The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Lespinasse, Julie Jeanne Éléonore de
(zhül´ zhän lnôr´ d lspnäs´) (KEY) , 173276, French woman of letters. She aided (175464) Mme Du Deffand in her salon and organized (1764) one of her own, which superseded that of her patroness after a break came between the women. Mlle de Lespinasses salon was a center for the writers of the Encyclopédie. Her letters (written 177376; tr. 1901, 1929) to the comte de Guibert are celebrated as a chronicle of unhappy love.