author
A. de (Auguste) Gérando
1819–1849
Drawn to big historical questions, this short-lived French writer explored Hungary and Transylvania with the curiosity of a traveler and the eye of a historian. A friend and disciple of Jules Michelet, he left behind works that connect French readers to 19th-century Central Europe.
1 Audiobook
Essai historique sur l'origine des Hongrois
by A. de (Auguste) Gérando
About the author
Born in Lyon in 1819 and dead in Dresden in 1849, Auguste de Gérando was a French essayist and historian. French reference sources describe him as a friend and disciple of Jules Michelet, and as an author known especially for books on Hungary.
His best-known works include La Transylvanie et ses habitants and Essai historique sur l'origine des Hongrois. Those titles reflect the subjects that made him distinctive: he wrote about Hungarian history, people, and society at a time when those topics were not familiar to many French readers.
Although he died young, at just 30, his writing remains a useful window into 19th-century interest in Central Europe. He is also known in Hungarian as Ágost De Gerando.