author
Henry Vizetelly
1820–1894
A pioneering publisher, journalist, and author, he helped shape Britain’s illustrated press before turning to travel writing, wine books, literary translation, and memoir. His adventurous career included reporting from Paris and Berlin, championing European writers, and facing prosecution for publishing Émile Zola’s novels.
4 Audiobooks
Four Months Among the Gold-Finders in Alta California Being the Diary of an Expedition From San Francisco to the Gold Districts
by Henry Vizetelly
Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines
by Henry Vizetelly
A History of Champagne, with Notes on the Other Sparkling Wines of France
by Henry Vizetelly
About the author
Born in London on 30 July 1820, Henry Richard Vizetelly trained as a wood engraver before entering the rapidly expanding world of illustrated journalism. In 1843, he helped establish the Pictorial Times, later co-founded the Illustrated Times, and became a Paris correspondent for the Illustrated London News. His reporting and travels inspired books including The Story of the Diamond Necklace, Paris in Peril, and Berlin under the New Empire.
Vizetelly founded Vizetelly & Company in London in 1880, publishing translations of French and Russian authors as well as the influential Mermaid Series of English drama. He was also a respected authority on wine, writing several books on Champagne, Sherry, Port, and other wines, and serving as a British wine juror at the Vienna and Paris exhibitions. His publication of Zola’s novels led to two obscenity prosecutions, a fine, and a three-month prison sentence. He later revisited his lively years in literary and journalistic circles in Glances Back through Seventy Years, published in 1893, shortly before his death on 1 January 1894.