author

Théodore Aynard

1812–1902

A Lyon engineer and man of letters, he turned a lifetime of travel, civic work, and memory into lively historical writing. His books open small windows onto 19th-century France, from roads and journeys to the people he knew and the world he watched change.

1 Audiobook

Voyages au temps jadis en France, en Angleterre, en Allemagne, en Suisse, en Italie, en Sicile, en poste, en diligence, en voiturin, en traîneau, en espéronade, à cheval et en patache, de 1787 à 1844

Voyages au temps jadis en France, en Angleterre, en Allemagne, en Suisse, en Italie, en Sicile, en poste, en diligence, en voiturin, en traîneau, en espéronade, à cheval et en patache, de 1787 à 1844

by Théodore Aynard

About the author

Born in Lyon on February 18, 1812, Théodore Aynard was a French engineer, writer, and scholar. Sources from the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Lyon place both his birth and death in Lyon, where he remained closely tied to the city’s intellectual life.

After studying engineering, he worked in France and Switzerland. He was elected to the Académie de Lyon in 1865, and his reception address focused on the history of bridge-building, which fits well with his technical background and broad curiosity.

Aynard also wrote extensively, with works including Voyages au temps jadis and Souvenirs historiques et quelques autres des personnes et de choses que j'ai vues de 1812 à 1890. Those titles suggest what makes him interesting today: he wrote as someone who had seen a great deal, and he preserved everyday history with the eye of both an engineer and an attentive witness.