Octave de BÉHAGUE
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Collector, bibliophile.
A bibliophile, he had Hippolyte Destailleur build him in 1866 a mansion at 123 rue Saint-Dominique designed around an oval library — then had his collection and three thousand prints dispersed in 1877, two years before his death. The house is today the Romanian embassy.
The story
Octave de Béhague was born in Paris on 26 November 1826, son of Count Amédée de Béhague and Victoire Félicie Bailliot. On 28 April 1866 he married Laure de Haber, daughter of a Berlin banker; two of their three daughters reached adulthood, the future Marquise de Ganay and the future Comtesse de Béarn.
In 1866 he had the architect Hippolyte Destailleur build him a mansion at 123 rue Saint-Dominique, with eighteenth-century panelling and an oval library — an interior designed around books.
A member of the Société des bibliophiles français, he gathered a considerable collection. In 1877, two years before his death, he had it dispersed, together with some three thousand prints: the Béhague sales fed the market and the cabinets of collectors.
He died in Paris on 1 March 1879. His mansion was partly pulled down in 1893; his daughter Martine had what was left built into a new house by Walter André Destailleur, which today holds the Romanian embassy — the carved wooden staircase and the oval library survive there.
He lies in Division 38 in the Bailliot vault, his mother's family, with his grandfather Claude Bailliot, Peer of France, under an inscription that ends in three words: ‘Priez pour lui’ — pray for him.
The grave
The vault bears both names: “Grave of the Bailliot family, and de Béhague” — the maternal family first. Resting there are his grandfather Claude Bailliot (1771-1836), a peer of France, and his brother-in-law Edmé Bailliot, who died at thirty-one. The count's inscription is brief and ends with a prayer: “Octave Count de Béhague, born on 26 November 1826, died on 1 March 1879. Pray for him.” Then follow that of Claire Marie Jeanne, his daughter, born on 12 August 1867 and dead on the 16th — four days — and that of his mother, Countess de Béhague, “called to God in her 79th year”.
On site, do not miss
The three words that close his inscription — “Pray for him” — and, just below, that of a daughter who died at four days old.
Visitors' questions
Where is Octave de Béhague's grave?
In Division 38, Avenue des Acacias, first row, in the central part of the cemetery. It is the vault of his mother's family, the Bailliots, where his grandfather Claude Bailliot, a peer of France who died in 1836, also rests.
Augustin-Daniel BelliardWho was Octave de Béhague?
A Parisian collector and bibliophile, a member of the Société des bibliophiles français, who in 1866 built a mansion at 123 rue Saint-Dominique designed around an oval library. His collection was broken up and sold in 1877.
Ferdinand BarbedienneWhat became of his mansion?
Partly demolished in 1893, it was absorbed by his daughter Martine into a new residence designed by Walter André Destailleur. It is now the Romanian embassy: the carved wooden staircase and the oval library survive there.
Paul BaudryWhat is engraved on the tomb?
“Sépulture de la famille Bailliot et de Béhague” — the burial place of the Bailliot and de Béhague family — then the individual inscriptions: his own, which ends with “Priez pour lui” (pray for him), that of a daughter who died at four days old in 1867, and that of his mother, the Comtesse de Béhague, who died in 1885.
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