S. Henry (Samuel Henry) Berthoud

Born in Cambrai in 1804, Samuel-Henri Berthoud was the son of a printer-bookseller and began his career close to the world of newspapers and publishing. After studying in Douai, he worked on his father's paper, founded the Gazette de Cambrai in 1828, and later moved to Paris, where he wrote for major literary journals and periodicals.

Berthoud built a remarkably varied career as a novelist, journalist, editor, and writer of popular science for young readers. He is remembered for gloomy and fantastic tales, historical novels, and nonfiction works on natural history and animal intelligence, all written in an accessible style that could entertain while teaching.

He also edited the influential family magazine Musée des familles in the 1830s and 1840s, placing him at the heart of popular literary culture in 19th-century France. He died in Paris in 1891, leaving behind a body of work that ranges from the eerie and imaginative to the curious and instructive.