Petre Ispirescu

Petre Ispirescu (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈpetre ispiˈresku]; January 1830 – 21 November 1887) was a Romanian editor, folklorist, printer and publicist. He is best known for his work as a gatherer of Romanian folk tales, recounting them with a remarkable talent.

Petre Ispirescu was born in Bucharest, the son of Gheorghe Ispirescu, a barber, and Elena Ispirescu, a remarkable story teller. He grew up listening to countless folk tales told by his parents and his father's customers and apprentices. His parents wanted him to be a priest and he was entrusted to study with a monk at the Metropolitan Church, after which he studied with a priest at the Domnita Bălaşa Church.

He quit in 1844 at age fourteen and became an apprentice at the printing house headed by Zaharia Carcalechi, hoping to further his education by reading the books printed there. Working 14 hours a day, he became a qualified printer in 1848. In 1854, he was hired at the Copainie typography. In 1858, within the context of talks about the unification of Romanian Principates, the printing house accepted to publish the secret correspondence of Prince Nicolae Vogoride without the accord of the censorship. The police arrested all those involved and Petre Ispirescu was jailed for a month, losing his job. By the end of the year, Vasile Boerescu - a supporter of the union of Romanian Principalities and future Foreign Minister - offered him the manager position of a modern typography that owned the first mechanical printing press in Bucharest and published the Nationalul newspaper. His position introduced him to contemporary politicians and writers like Ion Ionescu de la Brad, Nicolae Filimon, Ion Ghica, and Dimitrie Bolintineanu. In 1863, Vasile Boerescu sold the typography and Petre Ispirescu became the manager of the typography publishing the Liberal Party newspaper Romanul. At the time, the Liberal Party was the main opposition party. The newspaper was suppressed in 1864. Ispirescu, together with Walter Scarlat and Frederick Gobl, then founded the United Workers Typography. A year later, Ispirescu publishes the Romanian Typographer pamphlet. The abdication of the first ruler of United Romanian Principalities Alexandru Ioan Cuza in 1866 is recorded with sadness there. After becoming the sole associate of the printing house, he renamed it Romanian Academy Publishing House in 1878.

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