]
The successor: Claude Augé
This encyclopedia served as the basis for the design of the Petit Larousse (1st edition: 1905) which is sought today among others for its cover signed Eugène Grasset. The house invented the slogan for the Petit Larousse: "Often imitated but never equaled".[9]
In 1906, the first edition of the Petit Larousse illustré[7] inaugurated the tripartite division that would make the mark of this work: language dictionary, pink pages of Latin and foreign phrases, dictionary of proper names. Direct descendant of the Dictionnaire (1856) of Pierre Larousse, it would become in 1924 Le Nouveau Petit Larousse and would know multiple editions.[7] In 1907, the publication of the Larousse mensuel illustré, subtitled Revue mensuelle encyclopédique, was richly illustrated and lasted until 1957.[7]
In 1912, the first Larousse médical was published under the direction of doctor Émile-Marie Galtier-Boissière. After numerous reprints and several reworkings, the work is still being marketed a hundred years later.
From the 1920s to the 1960s
In 1926, appeared in 1 volume the first Larousse ménager. This work, comprising about 3000 articles, relates to good housekeeping practices in the broad sense of the housewife at that time.[10]
From 1928 to 1933, Paul Augé, son of Claude, coordinated the Larousse du XXe siècle, a universal encyclopedic dictionary in six volumes and printed in heliogravure. It gradually succeeded the Nouveau Larousse illustré, while being more concise, abundantly illustrated, scientifically more founded, and setting itself the objective of renewing the knowledge of its time (contains more than 235,000 articles and about 6,500 pages). This Larousse would be the subject of several updated reprints until the end of the 1950s, including sometimes with a different cover for the most recent reprints. A supplement in one volume appeared in 1953, completing the initial encyclopedic work (editions before 1949).[7]In 1936 (volume 1) and 1937 (volume 2) came out the Grand Mémento encyclopédique Larousse,[7] in two volumes, which aims to be a "systematic and methodical exposition" of encyclopedic knowledge, complementary to the alphabetical exposition procedure of the other Larousse encyclopedic dictionaries. The different chapters are signed by more than 100 collaborators, generally university professors. In 1955, a reworked edition of this Grand Mémento, still in two volumes of 1,180 pages each, but under the title Encyclopédie Larousse méthodique.
The turning point of the 1970s
Since the creation of the house, the Larousse encyclopedic dictionaries have largely dominated the French market. However, towards the end of the 1960s, competition struck on two fronts. On the one hand, supremacy in dictionary matters ended with the publication in 1967 of the Petit Robert. On the other hand, on the encyclopedia side, the threat came from the publication starting in 1968 of the Encyclopædia Universalis.[13]
The response from the Larousse house took the form of a Grande Encyclopédie Larousse in 22 volumes (twenty encyclopedic volumes, one index, and one atlas) published from 1971 to 1978. It is completed by two supplements (1981 and 1985). Appeared in the same period (1971 to 1979) the Grand Larousse de la langue française[14] in seven volumes, but this was a commercial failure; a last edition appearing around 1989 (competition from the SNL publishing house - Dictionnaires Le Robert) while the general encyclopedia in three volumes published in 1968 proved to be a high-quality support, open and accessible to the greatest number. At the same time, the publisher launched a series of encyclopedic and educational fascicles sold in newsstands.[13]
The Grand Larousse encyclopédique
Changes in shareholding and management
In 1983, the Larousse company, which had remained a family business for more than 125 years, joined CEP Communication, then the Cité group. The latter was absorbed by Havas in 1997, then by Vivendi.[18]
In 2004, following the ousting of Jean-Marie Messier and the dismantling of Vivendi, Larousse joined the Hachette group (Éditions Larousse company), its editorial fund belonging to the Lagardère group (Larousse SA company) through a management lease contract.[18]
In 2006, Isabelle Jeuge-Maynart was appointed by Hachette Livre as President and CEO of Larousse. She is also Director of the Hachette Education division and CEO of Hachette Board Games.[19]
