Delphine de Girardin

Independent activity 1804–1855 ○ Natural causes

Poet and playwright who wrote the Paris chronicles of La Presse as "Charles de Launay" and kept a famous salon

Born in Aachen in 1804 and christened Delphine Gay, the daughter of the writer Sophie Gay, she grew up amid a brilliant literary society and published volumes of verse in 1824 and 1825. On a visit to Italy in 1827 she was fêted by the literati of Rome and even crowned on the Capitol. After her marriage to Émile de Girardin in 1831 she wrote Paris sketches for his paper La Presse from 1836 to 1839 under the pen name Charles de Launay, collected with great success as Lettres parisiennes. She also wrote novels and plays. Gautier, Balzac, Musset and Hugo frequented her salon, where she often held spiritualist séances. After the coup of 1851 she went briefly into exile in Brussels with her husband. She died in Paris in 1855.

Also known as: Delphine Gay · Charles de Launay · Vicomte de Launay · Vicomte Delaunay · Madame de Girardin