The author, Anatole France (1844 – 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist. He was born in Paris, and died in Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire. He was a successful novelist, with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie française, and won the 1921 Nobel Prize for Literature "in recognition of his brilliant literary achievements, characterized as they are by a nobility of style, a profound human sympathy, grace, and a true Gallic temperament".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatole_France
Published march twenty fifth, nineteen hundred and eight. Privilege of copyright in the United States reserved under the Act approved March third, nineteen hundred and fife, by Manzi, Joyant et Cie