Size of sheet: 33 x 25 cm. Size of plate: 22.4 x 18.2 cm.

Émile de Girardin was a French journalist and politician. He founded La Presse, which was one the first newspapers to reduce its subscription price to increase its readership numbers and consequently increase its publicity revenues. He was also instrumental in the development of serialised fiction in newspapers, notably publishing works by Balzac, in order to create customer loyalty.