Charton
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Édouard Charton (11 May 1807, Sens, Bourgogne - 27 Feb 1890 Versailles) was a French lawyer.
Edouard Charton was a French lawyer and the founder and editor-in-chief of the Magasin pittoresque from 1833 to 1888, as well as director of publication for Hachette for thirty years (1860-1890) (Le Tour du Monde and La Bibliothèque des Merveilles).
Deputy and senator for many years, his convictions illustrate 19th century thought:
- Faith in progress and the emancipation of people through education
- Respect for human dignity and constant fight for the dissemination of knowledge.
- Political action in favour of his liberal and republican ideas.
He received his law degree at the age of 20 but had not yet practiced. During this transitional period, he continued to lead the life of a student while gathering experience.
He reaffirmed the moral values acquired in his family and found in selected works of Louis-Claude de Saint Martin, known as the Unknown Philosopher. He gathered experience in philanthropy, he discovered the problems involved in the social condition of man, he tested solutions, and he worked for good causes.
His affiliation to Saint-Simonism (1829-1831) revealed his talents as a speaker, turning him into a travelling preacher for the cause, and leading in the end to great disappointment.
He established durable and useful friendships with men who shared common ideals.
In 1833 his chance comes 'to fight ignorance' with the foundation of the new publication Le Magasin pittoresque. He remained director of the successful publication until 1888. For more than fifty years, always pursuing the same aims, he collected and wrote texts, selected engravings, supervised the printing and the diffusion of this 'encyclopaedia out of order'.
Applying the same methods with the same rigour and constancy, he chose the best collaborators to propagate practical knowledge while stimulating curiosity and forming artistic tastes. L'Illustration, a famous French illustrated review, was created in 1843 on his initiative. In 1860, his collaboration with Louis Hachette was of great importance. It gave him the opportunity to reach new readers with the Tour du Monde (travel and exploration review) and the Bibliothèque des merveilles (scientific knowledge).
Based on the conviction that man could improve and progress through the acquisition of knowledge, Charton busied himself diffusing 'practical knowledge' to the greatest number. He used his great writing talent only to inform and moralise. After the French Revolution of 1848, his friend Hippolyte Carnot, minister of public instruction and religion in the French government recruited Charton as Secretary general of the ministry. It was the beginning of his political career. Although an opponent of the Second Empire of Napoléon III in 1851, he adapted to the circumstances, without ever denying his Republican convictions. He promoted public reading with the creation of popular libraries. He took part in the creation of a Museum of Anthropology in Paris. He showed throughout his life a constancy and a consistency of behaviour which his friends and two generations of collaborators testified to. Overcoming his "anxious" character, he was a man of action. Faithful in friendship, he maintained relations with those who shared his belief in the moral progress of man, whereby the progress of each individual led to the progress of humanity as a whole.
In the National Assembly, he remained in the background despite his talents as a speaker. He only took the floor to speak concerning questions of education, fine arts, and the press, but also against the death penalty.
Inciting his colleagues to reach a consensus, he could also remain firm and intransigent when necessary. During the Second Empire, he turned down the post of director of the Comédie française which would have necessitated swearing an oath to the emperor. The Republic did not grant him what would have been the crowning glory of his life: political alliances prevented him from serving as head of administration, or as Minister of Fine arts, both opportunities to demonstrate his organisational talents.
[edit] References
- A. Lagarde-Fouquet et C. Lagarde, Édouard Charton et le combat contre l'ignorance, Collection Carnot, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, Rennes, 2006, 248 p.
- Ed Charton(French)
