Louis Hachette

The focus of the business was to produce works designed to improve the system of school instruction and to promote general culture in the community.

He published manuals on various topics including dictionaries of modern and ancient languages, educational journals, and French, Latin and Greek classics annotated by the most eminent authorities.

Louis Hachette had been putting together an alphabet primer since 1829 and his was the only company capable of responding to the public order for a million textbooks.

In addition to travel guides for rail passengers, the small outlets sold novels by authors including Charles Dickens, Gérard de Nerval, George Sand and the children’s series Bibliothèque Rose, including those by La Comtesse de Ségur.

[4] Hachette also manifested great interest in the formation of mutual friendly societies among the working classes, in the establishment of benevolent institutions, and in other questions relating to the amelioration of the poor, a subject on which he wrote various pamphlets.