A literary life preserved in publications
Little is securely documented about Nagour’s early life, family or education. His name appears on Contes macabres, published in 1884 with Le Cholleux, a preface by Ernest d’Hervilly and illustrations by Max. The shared credits place his work in a literary setting well before the occult study that later circulated in English.
In 1901 C. Tallandier published his Images et silhouettes in Paris. The Bibliothèque nationale de France records Ernest Laut’s preface and a cover drawn by David-Riquier. These named collaborations supply a firmer account of his working life than the unverified biographical details attached to some modern editions. His birth and death dates remain uncertain.
A collaboration on love and occult belief
Nagour and Laurent published L’Occultisme et l’amour with Vigot frères in 1902. The book moves between religious traditions, stories of demonic encounters and practices intended to influence love. Divination, dreams and the language of symbols sit alongside accounts of witchcraft. It is a compilation of interpretations and inherited stories, with the assumptions of its own period running through its comparisons.
The English Magica Sexualis preserves both authors’ names. Lumitheca’s Falstaff Press copy calls Nagour “Prof.” on its title page and joins his name to Laurent’s beneath the introduction. No academic appointment has been securely identified, and the shared credits do not divide responsibility for individual passages. His documented role is that of a collaborator in the book’s survey of occult belief.
