Paul Schmidt (1834-1907)
Details
Type of entity: Person
Name: Paul Schmidt
Date of birth: 1834
Date of death: 1907
Source of information: Special Collections
Possible others
Profile
Paul Frédéric Schmidt was born in Strasbourg in 1834, the son of Jean Frédéric Schmidt and Émilie Goulden. His father was a merchant born in Colmar. In 1865, Paul married Adèle Stackler and they made their home in Paris.
Paul Schmidt had trained as a chemist and owned a factory; he may also have run a printing business. He was a deacon in the Reformed Church of France and was interested in questions of social welfare, serving as vice-president of the Société internationale pour l'étude des questions d'assistance (International Society for the Study of Social Welfare).
However he is best known as a collector of rare books, particularly those originating from Strasbourg. He also sought out first editions of early Huguenot writers and polemical booklets from other leading figures of the Protestant reformation. At his death in 1907, his library contained over 800 rare books, including 280 incunabula published before 1501. These were sold at auction in Paris in April 1910.