ABSTRACT
The years immediately after 1848 were the busiest in Pierre Guillaume Frederic Le Play's life. Had he died in 1856, at the age of fifty, he would be no less well known today, perhaps better known. During those years also he began to publish his social studies and to develop his social theories. He became a government commissioner for many causes, and he began his career as Exhibitioner-in-Chief for nineteenth-century civilisation. At the Paris Exhibition of 1849 Le Play had taken a small part in the organisation and, as a member of the Jury, drafted the report on the steel section. In London in 1851 he was a member of the French Commission, and this time wrote the French report on the cutlery and tools section. Le Play was Commissioner-General for the Universal Exhibitions of 1855 and 1867. He might well have been called Commissioner-in-General between those years.
