author
Edgar La Selve
1849–1892
A 19th-century French writer and humanist, he is best remembered for books shaped by his years in Haiti and his curiosity about the country’s history, culture, and public life. His work blends travel writing, observation, and historical interest in a way that still feels vivid.
1 Audiobook
Haïti De Aarde en haar volken, Jaargang 1881
by Edgar La Selve
About the author
Born in Lalinde, Dordogne, on December 11, 1849, Edgar La Selve was a French writer whose life became closely tied to Haiti. Sources describe him as a teacher of rhetoric in Port-au-Prince and later as a writer whose books drew on direct experience of Haitian society.
He is especially known for Le pays des nègres: voyage à Haïti, ancienne partie française de Saint-Domingue and Haïti, works that explore the island’s past and present for a French-reading audience of the late 1800s. His writing suggests a broad humanistic interest in travel, education, and the social life of the places he knew.
La Selve died in Paris on April 26, 1892, at just 42 years old. Though not widely known today, he remains a notable literary witness to Haiti in the nineteenth century.