Description

This autobiography recalls the eventful career of the nineteenth-century publisher and journalist, Henry Vizetelly (1820-1894). Born in London, Vizetelly was apprenticed to a wood engraver as a young child. He entered the printing business and helped found two successful but short-lived newspapers, the Pictorial Times and the Illustrated Times. From 1865 Vizetelly worked in Paris and Berlin as a foreign correspondent for the Illustrated London News, and also wrote and published several books. He later became a publisher of foreign novels and gained notoriety for his translations of Emile Zola which challenged strict Victorian laws on obscenity and led to his prosecution and imprisonment. His book is a fascinating blend of political, social and personal history, providing an insight into the turbulent literary world of nineteenth-century Europe.