His Life

Octave Louis Heulhard – better known as Arthur Heulhard – was born on May 11, 1849, in Lormes, in the Nièvre département, where his family had always lived.
He became an orphan at the age of 12 and was legally emancipated at the age of 17. He chose to live in Paris where he came to live in 1863. An extraordinarily learned man, who knew Latin and Greek, he enjoyed writing.
At a very early age, he entered the world of journalism, especially the Parisian democratic press¹ . As early as 1870, he became known through his articles in “La Réforme”, where he was an editing secretary, or in ”Le Courrier français” where he was given a daily political editorial – the publication came to an end when the German troops invaded Paris. He also wrote in the weekly “Courrier de Paris”.
His love of music and the theatre naturally led him to write music and drama reviews and to contribute to a number of publications such as “la Vérité”, “L’Art”, “La France Chorale”, “L’Art Musical”, “L’Evènement”. He wrote in the Parisian review “Nouvelles de Paris”. He was a tireless traveler and later became a senior reporter with “Le Figaro”, along with Chincholle.
In addition to his work as a journalist, in 1873, he founded and directed “La Chronique Musicale”, a twice-monthly publication of ancient and modern art. In 1878, with Jules Noriac, he founded “Le Moniteur du Bibliophile”, an “inquisitive, trivial and literary magazine”.
As early as 1870 he also published his first books devoted to music and the stage. He had most of his work on Rabelais published in the next decade (1880-1890). For his book "Rabelais. Ses voyages en Italie. Son exil à Metz", he meticulously walked the Italian roads in the footsteps of the French writer.
On January 26, 1880, he was made a member of the famous literary society “La Société des Gens de Lettres”. For his book “Villegagnon, king of America (1510-1572). A seaman in the 16th century”, he was awarded a silver medal of the World Exhibition. The book was officially crowned by L’Institut.
castello From 1893 onward, he devoted his energy to the huge project of recreating the Old Paris on the Quai de Billy, within the World Exhibition of 1900 ² . In 1896, he published “The World of Finance in the 1900 World Exhibition: the Golden Town (Le Pont au Change), a project for a finance exhibition".
He collaborated with Albert Robida on the illustrations for his 1887 book “Entre Deux Stations” [“Between Two Stations”]. This foreshadowed the collaboration which made the Old Paris project possible. Arthur Heulhard was the only patron of this hugely ambitious project. “It was the first time some private enterprise had been allowed to play an important part alongside official buildings, within an Exhibition.” ³ .
After 1900 he still worked for some time for Le Figaro, as an advertising editor. He then decided to retire, with his wife and children, to the Châteaux de Bordeaux, in Villevaudé, Seine et Marne, not far from Paris, where he concentrated on his major work about the origins of the Christian religion. Between 1904 and 1914, he published the conclusion of his research, that is 17 volumes, among which the 11 volumes of “Le Mensonge Chrétien” [“The Christian Lie”]. To do this he created his own publishing house, in rue de Saulnier, Paris.
He was a reserved person about his private life, and a great scholar. His collaborators 4 appreciated this obliging, selfless person with a good sense of humour. He died suddenly in Troyes, in the Champagne district, on January 2, 1920. [Traduction courtesy of Jean Roy]



Notes

1 Dictionnaire de Biographie Contemporaine de Adolphe Bitard, 1887.    
2 lemog.fr .    
3 Anonyme. Le vieux Paris : guide historique, pittoresque et anecdotique, 1900.    
4 Article d’Emile Berr le 12 janvier 1920 dans le Figaro.    


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