La dispersion du livre aquitain en Europe

Lecteurs et bibliothèques privées (1665-1830)

Alicia C. Montoya

Abstract

What was the diffusion of regional French imprints, and books from Aquitaine, in European private libraries? Which titles did these libraries report, and where did they come from? This essay addresses these questions by drawing on a database aggregating data from 600 catalogues of private libraries sold between 1665 and 1830, MEDIATE (Measuring Enlightenment: Disseminating Ideas, Authors, and Texts in Europe). An analysis of the place of regional imprints in French, Aquitanian and European libraries shows that regional imprints are virtually absent in the smaller non-French libraries making up the MEDIATE corpus. Nonetheless, some trends emerge. These range from the exoticism apparently associated with books printed in Aquitaine or Bordeaux, to the commercial success of commentaries by Aquitaine-based scholars Robert Balfour and Foix-Candale, and above all, the key role played by the “Protestant international” in the European diffusion of books issuing from regional French presses.
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