author
Firmin Maillard
1833–1901
A lively Paris journalist and man of letters, he turned the city’s streets, newspapers, and darker corners of history into vivid books. His work offers a close-up view of 19th-century print culture and public life in France.
1 Audiobook
Le gibet de Montfaucon (étude sur le vieux Paris)
by Firmin Maillard
About the author
Firmin Maillard was a French journalist, man of letters, memoirist of the press, and historian, born in Gray, Haute-Saône, in 1833 and dying in 1901. French reference sources including the Bibliothèque nationale de France and Médias 19 identify him above all with journalism and literary life, and they connect him with newspapers such as Le Figaro.
He is especially remembered for books that mix reporting, bibliography, and historical curiosity. Among the works linked to him in library records are Les publications de la rue pendant le siège et la Commune, a study of printed street literature during the Paris Commune, as well as earlier historical titles such as Recherches historiques et critiques sur la morgue and Le gibet de Montfaucon, both focused on unsettling corners of old Paris.
Taken together, his writings suggest an author fascinated by how cities remember themselves: through newspapers, pamphlets, institutions, scandals, and forgotten places. Even now, he stands out as a useful guide to the literary and urban life of 19th-century Paris.