A Martyr to Bibliography by Olphar Hamst — Read

Joseph-Marie Quérard, was born at Rennes, (Ille-et-Vilaine,) the 25th December 1797, of parents whose sole fortune consisted of their honesty and three children to boot. The name "Quérard," known only in the above village and its environs, is nevertheless that of a once distinguished though now extinct family, one branch of which, it would appear, Quérard humourously remarks, was reduced to poverty. Condemned from his birth to labor, Quérard, having arrived at a reasoning age, desired rather to make a name for himself, than attempt to trace one through his ancestors. From earliest infancy, he was sent to a school in his native village, and at the age of eleven he was removed, having doubtless in the eyes of his parents finished his education. He was thus deprived of the benefit of a classical education; but fortunately, a little later, his travels necessitated the acquisition of several foreign languages, which in the profession he created for himself were infinitely more useful to him than a knowledge of the classics would have been, which are learned with so much difficulty and time, and so easily forgotten.

In 1807, when only eleven, he was placed in the book-trade, and thenceforward he exhibited a liking for books, which developed itself into a passion. Being first an agent in his native village, he afterwards, in 1812, went to Paris, the ambition of every man in the provinces, Paris being more enticing even than London is to the English yokel,-for Paris is France. Lastly, he was employed in Austria, by an important Viennese firm. It was there, in the midst of men noted for their exact and persevering investigations, that it became manifest the science of books was his vocation. Having labored with ardour for five years upon a work which he judged would be useful to his country, he quitted Vienna for Paris, in 1825, to publish it, disregarding all his brilliant prospects of future advancement, and the advantageous offers made him.