PAUL

See also:

• LACROIX, ANTOINE FRANCOIS ALFRED (1863— )
• PAUL LACROIX (1806—1884)

LACROIX (1806—1884)  , French author and journalist, was born in Paris on the 27th of April 18o6, the son of a novelist . He is best known under his pseudonym of P . L . Jacob, bibliophile, or " Bibliophile Jacob," suggested by the constant interest he took in public libraries and books generally . Lacroix was an extremely prolific and varied writer . Over twenty historical romances alone came from his pen, and he also wrote a variety of serious historical works, including a history of Napoleon III., and the life and times of the Tsar Nicholas I. of Russia . He was the joint author with Ferdinand Sere of a five-volume work, Le Moyen Age et La Renaissance (1847), a standard work on the manners, customs and dress of those times, the chief merit of which lies in the great number of illustrations it contains . He also wrote many monographs on phases of the history of culture . Over the signature Pierre Dufour was published an exhaustive Histoire de la Prostitution (1851—1852), which has always been attributed to Lacroix . His works on bibliography were also extremely numerous . In 1885 he was appointed librarian of the Arsenal Library, Paris . He died in Paris on the 16th of October 1884 .