author
Paul Sébillot
1843–1918
Best known for gathering the stories, beliefs, and customs of Brittany, this French writer and folklorist helped preserve a rich world of regional tradition. He also worked as a painter and brought an artist’s eye to the people and places he wrote about.
2 Audiobooks
Petite légende dorée de la Haute-Bretagne
by Paul Sébillot
Légendes et curiosités des métiers
by Paul Sébillot
About the author
Born in Matignon in 1843 and later dying in Paris in 1918, Paul Sébillot was a French folklorist, writer, and painter whose work is closely tied to Brittany. Although he first moved toward painting and exhibited his work, he became especially known for collecting oral traditions, legends, and popular beliefs.
His books helped record local folklore at a time when many regional customs were changing or disappearing. That patient collecting work made him an important figure in the study of French folk culture, and many readers still turn to him for the voices and imagination of Brittany.
Sébillot’s mix of artistic and scholarly interests gives his work a distinctive character: careful in detail, but always alive to atmosphere and place. For anyone curious about folktales, everyday superstition, and the cultural life of nineteenth-century France, he remains a rewarding guide.