Joseph Méry was a French writer.

Méry was born at Marseille

Marseille

Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

. An ardent romanticist, he collaborated with Auguste Barthélemy

Auguste-Marseille Barthelemy

Auguste-Marseille Barthélemy , born at Marseilles, was a French satirical poet. His name can hardly be separated from that of his friend and compatriot, Joseph Méry , with whom he carried on so intimate a collaboration that it is not possible to distinguish their personalities in their joint...

 in many of his satire

Satire

Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...

s and wrote a great number of stories, now forgotten. Nowadays he is perhaps best remembered as the co-librettist of the original version in French of Verdi

Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...

's Don Carlos

Don Carlos

Don Carlos is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French language libretto by Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry, based on the dramatic play Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien by Friedrich Schiller...

) which premiered in Paris in March 1867. Also, he was the author of the play La Bataille de Toulouse which Verdi had earlier adapted for his opera La battaglia di Legnano

La battaglia di Legnano

La battaglia di Legnano is an opera in four acts, with music by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian-language libretto by Salvadore Cammarano. It was based on the play La Bataille de Toulouse by Joseph Méry. The opera received its first performance on 27 January 1849, at the Teatro Argentina, Rome...

in January 1849.

He was noted in his time for his wit

Wit

Wit is a form of intellectual humour, and a wit is someone skilled in making witty remarks. Forms of wit include the quip and repartee.-Forms of wit:...

 and ability to improvise. He produced several pieces at the Paris theatres, and also collaborated with Gérard de Nerval

Gérard de Nerval

Gérard de Nerval was the nom-de-plume of the French poet, essayist and translator Gérard Labrunie, one of the most essentially Romantic French poets.- Biography :...

 in adaptations from Shakespeare and in other plays.

Alexandre Dumas, père

Alexandre Dumas, père

Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...

, in 1864, invited all the poets of France to display their skill by composing to sets of Bouts-Rimés

Bouts-Rimés

Bouts-Rimés, literally "rhymed-ends", is the name given to a kind of poetic game defined by Addison, in the Spectator, as...

 selected for the purpose by Joseph Méry. Later in life Méry received a pension from Napoleon III.