author
Alfred Franklin
1830–1917
A French librarian, historian, and writer, he devoted his career to uncovering the everyday life of earlier centuries. His books turn old Paris into something vivid and human, full of customs, trades, and forgotten details.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Versailles on December 16, 1830, Alfred Franklin was the pen name of Alfred Louis Auguste Poux. He became known as a librarian, historian, and writer, and built a reputation for careful research into French history, especially the social life and institutions of Paris.
Much of his work focused not on kings and battles but on how people actually lived. He wrote extensively about trades, manners, domestic life, libraries, medicine, and the city of Paris, with works such as La vie privée d'autrefois helping preserve the texture of everyday life from earlier centuries.
Franklin died in Viroflay on July 10, 1917. Today he is remembered as a patient and curious scholar whose writing opened up the past through concrete, lively details rather than grand claims.