A Literary Tour de France

The World of Books on the Eve of the French Revolution

Robert Darnton

Written by a renowned scholar in the history of book who is a trustee of the New York Public Library
Examines the history of book publishing, starting in 18th-century France
Traces the story of France's book industry through the lives of bookselling professionals

A Literary Tour de France

The World of Books on the Eve of the French Revolution

Robert Darnton

Description

The publishing industry in France in the years before the Revolution was a lively and sometimes rough-and-tumble affair, as publishers and printers scrambled to deal with (and if possible evade) shifting censorship laws and tax regulations, in order to cater to a reading public's appetite for books of all kinds, from the famous Encyclopédie, repository of reason and knowledge, to scandal-mongering libel and pornography. Historian and librarian Robert Darnton uses his exclusive access to a trove of documents-letters and documents from authors, publishers, printers, paper millers, type founders, ink manufacturers, smugglers, wagon drivers, warehousemen, and accountants-involving a publishing house in the Swiss town of Neuchatel to bring this world to life. Like other places on the periphery of France, Switzerland was a hotbed of piracy, carefully monitoring the demand for certain kinds of books and finding ways of fulfilling it. Focusing in particular on the diary of Jean-François Favarger, a traveling sales rep for a Swiss firm whose 1778 voyage, on horseback and on foot, around France to visit bookstores and renew accounts forms the spine of this story, Darnton reveals not only how the industry worked and which titles were in greatest demand, but the human scale of its operations.

A Literary Tour de France is literally that. Darnton captures the hustle, picaresque comedy, and occasional risk of Favarger's travels in the service of books, and in the process offers an engaging, immersive, and unforgettable narrative of book culture at a critical moment in France's history.

A Literary Tour de France

The World of Books on the Eve of the French Revolution

Robert Darnton

Introduction: Before Balzac
1. Our man on Mission
2. The View from the Home Office
3. Smuggling: Pontarlier
4. Sizing up Shops: Lons-le-Saunier
5. Selling Books, Collecting Bills: Bourg-en-Bresse
6. Entrepreneurs and Buccaneers: Lyon
7. Domestic Contraband: Lyon
8. The Trade in Trading: Avignon
9. The Struggle for Survival in the South: Nîmes, Montpellier, Marseille
10. Hard Scrabble in the Southwest: Pézénas to Poitiers
11. Peddling and the Capillary System: Loudun
12. Upmarket and Downmarket in France's Homeland: Saumur to Dijon
13. An Ultimate Example: Besançon
14. The End of the Line: An Overview of the Demand for Literature
15. Lived Literature
Acknowledgments

A Literary Tour de France

The World of Books on the Eve of the French Revolution

Robert Darnton

Author Information

Robert Darnton is Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and University Librarian, Emeritu of Harvard University, and is the author of The Great Cat Massacre and others. His website offers a digital tour of the research that went into the making of this book.

A Literary Tour de France

The World of Books on the Eve of the French Revolution

Robert Darnton

Reviews and Awards

"Although Literary Tour is not intended as such a comprehensive overview as Forbidden Best-Sellers, Darnton nevertheless here makes good on his long-standing promise to publish an overview of the commerce in books across the kingdom. Literary Tour should thus be welcomed as a highly readable, narratively structured, nationally scoped, and deeply researched history of book distribution in France before the Revolution." -- Gregory Brown, Journal of Modern History

"A Literary Tour de France is a fascinating book, packed with information, and like a good historian Robert Darnton knows how to tell a story" -- Jim Burns, The Penniless Press

"a delight to read, quirky in its observations and pointed in relating them to the wider picture." -- David Coward, Times Literary Supplement

"This book and especially its accompanying website bring to life some of the important intermediaries in the pre-revolutionary book trade." -- Christine Haynes, H-France Review

"[A] rich and textured account of how and what many French people were able to read in the decades before the upheaval of 1789."--Roxanne Ranchasi, New Books Network

"Thoughtful and well-researched..."--Kirkus Reviews

"Deftly written, this thoughtful and well-researched work will appeal to a wide variety of readers; scholars and casual fans of printing history will enjoy this insider's look that is both informative and entertaining."--Ali Houissa, Library Journal