Everyone from Jules Verne to John Connor seems to know of Pierre Boitard’s edition of Paris avant les hommes published in 1861, two years after Boitard’s death. The 500-page tome tells the tale of a limping devil named Asmodeus who takes Boitard himself on a journey through Earth’s natural history.

What’s less well known is that 25 years earlier, Boitard’s initial version—yes, including the time-traveling Asmodeus—appeared as a 44-page, two-part article in the family magazine Musée des Familles—Lecture pour Tous. I stumbled upon this in Jean Le Loeuff’s November 2012 blog, Le Dinoblog.
Michael Main

Variants

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  1. “Paris avant les hommes” by Pierre Boitard, in Musée des Familles—Lectures du Soir, June 1836 and November 1837.
  2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Pierre Boitard