Merville (playwright)
Merville, real name Pierre-François Camus was a 19th-century French Algerian settler who initially worked as a physician, then an actor and finally a playwright.
Biographie
Pierre-François Camus took the surname of his mother, Villemer, which he transformed into Merville as pen name. It is under this pen name that he began in theater. We owe him some thirty-five theatre plays which he signed alone or in collaboration and which were given on the most important Parisian stages. All of them had very honorable success. Among these, it is worth mentioning La Famille Glinet, ou les premiers temps de la ligue which was, at that time, the talk of the town because it was suspected that King Louis XVIII had closely worked on it. This play was a five-act comedy presented for the first time at the Théâtre Favart by the comedians of the Odéon, 18 July 1818.
Merville also wrote three novels: Le Vagabond, histoire contemporaine in 4 volumes, Le Baron de l'Empire in 5 volumes, and Saphorine, ou l'aventurière du Faubourg Saint-Antoine in 2 volumes.
The first published work by Merville is dated 1814. It was Lequel des deux ? ou la Lettre équivoque, comédie en 1 acte, en prose which was the first play to be presented, in Paris, in 1814, on the stage of the Théâtre de l'Odéon.
The latest edition of a work by Merville is dated 1881. It is En revenant de Pontoise. Les Oubliettes de P.-F. Camus dit Merville, réédition annotée. Recherches sur l'origine du dicton, opinions de divers auteurs, recueillies, commentées et publiées par Henri Le Charpentier.
Pierre-François Camus-Merville lived in Villiers-sur-Tholon where he was city councilor from 1846 to 1848. He was a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur.
Works
Les Comptes de tutelle, comédie-vaudeville in 1 act La Première Affaire, three-act comedy, in prose, Paris, Odéon, 28 August 1827Le Savetier de Toulouse, drama in 4 acts, Paris, Ambigu-Comique, 20 October 1832Sophie ou le Mauvais ménage, drama in 3 acts, Paris, Ambigu-Comique, 2 August 1832Le Septuagénaire, ou les Deux Naissances, drama in 4 acts, Paris, Gaîté, 12 August 1834Suite du répertoire du Théâtre de Madame. La Maîtresse Le Vagabond, histoire contemporaineLes Quatre Âges, comedy in verse in 5 actsLe Vagabond, histoire contemporaineLe Procureur impérialLe Félon, historical drama in 3 acts, Paris, 2 February 1830La Grande Duchesse, lyrical drama in 3 acts, Paris, Théâtre de Madame, 6 May 1829Paul BriolatLe Jeune Prince, ou la Constitution de ***, comedy in 3 acts, in prose, Paris, Odéon, 7 July 1831Lequel des deux ? ou la Lettre équivoque, comedy in 1 act, in prose, Paris, Odéon, 6 September 1814En revenant de Pontoise. Les Oubliettes de P.-F. Camus dit Merville, réédition annotée. Recherches sur l'origine du dicton, opinions de divers auteurs, recueillies, commentées et publiées par Henri Le CharpentierLa Première Affaire, comedy in 3 actsFavras, épisode de 1789, in 3 acts, Lyon, Gaîté, 19 May 1831À 21 ans, ou l'Agonie de Schönbrünn, one-act drama, Paris, Ambigu-Comique, 19 August 1832Almanach des spectacles, Paris, 1822La BoiteuseLe Baron de l'EmpireLes Comptes de tutelle, comédie-vaudeville in 1 act, Paris, Théâtre de Madame, 15 June 1826Les Cent-et-une nouvelles nouvelles des Cent-et-un, adorned with a hundred-and-one vignettesContes et nouvellesLe Contrariant, comedy in prose, in 1 act, Paris, Odéon, 28 December 1828Les Deux ApprentisL'Écrivain public, drama in 3 acts, in prose, Paris, Porte-Saint-Martin, 10 May 1828Tom-Rick, ou le Babouin, play in three acts imitated from English, Paris, Porte-Saint-Martin, 16 October 1832Jean-Bart à Versailles, historical fact in 1 act, mingled with couplets, Paris, Gaîté, 1 March 1817La Famille Glinet, ou les premiers temps de la ligue, five-act comedy Louis XIII, ou la , historical drama in 5 acts, J. A. LelongLe Juif errant, drame fantastique in 5 acts and 1 epilogue, with new choirs Les Deux Anglais, comedy in 3 acts and in prose, Paris, Odéon, 3 July 1817Saphorine, ou l'Aventurière du faubourg Saint-Antoine, 2 vol., Paris, Barba 1820.