Charles Monselet

Charles Monselet (30 April 1825, Nantes - 19 May 1888, Paris) was a French journalist, novelist, poet and playwright, nicknamed "the king of the gastronomes" by his contemporaries. He specialised in comedic and romantic novels and his total output was around 40 volumes. Born at No. 16 rue Jean-Jacques-Rousseau in Nantes, a plaque bears witness to this on the facade, he lived in this city for the first nine years of his life, before his parents moved to Bordeaux. After growing up in Bordeaux, he returned to his hometown in 1852, before his literary career took place in Paris1. The death of his friend Baron Brisse, just before a dinner, earned him this joke - probably apocryphal: "Let's go to the table all the same!" He never liked overcooked fricots2. "