Ten Tales (Esprios Classics): Translated by Walter Learned

François Edouard Joachim Coppée (26 January 1842 - 23 May 1908) was a French poet and novelist. His first printed verses date from 1864. In 1869, his "Poème modernes" (among others La Grève de forgerons) were quite successful. In the same year, Coppée's first play, Le Passant, starring Sarah Bernhardt and Madame Agar, was received with approval at the Odéon theatre, and later Fais ce que dois (1871) and Les Bijoux de la délivrance (1872), short poetic dramas inspired by the Franco-Prussian War, were applauded. After holding a post in the library of the senate, Coppée was chosen in 1878 as archivist of the Comédie Française, an office he held till 1884.