births
June 24, 1767
Jean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès, French geographer and author (died 1846)
Jean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès
Jean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès was a French geographer, author and translator, best remembered in the English speaking world for his translation of German ghost stories Fantasmagoriana, published anonymously in 1812, which inspired Mary Shelley and John William Polidori to write Frankenstein and The Vampyre respectively. He was one of the founding members of the Société de Géographie, a member of the Société Asiatique, Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, American Philosophical Society, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was awarded the Legion of Honour. He had a mountain named after him near Yos Sudarso Bay in New Guinea, as well as a sandbank near French Island, Australia, and a street in Le Havre.