Editing Eugène Labiche (section)

==Retirement and death==
In 1877, he ended his connection with the stage, and retired to his rural property in Sologne. There, he devoted his energies to supervising agricultural work and to reclaiming land and marshes. His lifelong friend, [[Émile Augier]], visited him there, and strongly advised Labiche to publish a collected and revised edition of his works. Though Labiche was initially reluctant, he issued, during 1878 and 1879, his comic plays in ten volumes, which were enthusiastically received.  Many people had assumed that Labiche's plays owed their popularity to the actors who had appeared in them, but, upon reading the plays, they realized that their success was due to the writing itself, with its humor and skilled characterization.  Due to this re-evaluation of Labiche's writing, he was elected to the ''[[Académie française]]'' in 1880.{{sfn|Filon|1911|p=5}}

Labiche died in Paris and was buried in the [[Cimetière de Montmartre]].