George-Édouard Desbarats

George-Édouard-Amable Desbarats (5 April 1838 – 18 February 1893) was an influential Canadian printer and inventor.

Life and career

The Desbarats were an established printing family. The first of the family to settle was Joseph Desbarats from Auch in France, and who arrived in with the Régiment de la Sarre in New France in 1756.

Joseph's son Pierre-Édouard co-purchased the Nouvelle Imprimière (New Printing Office) from William Vondenvelden in 1798; the printer was responsible for printing the Lower Canadian Statutes, and also published newspapers such as the Quebec Mercury and other publications. Pierre-Édouard's third son George-Paschal Desbarats took over the business in 1828 and was named Queen's Printer in 1841.

George-Édouard was born to George-Paschal and his first wife Henriette, daughter of Amable Dionne. In 1860 he married Lucianne (Lucie-Anne) Bossé, who was the eldest daughter of Joseph-Noël Bossé. which printed illustrations by artists such as Henri Julien; and L'Opinion publique from 1870 to 1883. They founded the New York Daily Graphic in 1873, the first daily illustrated paper. In 1888 George-Édouard went into business with his son William-Amable, and as Desbarats & Son they published the Dominion Illustrated.

After his death in 1893, he was entombed at the Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery in Montreal. Desbarats left his printing business to three of his sons. A son was the engineer and civil servant George Joseph Desbarats.