Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review'[...] a clearly focused and disciplined study that opens up a much-debated field for fresh scrutiny that is not afraid to state where new and further research is needed.'
SHARP News
'Readers in these fields [book history and pre-Revolutionary French cultural history] will certainly appreciate the careful reconstruction of the organization and practice of the book trade at a key historical conjuncture.'
Journal of Modern History
'A great many scholars have worked on the book trade under the Old Regime, including such eminent historians as Robert Darnton and Roger Chartier, but Rigogne’s study is the first one to offer a comprehensive, detailed, and empirically grounded view of the book trade throughout the French provinces at the height of the Enlightenment. Exquisitely detailed and backed up by an abundance of statistical data, Rigogne’s study exposes the yawning gap between royal policies on paper and their implementation in the provinces. It represents a major contribution to the scholarship on both Old Regime France and the history of the book.'
- American Historical Review
Table of ContentsList of tables
List of figures
List of illustrations
List of maps
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
Foreword by Robert Darnton
Introduction
1. Surveying the book trade
2. Policing the book trade: the system and its failures
3. Local administration: corporate bodies, urban institutions and state agents
4. The concentration of printing
5. Booksellers: the rise of the bookstore
6. Print markets
Conclusion
Appendix 1: Surveys of the book trade (1700-1784)
Appendix 2:
Acquits à cautionAppendix 3: Verification and modifications to the 1764 survey results
Appendix 4: Core group
Bibliography
Index
