Éditions Larousse

In 1907, the publication of the Larousse mensuel illustré, subtitled Revue mensuelle encyclopédique, was richly illustrated and lasted until 1957.

In 1912, the first Larousse médical was published under the direction of doctor Émile-Marie Galtier-Boissière. After numerous reprints and several reworkings, the work is still being marketed a hundred years later. The same year, Le Petit Larousse was adapted into Spanish by Miguel de Toro y Gisbert under the title Pequeño Larousse ilustrado. Other editions would follow under the title Nuevo Pequeño Larousse ilustrado. This makes Larousse one of the rare dictionary publishers that succeeded in publishing in a language other than the original. Successor to the Larousse pour tous (two volumes: volume 1 in 1907 and volume 2 in 1908), the Larousse universel, an encyclopedic dictionary in two volumes, appeared in 1922.

From the 1920s to the 1960s

In 1926, appeared in 1 volume the first Larousse ménager. This work, comprising about 3000 articles, relates to good housekeeping practices in the broad sense of the housewife at that time.

From 1928 to 1933, Paul Augé, son of Claude, coordinated the Larousse du XXe siècle, a universal encyclopedic dictionary in six volumes and printed in heliogravure. It gradually succeeded the Nouveau Larousse illustré, while being more concise, abundantly illustrated, scientifically more founded, and setting itself the objective of renewing the knowledge of its time (contains more than 235,000 articles and about 6,500 pages). This Larousse would be the subject of several updated reprints until the end of the 1950s, including sometimes with a different cover for the most recent reprints. A supplement in one volume appeared in 1953, completing the initial encyclopedic work (editions before 1949).In 1936 (volume 1) and 1937 (volume 2) came out the Grand Mémento encyclopédique Larousse, in two volumes, which aims to be a "systematic and methodical exposition" of encyclopedic knowledge, complementary to the alphabetical exposition procedure of the other Larousse encyclopedic dictionaries. The different chapters are signed by more than 100 collaborators, generally university professors. In 1955, a reworked edition of this Grand Mémento, still in two volumes of 1,180 pages each, but under the title Encyclopédie Larousse méthodique. Finally, in 1967 and 1968, the reworking of these two volumes into a three-volume version called Encyclopédie générale Larousse was published (reprints in 1977 and 1983).

In 1938, the Larousse gastronomique, under the direction of Prosper Montagné, experienced significant bookstore success: it was translated worldwide and continues to be reprinted (updated and reworked) to this day.

The "Classiques Larousse" (1933) also appeared at this time, a series of concise monographs on major authors, which would later become the “Nouveaux Classiques Larousse” collection (1950s-1970s).

In 1948 (volume 1) and in 1949 (volume 2) appeared the Nouveau Larousse universel, updated successor to the Larousse universel of 1922. Then came a new updated version in the early 1960s under the name Larousse universel (two volumes). It was succeeded by a reworked version (updated in particular with photos, diagrams, and maps in color and black and white) in 1969 titled Nouveau Larousse universel (two volumes).

Le Nouveau Petit Larousse illustré, an encyclopedic dictionary, was republished in 1948, 1952 (centenary edition reworked and augmented), and 1959. This last edition, to mark the centenary of the founding of the Librairie Larousse, contains a brochure containing the list of words deleted since the 1948 edition, made available to crossword enthusiasts.

From 1960 to 1975, the Grand Larousse encyclopédique in ten volumes and two supplements were published, bearing a logo drawn by Jean Picart Le Doux.

In 1965, the Larousse L3 (three volumes), which is the condensed version of the Grand Larousse encyclopédique, was aimed at a wider public due to its lower acquisition cost. Reprints (sometimes updated and with different covers) continued until about 1997 (mainly in five volumes but also in four or six volumes like the Larousse L6).

The turning point of the 1970s

Since the creation of the house, the Larousse encyclopedic dictionaries have largely dominated the French market. However, towards the end of the 1960s, competition struck on two fronts. On the one hand, supremacy in dictionary matters ended with the publication in 1967 of the Petit Robert. On the other hand, on the encyclopedia side, the threat came from the publication starting in 1968 of the Encyclopædia Universalis.

The response from the Larousse house took the form of a Grande Encyclopédie Larousse in 22 volumes (twenty encyclopedic volumes, one index, and one atlas) published from 1971 to 1978. It is completed by two supplements (1981 and 1985). Appeared in the same period (1971 to 1979) the Grand Larousse de la langue française in seven volumes, but this was a commercial failure; a last edition appearing around 1989 (competition from the SNL publishing house - Dictionnaires Le Robert) while the general encyclopedia in three volumes published in 1968 proved to be a high-quality support, open and accessible to the greatest number. At the same time, the publisher launched a series of encyclopedic and educational fascicles sold in newsstands.

The Grand Larousse encyclopédique was entirely reworked at the end of the 1970s. Completed, updated, and brought up to date, the new encyclopedic dictionary appeared under the name Grand Dictionnaire encyclopédique Larousse (GDEL) in 10 and 15 volumes in 1982. The revised and corrected edition in 1986 and published in January 1987, was renamed Grand Larousse universel (GLU). It is divided into 15 volumes (main base of the work still with the same number of pages), to which is added a Supplément published in 1992. The following reprints, until 1997, of the GLU contain an "Actualia" part (update of new words, etc.) directly at the end of each volume.

Larousse published the encyclopedia Théma in the 1990s (until the mid-2000s). Le Grand Larousse illustré appeared in 2006, whose design is conceived by Philippe Starck (three volumes and one CD-ROM; another version includes an infrared stylus in addition), which has as its base Le petit Larousse illustré. At the end of 2007, Le grand Larousse encyclopédique was published in two volumes.

Also published by Larousse is a mini encyclopedia in one volume called Mémo (1989, 2001, etc.) or Le nouveau Mémo (1999), then renamed Nomade or Micro encyclopédie (2006 edition) under a slightly more compact format but with identical content (simple reduction of photos, texts slightly updated, and diagrams).

Changes in shareholding and management

In 1983, the Larousse company, which had remained a family business for more than 125 years, joined CEP Communication, then the Cité group. The latter was absorbed by Havas in 1997, then by Vivendi.

In 2004, following the ousting of Jean-Marie Messier and the dismantling of Vivendi, Larousse joined the Hachette group (Éditions Larousse company), its editorial fund belonging to the Lagardère group (Larousse SA company) through a management lease contract.

In 2006, Isabelle Jeuge-Maynart was appointed by Hachette Livre as President and CEO of Larousse. She is also Director of the Hachette Education division and CEO of Hachette Board Games.

Over the years, and with the reduction in the company's workforce, Larousse gradually shared its historic premises, located from 15 to 21 rue du Montparnasse, with Fayard and Armand Colin and, since 2016, with Le Livre de poche, Stock, Calmann-Lévy, etc.