Book contents
- The Purchase of the Past
- The Purchase of the Past
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Amateurs and the Art Market in Transition (c.1780–1830)
- 2 Archiving and Envisioning the French Revolution (c.1780–1830)
- 3 Book Hunting, Bibliophilia and a Textual Restoration (c.1790–1840)
- 4 Salvaging the Gothic in Private and Public Spaces (c.1820–1870)
- 5 Royalists versus Vandals, and the Cult of the Old Regime (c.1860–1880)
- 6 Allies of the Republic?
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - Book Hunting, Bibliophilia and a Textual Restoration (c.1790–1840)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 June 2020
- The Purchase of the Past
- The Purchase of the Past
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Amateurs and the Art Market in Transition (c.1780–1830)
- 2 Archiving and Envisioning the French Revolution (c.1780–1830)
- 3 Book Hunting, Bibliophilia and a Textual Restoration (c.1790–1840)
- 4 Salvaging the Gothic in Private and Public Spaces (c.1820–1870)
- 5 Royalists versus Vandals, and the Cult of the Old Regime (c.1860–1880)
- 6 Allies of the Republic?
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The changing market for rare books forms the focus of this chapter, looking at the impact of the French Revolution not just on the dispersed libraries of the old regime, but the emergence of new ways of classifying and consuming historic editions. It identifies the expanded market for rare books from the 1790s: both the resourceful dealers who were able to exploit the demand for works by historic printing houses, and the restless bibliophiles who scavenged across the city on the hunt for rare editions. It reconsiders why this period saw the rise of the so-called bibliomaniac, as well as the growth in new ways to classify rare books (via bibliography) and new forms of bibliophile sociability. Touching on key figures such as Charles Nodier, Guilbert de Pixéricourt, Antoine-Augustin Renouard and Arthur-Marie-Henri Boulard, the chapter argues for a mode of book collecting that was self-consciously anachronistic, seeking to celebrate the pre-revolutionary world of elite learning.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Purchase of the PastCollecting Culture in Post-Revolutionary Paris c.1790–1890, pp. 116 - 158Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020