Octave Uzanne
1851–1931 (age 80)
Biography
Octave Uzanne was a French writer and bibliophile whose lucid essays and imaginative accounts of Parisian bookshops helped define the aesthetic of the Belle Époque; he celebrated typography, illustration, and the changing contours of modern reading in publications that drew scholars and collectors alike.
He spent much of his life compiling lists of rare and curious editions, promoting the art of the book, and mentoring younger lovers of literature, leaving behind a body of criticism that bridged the scholarly and the passionate, making him a guiding figure in France's literary circles until his death in 1931.