Lacroix, PAUL

Lacroix, PAUL, French miscellaneous writer, better known by his pen-name of P. L. JACOB, BIBLIOPHILE, was born at Paris, on 27th February 1806. Whilst still at school he began to edit editions of the old French classics, as Marot, Rabelais, &c. But it was in the field of the historical romance that he won his spurs as a writer. His industry was prodigious, and the number of works that issued from his pen immense. Besides actively assisting in more than one journalistic enterprise, he wrote romances, plays, books on history, on manners and customs, and on bibliography, and edited memoirs, biographies, &c. His most valuable productions were a series of works on the habits, manners, customs, costumes, arts, sciences, and intellectual condition of France from the middle ages down to the 19th century. His bibliographical works are also valuable, especially those in connection with Molière. He wrote two elaborate works on the History of Prostitution, published under the name of Pierre Dufour. From 1855 onwards Lacroix was custodian of the Arsenal library of Paris, and died in that city on 16th October 1884.