Bibliothèques et lecteurs à la Bastille au XVIIIe siècle
The history of reading can be a difficult subject of study, so scattered and incomplete are the records of this transient activity. But it is another matter when reader and book are imprisoned in the Bastille. Both are then under close supervision, and the precise reports of the Lieutenant General o...
Wedi'i Gadw mewn:
| Prif Awdur: | |
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| Fformat: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Iaith: | Français |
| Cyhoeddwyd: |
1994
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| Mynediad Ar-lein: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Crynodeb: | The history of reading can be a difficult subject of study, so scattered and incomplete are the records of this transient activity.
But it is another matter when reader and book are imprisoned in the Bastille. Both
are then under close supervision, and the precise reports of the Lieutenant General
of Police yield up much valuable information on the provenance of the books, the
conditions in which they were read, and the sorts of works that were asked for.
In the 18th century, prisoners had several ways of obtaining books. They could
borrow them from relations or friends, even from members of the prison staff or
from the Lieutenant General of Police. They could make use of an outside library
such as Sainte-Geneviève or Saint-Victor, or the library of the Bastille itself. This
Library which had languished in a state of disorder throughout much of the century
was put on a proper footing by the Marquis de Breteuil in December 1786. In addition books could be hired or bought from a bookseller.
Reading aloud, the times at which prisoners read, and the rules governing note
taking, that is to say the physical conditions in which reading took place, are all
clearly described in the archives of the Bastille.
There was always a certain amount of censorship, particularly of newspapers, but
from the 1770s, and particularly in the 1780s, the attitude of the authorities became
more flexible.
The reading matter of the well known guests of the fortress — Voltaire, La
Baumelle, and de Sade — remain the best known. The works requested by other prisoners were on the most diverse subjects, though with a very marked predominance
of religious books. The quantity of Jansenist literature requested is notable throughout the first half of the century.
The purpose of reading varied widely, and included escapism, as shown by the
quantity of travel books, literary creation, a desire to learn to read, to write or to
understand a foreign language, and attention to professional affairs. In addition,
some learned works made progress in the Bastille, notably a history of printing types
begun by the Piedmontese forger, Lavini, librarian to the Duc de la Vallière. |
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