Octave Uzanne

Octave Uzanne
Photography by Nadar (c. 1890)
Born	Louis Octave Uzanne (1851-09-14)14 September 1851 Auxerre, France
Died	31 October 1931(1931-10-31) (aged 80) Saint-Cloud, France
Occupation	Writer, journalist, publisher
Nationality	French
Period	19th century
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Octave Uzanne (14 September 1851 – 31 October 1931) was a 19th-century French bibliophile, writer, publisher, and journalist.

He is noted for his literary research on the authors of the 18th century. He published many previously unpublished works by authors including Paradis Moncrif, Benserade, Caylus, Besenval, the Marquis de Sade and Baudelaire. He founded the Société des Bibliophiles Contemporaines, of which he was president. His research produced a considerable literary output and frequent publications in newspapers such as L'Echo, Le Plume, Dépêche de Toulouse, Le Mercure de France, Le Gaulois and Le Figaro of Paris.

One of the topics his research focused on was the discussion of fashion and femininity in the French fin-de-siècle. This took the form of monographs and works including Son Altesse la femme (French for Her Highness Woman), Féminies and La Française du siècle (The Frenchwoman of the Century). His own works include novels and fantasy books, such as Surprises du Coeur and Contes pour les bibliophiles (Tales for bibliophiles).

Louis Octave Uzanne was born on 14 September 1851 in Auxerre, to a bourgeois family originating from Savoy. His parents were Charles-Auguste Omer Uzanne, a merchant, and Elisabeth Laurence Octavie; his elder brother Joseph, had been born the previous year. His classical studies began in his home town; he moved to Paris after his father's death to study at the Collège Rollin in Paris—a residential school for the children of the French upper-class. In Paris he became interested in the evolution and history of manuscripts and books. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 he was attached to a school at Richmond in England. Continuing with law studies, he abandoned this line of work when he came into an inheritance in 1872, allowing him to pursue his literary interests.