From the end of the seventeenth century on French books slowly appeared among the readings of the Hungarian aristocracy. While, at first, there was mainly an interest for works belonging to the genres of history and belles-lettres, around the middle of the eighteenth century there was also an increasing interest for philosophy in general, and more specifically for philosophical theory and philosophy of history. Occasionally, too, aristocrats had recourse to theological works in French. Analysis of the French book’s presence within aristocrats’ libraries confirms the cultural discrepancy between the different social classes within Hungarian society. The aristocracy, especially those living near the Vienna royal Court, distinguished themselves culturally not only from bourgeois intellectuals, but also from the majority of nobiliary society.