born Oct. 23, 1817, Toucy, France
died Jan. 3, 1875, Paris
French publisher, lexicographer, and encyclopaedist.
Son of a blacksmith, he received a scholarship to study in Versailles. He founded his publishing house, Librairie Larousse, in Paris in 1852. It published textbooks, grammar books, and dictionaries, but his major work, reflecting his desire "to teach everyone about everything," was the combined dictionary and encyclopaedia Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle , 17 vol. (186676). Librairie Larousse continues to publish a multivolume encyclopaedia as well as dictionaries and smaller encyclopaedias.