Jean-Jacques Pauvert was born in 1926.
He writes in his memoirs that in his family, ‘books were living things (…), to be discussed together’.
In 1942, he left high school and became a trainee salesman in the Gallimard bookshop in Paris: he acquired ‘a physical love of books’ and met authors. Moreover, he discovered the commerce of rare editions and books esteemed to be scandalous.
After the war, he imagined a review that would defend the freedom of creation.
Under the imprint Palimugre, thanks to his social skills and relations, he launched his publishing business with texts by Henry de Montherlant and Alphonse Allais.
Then Pauvert thought of publishing an infamous author who was appreciated in the literary milieu, the Marquis de Sade.