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Biographical and bibliographical information on the book trades
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28 June 2020

Normandy Book trades 1700-1789: A.

The world of the book in Lower Normandy 1700-1789

A. The regions and their markets

The production of the printers' workshops is largely a reflection of the customers in the local institutions which produce or consume written materials or oversee their use. This study therefore starts with a survey of the region and its main social institutions.
A1. Geographical situation

The region of Lower Normandy before its unification with Upper Normandy in 2016 included the three départements of Calvados (5,545 km2), Manche (5,926 km2) and Orne (6,105 km2), a total area of 17 576 km2. The limits of these départements do not correspond exactly with the two généralités of the Ancien Régime; Caen and Alençon. In the east Calvados contains part of the former généralité of Rouen with the town of Honfleur while the département of Eure contains part of the généralité of Alençon with the town of Bernay — Nogent-le-Rotrou was part of the département of Eure-et-Loir. These two localities do not have any great importance for the book trade in the period (the Almanach de la librairie only lists one bookseller in each place and no printers), so there is some historical justification for adopting the post-Revolutionary limits for the region.

Lower Normandy is traditionally an agricultural region, particularly known for its dairy products. On the west coast of the Cotentin and the Avranches area there were a large number of salterns. This results in the printer Gabriel Briard of Bayeux printing several complaints from the proprietors of salterns against the new system of raising the quart-bouillon levy in Normandy in 1754. Some towns were known for their textile production, for example the lacemakers of Alençon. Among other industries were ceramics, tanning and papermaking. In the course of the 18th century metallurgical industries develop, thanks to the discovery of small lodes of iron ore. The establishment of a military arsenal in Cherbourg favoured the development of a chain of naval shipyards in the northern Cotentin. As far as trade is concerned Lower Normandy remained in the shadow of Upper Normandy even though the fairs at Caen and Falaise were much frequented. As far as external trade is concerned, no locality during the 18th century could rival Le Havre, the largest port in Normandy.

Lower Normandy and the principal centres of the book trade[1].
According to the Livres de poste, the postal network developed steadily but there were numerous fluctuations. For example the Caen-Bayeux and Caen-Alençon routes were modified several times between 1700 and 1810. The direct route between Bayeux and Carentan likewise did not remain unchanged and even seemed to disappear altogether between 1780 and 1810. For all the period Caen remained the central axis for communications with few direct routes from Paris towards the south of the region[2].

INSEE (the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) and the British census reports give the figures in the table below for the chief towns of each region in 1801, the year of the first modern census[3].
LOWER NORMANDY1,378,205DEVON340,308
CALVADOS451,851STOKE DAMEREL2,3747
BAYEUX9,970EXETER17,398
CAEN30,900PLYMOUTH16,378
FALAISE14,000TIVERTON6,505
LISIEUX10,192CREDITON4,929
PONT-L’ÉVÊQUE2,500BARNSTAPLE3,748
VIRE7,523BRIXHAM3,671
TAVISTORK3,420
MANCHE530,631EAST STONEHOUSE3,407
AVRANCHES5,413CULLOMPTON3,138
CHERBOURG11,389ASHBURTON3,080
COUTANCES8,507BIDEFORD2,987
SAINT-LÔ6,987SOUTH MOLTON2,753
MORTAIN2,650TOPSHAM2,749
VALOGNES6,770TOTNES2,503
OTTERY ST MARY2,415
ORNE395 723DARTMOUTH2,398
ALENCON12,407HONITON2,377
ARGENTAN5,860ST THOMAS2,189
DOMFRONT1,548AXMINSTER2,154
MORTAGNE5,720GREAT TORRINGTON2,064
Population of Lower Normandy and Devon, 1801
The largest town in Lower Normandy at the end of the 18th century is Caen, capital of the region and of the généralité which bears its name with some 30,000 inhabitants. Alençon, capital of the other généralité of Lower Normandy only had a population of about 12,000. Except for the maritime port of Cherbourg, with a population of some 11,000, Falaise, which was about the same size, and perhaps Lisieux, no other town in the region exceedsed 10,000 inhabitants. The two diocesan seats of Bayeux (more than 9,000 inhabitants in 1801) and Coutances (more than 8,000 at the same date) were the only localtities approach this figure.

In 1789, the three généralités of Normandy were among the ten most highly taxed in France if we are to believe the Tableau des finances de la France drawn up on 1 September 1789.
Summary of the population and tax contributions of each généralité
Noms des généralitésÉtendue du royaume par lieues carréesNombre des habitans par généralitéNombre des habitans par lieues carréesContributions dont partie ne forme point un objet de recette pour le Trésor royal et de leur rapport avec le nombre d’habitans.
Par généralité Par individu
Paris1 1571 781 7001 540114 500 00064 l. 5 s.
Lyon416633 6001 52219 000 00030 l. 0 s.
Normandie[1 635][1 913 000]1 170[57 000 000]29 l. 16 s.
- Rouen587½740 700[1 261]27 400 000[37 l. 0 s.]
- Alençon464528 300[1 139]14 400 000[27 l. 5 s.]
- Caen583½644 000[1 104]15 200 000[23 l. 12 s.]
Amiens458533 0001 16415 200 00028 l. 10 s.
Orléans1 021¼709 40069520 000 00028 l. 4 s.
Chalons1 226¼812 80066321 800 00026 l. 16 s.
Soissons445?437 20098211 300 00025 l. 17 s.
31 généralités et isle de Corse27 49124 800 000902568 000 00022 l. 18 s.
Tableau des finances de la France. Premier 7bre 1789.
Adapted from the manuscript in the Musée national des douanes, Bordeaux, ms. inv. 984 86 1

A2. State authorities and official publications

Within this geographical framework we now review the administrative, educational, religious and cultural bodies that require written and more particularly printed documentation.

A2.1. King's printers

In 1767 Jean-Claude Pyron, whose position as King's printer in Caen was being contested by Gilles Le Roy printed the certificates of probity and professional qualifications that had been provided to him by the various administrative bodies. Among them is the testimony of Pierre Mallou de La Fresnaye, procureur du Roi, outlined very precisely all the forms printed for local administrations : "Mandements de tailles, capitation, lettres circulaires de chevauchées, déclarations du Roi, arrêts & réglemens, & généralement dans l’impression de tous les registres & actes qui concernent les fermes des aydes, du tabac, du marc d’or & d’argent, la marque sur les cuirs & autres affaires résultantes des matières dont les compétences nous sont attribuées, soit pour cause de police ou autrement." [4].

We know three localities where individuals were designated "imprimeur du Roi" by decree of the Privy Council. This function was often linked to other responsibilities. In Alençon for example in 1671, Martin Delamotte, who had come from Rouen, was designated "imprimeur du Roi et du collège des jésuites" a title taken over by his widow in 1696 and which passed on her re-marriage to her new husband Pierre Augereau. The situation became more complicated in 1703 when, widowed a second time, she had to share the function with Jean-Pierre Malassis. The Malassis family retained the title of "imprimeur du Roi" in Alençon until the Revolution, and retrieved the position when it was reintroduced after the restoration of the monarchy in 1815. In 1776 Jean-Zacharie Malassis le jeune, already "imprimeur du Roi" added the title of "imprimeur de Monsieur".

In Caen, the position of "imprimeur du Roi" was linked to that of "imprimeur de l’université". At the start of the 18t century Jean Cavelier held this joint position and his son Antoine Cavelier succeeded him in 1701. From 1732 until his death in 1744, Antoine worked in partnership with his grand-nephew Jean-Claude Pyron. Fom 1767 Pyron had to share the title with Gilles Le Roy, a situation which caused many difficulties. The position was only reunited by a decree of the Privy Council in 1789, three years after the death of Pyron.

A King's printer is also recorded at Lisieux. In 1661 Rémy Le Boullenger, who had also come from Rouen, termed himself in Latin "typographus Regis, episcopatûs & collegii Lexovaei", a title adopted by Jacques Aunay du Ronceray, who succeeded him on 19 august 1707 and he is still using this title in 1736, although "Regis" disappeared from his title pages by 1739.

A2.2. Intendances and regional institutions

The two intendances of Lower Normandy, those of Caen and Alençon, normally used the King's printer for official publications. Thus in Caen in 1704 Antoine Cavelier printed Relation des réjouissances faites à Caen par monsieur Foucault, conseiller d’État, intendant de Basse Normandie, pour la naissance de Monseigneur le duc de Bretagne, le dimanche sixième juillet 1704[5]., and in 1740 it was Antoine Cavelier and Jean-Claude Pyron who printed the poster : Ordonnance de Louis Arnauld de La Briffe, intendant de la généralité de Caen, pour la déclaration des chevaux atteints de la movre, dated 14 September 1740[6].. Pyron on his own, after the death of Cavelier, printed several orders of the intendant in 1766, but in 1759 it was Pierre Chalopin who produced the Ordonnance de monseigneur l’intendant de la généralité de Caen, François-Jean Orceau, chevalier, baron de Fontette... sur les règlements des messageries et le prix des chevaux de louage de Caen à Villiers [Villers-Bocage], Pont-Farci, Vire, Avranches...[7].

In Alençon Pierre Augereau printed for the intendance a decision of 2 February 1703, Ordonnance de l’intendant, faisant défenses à toutes personnes qui ont acheté ou achèteront des chevaux pendant la foire d’Alençon de les faire sortir de ladite ville sans avoir payé les droits. After his death and that of his widow it was the Malassis who worked for the intendance.

Jean-Zacharie Malassis le jeune printed in 1788 the Procès-verbal des séances de l’assemblée provinciale de Normandie pour la généralité d’Alençon, tenue à Alençon dans le mois d’août 1787[8]. In Caen Gilles Le Roy did the same for the Procès-verbal de la séance préliminaire de l’assemblée provinciale de Basse-Normandie, tenue à Caen le lundi 20. jour d’août 1787 and for the Procès-verbal des séances de l’assemblée provinciale de Basse-Normandie, tenue à Caen en novembre & décembre 1787[9].

Pierre-François Doublet was described in 1737 as "imprimeur pour les fermes du Roi à Caen" and Jean-Claude Pyron likewise in 1768. In Alençon, Louis Malassis le jeune had the same responsability in the middle of the century.

A2.3. Towns and local jurisdictions

It is possible to draw up a list of printers wo worked for the towns in the region : in Caen, Jean-Claude Pyron in 1768 and Pierre-Jean-Aimé Chalopin in 1789, in Avranches, Jean-Baptiste Bernard, in Saint-Lô, Jacques Le Baron, in Valognes, Joachim Clamorgan and in Vire, Jean de Cesne, who printed "des ouvrages de ville" in 1701.

In Bayeux, widow Briard termed herself "imprimeur du Conseil supérieur de Bayeux" when she published a series of orders and declarations in 1772.

From 1787, Pierre Clamorgan worked for the Duke of Harcourt, the governor of Cherbourg, who supported him setting up in this major port, larger than Bayeux, Coutances and Lisieux but until then deprived of printing presses. There he printed for the town authorities, the navy and the customs.

In 1764, the workshop of Jean-Claude Pyron was employed to print for the town of Caen but also for the intendance, the bailiwick (bailliage), the university, the admiralty and the tax authorities (fermes). In the same year Gilles Le Roy printed for the Bailiwick of Caen and in 1768 for the police of the finance office. In Alençon, the widow of François-Augustin Malassis l’aîné worked for the various tax authorities – customs (aides), twentieths (vingtième) etc.

A2.4. Military institutions

Sometimes a printer mentioned a special responsibility linked to military or naval institutions. Pierre-Jean-Aimé Chalopin, de Caen, termed hiself "imprimeur du château et de l’état-major" in 1789, and Jean-Claude Pyron was named printer to the admiralty in 1768.

In Saint-Lô, a town without a printer, the subdelegate requested one in 1768 as being "useful in time of war"[10]. and from 1787, when Pierre Clamorgan was printing for the Duke of Harcourt, governor of Cherbourg, he is said to be working for the navy.

A2.5. Law and custumals

Lawyers were great consumers of written and printed documents. Beside the judgments and legislative texts published by the King's printer in Paris or the region, there is a continuing demand for the custumal (coutume) of Normandy for which there were several editions produced by printers in Lower Normandy. Booksellers also obtain copies of editions of the custumal printed in other parts of Normandy. For example the newspaper Affiches de la Basse-Normandie of 7 May 1786 announces that Gilles Le Roy of Caen "has just acquired copies of the work of Mr [Jean-Baptiste] Flaust, entitled : Explication de la coutume et de la jurisprudence de la Normandie", published in Rouen by the author himself in two volumes in 1781.

The Répertoire bibliographique des livres imprimés en France au XVIIIe siècle lists around 70 legal briefs (factums) for Caen in the period 1701-1789[11].However the region's archived undoubtedly hide a large nuber of factums and other documents of a judicial natire that have not been picked up in bibliographies. Here is an example of interest for historians of printing: Précis pour le sieur Chalopin contre la dame son épouse, printed for the Caen printer in Rouen by Jacques Ferrand in 1770.

In addition lawyers often have important private libraries. For example in Caen, the lawyers François Macé, Pierre Le Prêtre or Gabriel-François Huet, do not limit their interest to the custumals of Normandy, but also have books on rhetoric and the works of Voltaire or Marivaux[12].

A3. The church

As in earlier centuries the church remained one of the major consumers of printed materials, not only liturgical or devotional works but also administrative publications.

A3.1. The dioceses

The five dioceses of Lower Normandy and their bishops each had their printer, who sometimes also had the responibility of printing for the local college.

In Avranches, whose episcopal seat was to be suppressed by the Constitution civile du clergé of 12 July 1790 (a suppression that was confirmed by the Concordat of 15 August 1801), there followed in succession during the 18th century: the widow of Nicolas Motays, who printed the statutes of the synod in 1698[13]. Louis Le Buffe, who produced those for 1714[14] and, from 1733, François-Louis Le Court who on the occasion of the inquiry (enquête) of 1764, produced "all the impressions for the use of the diocese". Among these we can find the Instruction de la doctrine chrétienne ou catéchisme, printed in 1740 by order of César Le Blanc, bishop of Avranches[15] and the Manuale Abrincense of 1769[16].

In Bayeux, at the start of the 18th century it was Jean Cavelier of Caen who printed for the diocese, for example the Mandement de monseigneur l’illustrissime... évêque de Bayeux portant condamnation & defense du livre intitulé : Durand commenté, ou l’Accord de la philosophie avec la théologie touchant la transsubstantiation de l’eucharistie[17]. From 1717, Gabriel Briard of Bayeux took over, producing for example the statutes of 1735[18] which were reprinted for Monseigneur Joseph-Dominique de Cheylus in 1781 by Antoine-Jean Nicolle, successor of Briard as printer to the bishop[19].. Printers in Caen still continued to print for the diocese of Bayeux : several editions of Heures nouvelles à l’usage du diocèse de Bayeux which came off the presses of Pierre Chalopin[20].. In Falaise, in 1770, Jacques Pitel-Préfontaine published a prayer book for the use of Bayeux with music, probably printed for him by in Caen, by Pierre Chalopin ou Jean-Claude Pyron[21].. In 1791, the widow of Antoine-Jean Nicolle, of Bayeux, was designated printer of the bishop of Calvados. The Concordat confirmed on 15 August 1801 that the diocese of Bayeux would henceforth correspond to the département of Calvados.

In Coutances, according to the enquiry of 1701, Jacques II Bellamy "a imprimé en 1700 un ordo a lusage [sic] du diocese, des catechismes et matines in 12 et in 8". However his presses seem to have seen little activity since, in 1713, the Catéchisme avec les instructions, pour les dispositions à la première communion, for which the permission to print had been delivered to Coutances on 26 May 1676 to his father Jacques I Bellamy, was printed by order of the bishop of Coutances at Caen by Pierre Dumesnil-Macquerel[22]. Five year later a "marchand libraire" of Coutances, Jean de La Roque, was working for the bishop. The Statuts et reglements of 1673 and 1676 were assigned to him for a reprint but, as he had not yet obtained accreditation as a printer, he had to transfert hem to the presses of Pierre-François Doublet in Caen[23].. Between 1724 and 1762, Julien Fauvel, established in Coutances as successor to Jean de La Roque, printed for the bishop and the diocese items such as the Missale Constantiense of 1729[24]. He was in turn succeeded by Jacques Le Roy, one of whose first publications for the diocese was a catechism printed in 1764[25].. In the years 1750 and 1760, the bishop also employed booksellers; en 1768, Pierre Francart acted in that capacity. The local enquiry of 1768 indicates that he had "longtemps servi Mgr. Duquesney [Jacques Le Febvre du Quesnoy] evêque de Coutances [et] doit être conservé". He seems to have been preceded by another bookseller, Jean-Guillaume Le Duc, "Suisse d’extraction", who had been "au service de Mgr. de Matignon, évêque de Coutances, that is to say Léonor Goyon de Matignon, who occupied the see of Coutances from 1721 to 1757[26]. The last printer of the bishop and diocese of Coutances during the period is Gilles Joubert who, after having been a bookseller in Rouen from 1767 to 1774, practised in Coutances until 1817. Two contrasting examples of his publications were the Lettre de Mgr l’evéque de Coutances aux curés de son diocèse, 16 may 1775, about the robberies committed on wheat and, in the year XIII, the Discours de M. l’évêque de Coutances, prononcé, avant le Te Deum chanté dans son église cathédrale, en présence des autorités civiles et militaires, à l’occasion du couronnement de S. M. l’Empereur comme roi d'Italie[27]. In 1791, François Bécherel became constitutional bishop of La Manche, and on August 15, 1801, after the promulgation of the Concordat, it was confirmed that the diocese now corresponded to the department of the Manche.

In Lisieux, in 1701, Rémy Le Boullenger was at the same time printer to the King, the bishop and the college, titles which he held until 1707. In 1701 he printed the Ordonnances de monseigneur l’illustrissime et révérendissime Leonor de Matignon, evêque et comte de Lisieux[28]. Jacques Aunay du Roqueray succeeded him until 1767. According to the 1764 survey, he printed "ouvrages à l’usage du diocese". In 1765 for example he produced L'Office de la Quinzaine de Pasques, à l'usage du diocèse de Lisieux[29]. From 1768, François-Bonaventure Mistral, who originated from Marseille, Became printer to the bishop. The Heures du diocèse de Lisieux, réimprimées, corrigées et augmentées par ordre de Mgr Jacques-Marie de Caritat de Condorcet, évêque et comte de Lisieux[30]. form one of his forst impressions.

In Sées, the printer to the bishop was in 1701 the widow of Martin Delamotte. Established in Alençon, she printed "ouvrages pour l’evéché de Seez". The town of Sées being struck by the prohibition of having a printing press, the bishopric needed to have recourse to the printers and booksellers of other localities, especially Alençon. Jean-Pierre Malassis therefore worked for the bishop, but the printing press returned for a time to Sées with Jean-Baptiste Briard, who in 1708 printed the Lettre pastorale de Mgr l’évêque de Sées au clergé de son diocèse sur le rétablissement des conférences ecclésiastiques[31]. His widow succeeded him in 1729, notable among her imprints La Doctrine chrétienne redigée en forme de catéchisme par monseigneur l’evêque de Sées, pour servir d’instruction aux fidéles de son diocése (1731), work of more than 600 pages with the title-page decorated by an engraving with the arms of Bishop Jacques-Charles-Alexandre Lallemant[32]. The Malassis family then took over from widow Briard because, in 1764, we learn that "la veuve Malassis est […] employée à toutes les impressions pour l’eveché de Sées ". But during the 1760s a bookseller to the bishop of Sées also worked in Falaise, Jacques Pitel-Préfontaine who had printed, probably in Caen, the Heures nouvelles contenant l’office du matin et du soir... imprimées par ordre de monseigneur l’évêque de Séez, à l’usage de son diocèse[33]. Then in the 1780s, it was his son-in-law François Bouquet, also from Falaise, who apparently succeeded him. In 1784 there is noted from his address an Almanach civil et ecclesiastique du diocèse de Séez. Contenant la description des principaux lieux de ce diocèse, avec les noms des personnes qui y composent l’état ecclesiastique, civil & militaire. Bouquet continued his work for the diocese after the start of the Revolution, publishing a catechism and hours dated 1790[34]. The diocese was then reshaped, henceforth corresponding to the department of Orne, which was confirmed by the Concordat in 1801.


A3.2. Orders, religious congregations, brotherhoods, seminaries

In the 18th century, there were around sixty abbeys in Lower Normandy, although not all of them were in a state of great activity, and no less than 200 priories. There are, however, relatively few books printed in the region for monastic orders; the latter undoubtedly had most of their liturgical books and volumes destined for their libraries provided for them without having recourse to local printers. There is all the same the Propre des saints dont on fait l’office à Avranches dans l’abbaye de Moutons de l’ordre de St Benoist recueilly par l’ordre de dame Marie de Servon des Arcis abbesse de ladite abbaye, printed in Avranches by Louis Le Buffe en 1708[35]. For the Capuchins, François-Bonaventure Mistral, "imprimeur de monseigneur l’evêque", produced a new edition of the Prières et cantiques spirituels à l’usage des missions des PP. capucins de la province de Normandie at Lisieux in 1770[36]. For the abbey of Saint-Sever, Guillaume-Richard Poisson printed at Caen in 1704 La Vie de saint Sever, evêque d’Avranches, et titulaire de l’abbaye qui porte son nom au diocèse de Coutances en Basse-Normandie, tranlated into French by Francois-Michel Duhamel, priest at the abbey of Saint-Sever[37].

The two major abbeys of Caen are better represented. For the Abbaye-aux-Dames, the printers of Caen produced several impressions: Cérémonial monastique dressé par l’ordre de madame de Belsunce, abbesse de l’abbaye royale de la Sainte-Trinité de Caen (Pierre-Jean Poisson, 1777) [38]. ; les Cérémonies de la vêture et de la profession des filles de l’abbaye royale de Sainte-Trinité de Caen (Gilles Le Roy, 1786) [39] ; the Constitutions de l’abbaye royale de la Sainte Trinité de Caen… rédigées de nouveau par ordre de madame de Belsunce, abbesse de ce monastère (Gilles Le Roy, 1786) [40] and Oraison funèbre de madame de Belsunce de Castelmoron, abbesse de l’abbaye royale de la Sainte-Trinité de Caen, delivered in the abbey church on 19 April 1787 by Thomas Bellenger (Louis-Jean Poisson, 1787) [41].. For the Abbaye-aux-Hommes, in 1727, Jean Poisson printed a speech by abbot Desaunez , Eloge du Roy à Son Éminence monseigneur le cardinal de Fleury, abbé commendataire de l’abbaye royale de Saint-Etienne de Caen[42], and in 1784 Gilles Le Roy produced the Discours prononcé dans l’église de l’abbaye royale de Saint-Étienne de Caen, le dimanche 2 mai 1784, lors de la bénédiction des drapeaux du régiment de l’Isle-de-France, by prior Jean-François Gallis de Mesnilgrand[43].

It could also happen that a local printer produced a factum or memorandum for an abbey engaged in a lawsuit. Here are a few examples, all with a Caen imprint: Mémoire pour les sieurs prieur et religieux d’Ardenne... contre frère Roland Revel, printed by Pierre Chalopin in 1763 ; Mémoire pour les dames abbesse, prieure & religieuses de l’abbaye royale de la Ste-Trinité de Caen, contre le sieur Poinsignon, produced by Louis-Jean Poisson in 1788 ; Réponse que donnent les seigneurs abbé, prieur et religieux de l’abbaye de Fontenay, au dernier imprimé des paroissiens et possedans fonds de Fontenay-l’Abbaye, from the press of Pierre-Jacques Yvon in 1763, and Réponse pour les prieur et religieux de Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives et la dame de la Loy fermière générale… a l’ecrit d’avertissement du Sr. Du Not de Bereville, dated 1776[44].

There were many more impressions for the Jesuits, especially with regard to their involvement in the direction of the colleges in the region and their links with the University of Caen - discussed in section A4 of this introduction. Just one example: in Sées Jean-Baptiste Briard printed in 1726 Les Ouvrages de piété du R. Père Sandret, de la Compagnie de Jésus, à l’usage de ses missions ainsi que plusieurs éditions de ses œuvres séparées[45]. Before the suppression of the order in France, in 1764, there also appeared anonymous polemical works such as the Recueil de pièces non imprimées, extraites des registres du parlement de Rouen, et de l’hôtel-de-Ville de Caen, pour prouver que les jésuites sont coupables de toutes sortes d’excès, notamment du crime de lèze-Majesté, printed "En France" – actually in Caen, in 1762[46].

The hospitals (hôtels-Dieu) in the largest cities also lace orders with local printers. In Alençon, in 1705, Pierre Augereau printed the Règlement de l’hôtel-Dieu d’Alençon et contrat d’établissement des filles de la Charité dans ledit hôtel-Dieu[47]. and in Avranches, in 1774, François Le Court saw through the press Exercices de piété, dressés pour les personnes séculières du monastère et hôtel-Dieu des religieuses hospitalières de Vire, diocèse de Coutances[48].


The large number of brotherhoods (confréries) and religious congregations established in the region required a quantity of printed matter, for their statutes and regulations but also for their offices. In Alençon, François-Augustin Malassis the elder printed in 1737 the Lettres patentes du Roy, qui approuvent & autorisent les statuts & règlemens de la confrérie de charité, érigée et établie dans l’église Nostre-Dame d’Alençon, en l’année mil six cent seize. Ensemble la réunion de celle de Sainte-Croix. Données à Versailles au mois de septembre 1736, and in 1764 Louis Malassis le jeune produced the Recueil abrégé de l’institution, privilèges et devoirs de la confrérie du scapulaire de Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel, avec la manière de le bénir et de le recevoir, et quelques prières[49]. In Bayeux, the Statuts et règlemens de la confrérie érigée à Bayeux sous le titre de Sainte-Croix du Calvaire came off the presses of Gabriel Briard (1748) ; in Caen, the Statuts et règlemens, de la confrérie du Saint Esprit et du Très St. Sacrement, érigée en l’église paroissiale de Notre-Dame de Caen, en l’an 1672 were printed by Pierre Chalopin (1753) ; in Lisieux, La Confrérie de la Très Sainte-Trinité et Rédemption des captifs, érigée en l’église des RR. PP. mathurins de Lisieux was published by Jacques Aunay du Ronceray (1751) [50]; for the region of Coutances, Gilles Joubert produced in 1788 the Règles et constitutions des religieux hermites de la congrégation de l’Hermitage royal de Notre-Dame des Anges, sous l’invocation de saint Romuald, situé dans la forêt de Saint Sever, diocèse de Coutances[51], and for Saint-Lô, Julien Fauvel printed the Règles et constitutions données par Mgr l’illustrissime et révérendissime Léonor Goyon de Matignon, évêque de Coutances, à nos très chères Filles du Bon-Sauveur : établies sous notre autorité, et confirmées par lettres patentes du 12 septembre mil sept cens vingt-six dans notre ville de Saint-Lô[52].

The seminaries and their teachers also employ printers in the region. In 1702, after a foundation at the diocesan seminary dated January 2, Jacques Goyon de Matignon, former bishop of Condom, had an Extrait de la fondation de dix-huit places dans le séminaire de Caen printed for the institution[53]. The directors and teachers also wish to see their works printed. Thus in 1766 Pierre Chalopin printed La Science pratique du chant de l’Église... dressée... par un des directeurs du séminaire de Caen[54], and in 1769, Gilles Le Roy worked for Pierre Le Cocq, director of the Caen seminary and director of the, printing the Lettres sur quelques points de la discipline de l’Église, où l’on expose ce qui a été réglé par les saints canons, touchant la conduite des ecclésiastiques[55].

A3.3. Religious clientele and devotional books

Priests and religious were also regular customers of booksellers for books of devotion, instruction or catechesis. Madame Le Brun, sister of La Providence in Bayeux, for example, appears in Chalopin de Caen's book of accounts as a buyer of several works of this kind[56]. On February 11, 1735, she acquired "12 jeunesse" bound in parchment and "6 preparations a la mort" in 24º bound in calf then, on 12 Decembre 1736, "6 instructions de la jeunesse" bound in parchment and "6 catechisme de Guerville"[57].. Moreover, in the "permissions simples" registers of the 1780s, more than three-quarters of the permissions were issued for devotional works[58].

When Jean-Jacques-Georges (Le) Paulmier, royal inspector of the book trades, and the members of the Chambre Syndicale of Caen visited Douvres-la-Délivrande on August 30, 1786 to look for books sold there without authorization to pilgrims, they found not only two booksellers from Caen, Pierre Le Baron and Pierre-Gilles Le Roux, but they also drew up inventories at seven unqualified dealers, one of whom, the widow Laurent, held as many as 1,154 copies of devotional books[59].

Like pilgrimages, missions required large quantities of printed paper. Between 1719 and 1726, Jean-Baptiste Briard printed a number of books by Reverend Father Pierre Sandret of Sées, intended for the use of his missions, often in several editions.

A4. Educational market

It is appropriate to consider here the somewhat controversial issue of the literacy rate in the region. The figures are taken for the most part from signatures found on documents of the time. Thus Jean Quéniart was able to question the way in which these figures had to be interpreted, and it is obvious that much more importance was attached to deciphering, for the needs of the catechism, than to mastering writing - which was only taught at the end of the school curriculum anyway. It is therefore likely that more people had the ability to read simple, familiar texts than to sign their names, but it is undoubtedly true that relatively few of them had the leisure or the perseverance to read for pleasure. Below is a simplified table, drawn from the investigation of the rector Louis Maggiolo (end of the 19th century) and adapted from the work of Quéniart, which shows the development of literacy levels from the end of the 17th century to the end of the 18th century[60].
TotalHommesFemmes
Fin XVIIe siècle
Calvados40-45%50-55%30-35%
Manche20-25%35-40%10-15%
Orne35-40%45-50%25-30%
Fin XVIIIe siècle
Calvados70-75%80-85%60-65%
Manche70-75%80-85%60-65%
Orne55-60%65-70%45-50%
Alphabétisation en Basse-Normandie

This table hides a number of disparities, especially between cities and villages. In urban centers, the literacy rate is normally higher. In Caen, for example, in the second half of the 18th century, only 15% of men and 30% of women were still illiterate.

A4.1. Schools and schooling

Working for schools was a good source of income for printers. In 1764, in Bayeux, Gabriel Briard ran a printing house which "sert pour les impressions de l’evéché, on y imprime aussi quelques livres à l’usage des ecoliers". At the same date a bookseller in Bayeux, Alexandre L’Écorché, "a un très petit fonds de boutique composé d’heures, de quelques livres de piété et à l’usage des écoles dudit lieu". In the same year in Caen, Pierre Chalopin printed the "Almanach de Caen, [ainsi que des] livres pour les écoles, heures, livres de dévotion, factums"[61].

Catechisms were often intended for schoolchildren, for example the Abrégé de la doctrine chrétienne, en forme de catéchisme, publié le 25 juillet 1731, avec le grand catéchisme, celui qui est destiné pour les enfans depuis leur entrée dans les ecoles communes, edited by Jacques-Charles-Alexandre Lallemant, bishop of Sées, "pour servir d’instruction aux enfans de son diocèse, qu’on dispose à leur première communion", printed in "Alençon chez François-Augustin Malassis l’aîné, imprimeur du Roi et du collège" in 1756[62].

Nor should we overlook the education given to children by their parents, which could be based on popular publications such as the Étrennes agréables et utiles dédiées aux pères et mères de famille, curieux de donner de l’éducation à leurs enfants, a small volume 32 pages in duodecimo, printed in Alençon by the widow of Louis Malassis in 1770[63].It was perhaps as much for families as for schools that Jean de Cesne printed "alphabets pour les enfans" in Vire, according to the enquiry of 1700-1701[64].

And a little 48-page booklet in duodecimo printed with archaic characters and part of the "bibliothèque bleue" is very widespread in Lower Normandy : La Civilité honnête pour les enfans qui commencent par la manière d’apprendre à bien lire, prononcer & écrire, attributed to Normand Mathurin Cordier (1479-1564), was printed by several establishments in the region, in Lisieux by Jacques Aunay du Roqueray around 1740 and in Caen by Pierre Chalopin after 1746, by the widow of Pierre-Jean Poisson around 1785 and by Gilles Le Roy in the 1780s. Editions of this pamphlet were normally published with no indication of date[65].

A4.2. Colleges

The title of college printer was sometimes linked to other responsibilities. Thus in Alençon, Martin Delamotte then his widow and, from 1703, Pierre Augereau and Jean-Pierre Malassis successively were "imprimeurs du Roi et du collège des jésuites". The Malassis remain "imprimeurs du collège d’Alençon" until the Révolution. In Lisieux, Rémy Le Boullenger, who "a imprimé en 1700 des feuilles de classe latin et grec pour servir aux écoliers", and, after his death in 1707, Jacques Aunay du Ronceray were "imprimeurs du Roi, de l’évêque et du collège". In the 1710s et 1720s Jacques Le Baron was "imprimeur du collège et de la ville de Saint-Lô", and Joachim Clamorgan fulfilled the same functions in Valognes, "autorisé du seigneur evêque" – the bishop of Coutances.

Printers in the region produce educational texts such as grammars. In Caen the grammar of Robert de Than, former rector of the university (Grammaire latine et françoise contenant un recueil complet & méthodique des principes nécessaires pour traduire réciproquement les deux langues), went through several editions, all printed by Jean-Claude Pyron. The first part appeared in 1746, followed in 1747 by the Seconde partie contenant la syntaxe ou les Principes de la construction des parties du discours, of which the ninth edition saw the light of day in 1775. In 1748 the Troisième partie contenant dans huit traités les règles particulières des déclinaisons, des genres & des conjugaisons ; un traité des racines & de leurs dérives ; les règles de l’élégance du latin appeared and a sixth edition was printed in 1788. A Traité de la poésie latine extrait de la troisième partie was published in 1780. In Coutances, Gilles Joubert obtained a "permission simple" in 1784 to print 1,500 copies of the Grammaire latine et francoise, premiere et seconde partie, as did Antoine-Jean Nicolle, of Bayeux, also for 1,500 copies in the same year and his widow saw herself as authorised in 1787 to print 800 copies. No examples of any of these editions seem to have survived in French libraries[66]. Other grammars were printed in th region : Nouvelle Grammaire latine et francoise. Seconde partie contenant la construction des parties du discours, by Henri Gueroult, professeur de cinquième at the Collège du Bois (Caen, Pierre-Jacques Yvon for Gilles Le Roy, 1757), and Abrégé des particules contenant ce qui est de plus difficile & de plus nécessaire pour composer correctement en latin (Bayeux, Gabriel Briard, 1739), with another version "revûe et corrigée" in Alençon "chez Louis Malassis le jeune, imprimeur du Roi et du collège", in 1736. Both are adaptations of De particulis Latinae orationis by Orazio Torsellini[67].

The printers also provided the colleges with texts of classical literature, often with commentaries. On 26 June 1784, Antoine-Jean Nicolle of Bayeux obtained "permissions simples" for Tullii Ciceronis Epistolarum libri IV (1,500 copies) and Phaedri Augusti Caesaris liberti Fabularum Aesopiarum libri quinque (1,500 copies). In Caen the works of Julius Caesar were published in 1703, 1719, 1727 and 1736 et those of Cicero in 1745, 1755, 1761, 1769, 1775, 1783 and 1785. Just before the Revolution, in 1788 Louis-Jean Poisson obtained permission for 1,000 copies of Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum perpetua interpretatione Stirling et notis[68].

Another speciality of printers working for the colleges were programmes for dramatic performances. An example of this type of work, which will be discussed later, is Benjamin dans les fers, tragédie françoise en 5 actes, qui sera représentée par les écoliers du collège de Bayeux pour la distribution des prix, le lundi 31 juillet 1769, printed in Bayeux by Gabriel Briard. Other types of activities were also covered, for example for the college in Lisieux : Plaidoyer qui se fera au collège de Lisieux par messieurs les écoliers de rhétorique, pour la distribution solemnelle des prix donnés par monseigneur l’illustrissime et révérendissime Jacques-Marie de Caritat de Condorcet, évêque & comte de Lisieux… à trois heures après midi, sur le théâtre du collège s’il fait beau temps, an imaginary trial created by the pupils and entrusted to the presses of François-Bonaventure Mistral. He also printed an Exercice littéraire sur la poétique. Par MM. les humanistes du collège de Lisieux. Le lundi 26 juillet 1779 à neuf heures du matin, & à 2 heures et demie précises après midi ; & le lendemain aux mêmes heures. They were careful impressions with a vignette and engraved decorative band at the head of the text.

A specialist educational institution at Beaumont-en-Auge also placed orders with Mistral. In 1777 he produced the Exercices de l’École royale militaire de Beaumont-en-Auge qui commenceront le jeudi 2 août 1777, & continueront les jours suivans[69]. This quarto booklet of 38 pages contained an account of the various exercises presented to the public by each class, with a brief description of the subjects covered and the names of the pupils and their teachers.

A4.3. University of Caen

A considerable proportion of the publications appearing from the presses of printers in Caen is directly or indirectly linked to the presence of a university in the town. For example if the institution had to replace a professor an announcement was printed, inviting candidates to apply. Equally the death of a professor is marked by an eulogy, normally spoken and printed in Latin.

Les exercises, "disputations" et theses of the university were also often printed and a long series survives for the faculty of medicine. They are rarely long texts and they often consist of an exercise in rhetoric or philosophy rather than a study pushing out the boundaries of medical science. What can be said for example of a contribution entitled An oculi speculum animae?, a question discussed "in scholis medicorum celeberrimae Cadomensis academiae" in 1761, whose argument was printed by Jean-Claude Pyron[70]?

The Palinod was another special institution celebrated at the university ; i twas a poetic competition which took place on the occasion of the feast of the Immaculate Conception. A poster announced the event each year and the best poems were printed after the competition. This in 1720 Antoine Cavelier printed the announcement: Le Puy de l’Immaculée Conception de la Très-Sacrée Vierge Marie mère de Dieu, qui sera tenu à Caen dans les grandes écoles de l’Université, la fête d’icelle Conception, huitième décembre 1720, as well as the Recueil des poésies qui ont esté couronnées sur le Puy de l’Immaculée Conception de la Vierge, tenu à Caen dans les grandes écoles de l’Université, les années 1718 & 1719[71].

It is not surprising that the university has recourse to the services of a designated printer. At the start of the century this position is even linked to that of the King's printer in Caen. This is the case for Jean Cavelier from 1654 to 1701 then for his son Antoine from 1701 to 1744. In 1718, Pierre-François Doublet tried in vain to obtain the position for himself, but from 1719 it was Jean II Poisson who became university printer, continuing in the role until 1775. Antoine Cavelier donated the sum of £2,000 to the university library in 1728 "à condition que les deux places d’imprimeur de l’université seraient réunies en faveur du sieur [Jean-Claude] Pyron", his grand-nephew. Indeed Pyron printed for the university between 1732 and 1786, then Pierre-Jean Poisson between 1755 and 1784. The Poisson family were also designated as printers to the Collège du Mont[72].

A5. Academies

The academy of Caen, founded in 1652, only obtained its letters patentin 1705. Its members were made up of members of the nobility (29 %, especially those with duties in local and regional jurisdictions), the clergy (32,5 %, principally curés, canons et college professors) and the "tiers état" (31,5 %, notably university professors, lawyers, engineers) [73].

Antoine Cavelier was the first printer working for the Académie des belles-lettres in Caen. In 1705, he printed the Lettres patentes avec les statuts pour l’académie des belles lettres établie en la ville de Caen. It was Francois Vauvrecy who produced the Discours prononcé le 22 novembre 1708 à l’ouverture de l’académie par Michel Hebert. However, despite the motto on the engraved emblem on the title-page: "Je renais pour ne plus mourir", the academy went into decline and no longer met after 1714. It was re-established in 1731 under the direction of Louis de La Douespe de Saint-Ouen thanks to the involvement of the bishop of Bayeux, Paul d’Albert de Luynes, who had a room prepared in his episcopal palace in Caen for the meetings of the academy. In 1731, the widow of Gabriel Briard printed a series of publications for the academy : Lettres patentes et statuts de l'Académie royale des belles-lettres de Caen, avec le discours de Mgr. l’évêque de Bayeux et la réponse du directeur, on the occasion of the re-opening of the academy on 18 January 1731, with a list of the academicians and a speech by Nicolas-François Turpin, Illustrissimo ecclesiae Bajocensis principi D. D. Paulo d’Albert de Luynes, academiam regiam Cadomensem restauranti, gratulatio, an epigram by Hue de Prebois, Clarissimo viro D. D. Paulo Alberto Luynensi, ecclesiae Bajocensis episcopo, necnon regiae litterarum academiae restauratori, epigramma, an ode by the director Louis de La Douespe de Saint-Ouen, Ode sur la sale [sic] académique, que monseigneur d’Albert de Luynes fait preparer dans son palais épiscopal de Caen, pour y tenir les séances de l’Académie royale des belles-lettres, un Recueil de différentes pièces tant en vers qu'en prose lues à l’Académie royale des belles-lettres de Caen, avec le discours de Mgr. l’évêque de Bayeux et la réponse du directeur, et un Discours prononcé à l’Académie royale des belles lettres de Caen, par M. le chevalier de Saint-Jory, le jour de sa reception le 18 janvier 1731. Later Jacques Manoury, bookseller to the academie, commissioned Pierre Chalopin to print the Mémoires de l’académie des belles-lettres de Caen in 1754, 1757 and 1760. In 1763 Pierre-Jacques Yvon produced the Lettres et autres écrits concernant l’incendie arrivée [sic] a l’Académie royale de Caen le 16 d’août 1763[74].

A6. Cultural institutions

Normandy is one of the French provinces which under the Ancien Régime had the strongest cultural influence, but it was Rouen which was the major centre. If Caen did not play the first cultural role, the city was interested in letters and the arts as well as in freemasonry. Caen did not establish a theatre until quite late, and its botanical garden was much less important than that of Rouen. The significant contribution of universities and colleges to cultural life has already been underlined, but one cannot underestimate public ceremonies and concerts. In Caen, due to its imposing size in the heart of the city, the Place Royale was a favourite place for the celebration of public events, military parades, processions, festive shows, sometimes fireworks. With a very dense crowd in the square, the slightest incident could have dramatic consequences: at a party to celebrate the birth of the Dolphin, six people were killed and eighty injured as a result of a panic caused by the fire at a fireworks display. Less formal public events could be held in the same location. The Journal d’un bourgeois de Caen recounts that, on 4 September 1713 :
Pierre Vincent, faiseur de bas au métier, demeurant sur la place Royale, au coin de la rue des Quatre-Vents, a fait afficher aux carrefours de cette ville de Caen, au son des tambours, un arrêt portant défenses de faire de l’amidon de blé, ainsi qu’à la porte de sa maison, où il avait affiché deux arrêts entourés de lierre et de papier marbré. Ledit Vincent s’est promené par les rues, monté sur un cheval que deux garçons tenaient par la bride. Lecorsu […] ayant une palme de laurier aussi à son cheval […] faisait la lecture de ladite sentence aux carrefours et places publiques dudit Caen. Un autre était monté sur un âne, faisant le pleureur et l’amidonnier désolé…
These announcements were probably printed but no example seems to have survived[75].

A6.1. Literary societies

In 1741 there was founded in Caen a "society of young people who come together on certain days of the week to talk about works of science and literature", but this rival institution to the academy does not seem to have had a long existence[76].

However a great interest was shown in literature and this led in 1740 to the launch of two periodicals: the Nouvelles littéraires and the Trésor de littérature. In 1743 Jean Poisson published a Critique des Nouvelles littéraires et du Trésor de littérature[77].

A6.2. Theatre

Public theaters were slow in coming to Lower Normandy. Caen’s first real performance space, the Salle de la Comédie, opened in 1765 in Saint-Jean, near the entrance to Cours-la-Reine. However, it was not only the shows which were performed that interested the English traveller Arthur Young (1741-1820), when he passed through Caen. On 21 August 1788 he noted: "In the evening to the fair play-house - Richard Cœur de Lion ; and I could not but remark an uncommon number of pretty women." [78] As for the regiment of the Île-de-France, stationed in Caen, in 1785 a tumulte was provked by them n the theatre which gave rise to an anonymous satirical poem: La Haute-feuillade[79].

There was also a small theater in Alençon where the works of Jean Castaing, poet, playwright and amateur printer, were performed. But there were also a number of dramatic performances in the cities of the region. The Jesuits, who ran a number of colleges there, then their local successors after their suppression, encouraged the theatre to reinforce the Christian message, and many of their shows were of high quality. Several printers produced programmes and texts of the works presented in colleges, for example Benjamin dans les fers, tragédie françoise en 5 actes, qui sera représentée par les ecoliers du collège de Bayeux pour la distribution des prix, le lundi 31 juillet 1769 (Bayeux, Gabriel Briard) [80], or bien Agapit martyr, tragédie françoise qui sera représentée sur le théâtre du collège de Lisieux pour la distribution des prix donnés par monseigneur l’illustrissime et révérendissime Jacques-Marie de Caritat de Condorcet, évêque et comte de Lisieux, le mardi 2 d’août 1774 à 2 heures précises après midi, s’il fait beau temps (Lisieux, François-Bonaventure Mistral) [81]. After this small six page quarto item there are two other pieces played by the students of this institution during the year-end ceremony. Located in Caen at the Collège du Mont from 1609 to 1763, the Jesuits regularly organized theatrical performances with their students during the prize distribution, in August, or to visiting dignitaries.

At the beginning of the 18th century, a Caen printer, Jean-Jacques Godes, published a large number of plays. The series began in 1699 with Les Flateurs trompez ou l’Ennemy des faux amis : comédie, by Guillaume Marcoureau de Brécourt, but many of the pieces published by Godes were religious dramas such as Le Martire de la glorieuse vierge Ste Reine, tragédie by Claude Ternet, or Le Triomphe de la vertu ou Sainte Cécile[82].

During the 1780s parformances were announced in the press, for example on 2 January 1786 the "comédiens à la suite de la Cour" are mentioned in the Affiches de la Basse-Normandie. During this period printers also published dramatic works such as Le Prix de l’honneur, a work in one act accompanied by songs and vaudevilles written by Jean-François Boursault dit Malherbe, and performed on 20 February 1780 at the theatre in Caen[83].

A6.3. Music

There is scarcely any trace of a fourishing musical culture in the printed output of the region. Announcements for performances sometimes mention ballets, operas or musical intervals. This is the case for the Tragédies allégoriques sur la mort de Notre-Seigneur. Codrus mourant pour sa patrie, pastorale latine. La Mort d’Abel, pastorale françoise, qui seront représentées par les rhétoriciens du Collège royal de la Comp. de Jésus de la très célèbre université de Caen, le vendredi septième avril 1713, printed in Caen by Antoine Cavelier.

The university or the church sometimes siezed the opportunity of an important event to stage a public concert, such as the Motet à grand chœur et à grand orchestre pour la fête que l’université de Caen fera célébrer en action-de-graces pour la naissance de Monseigneur le Dauphin, for which Gilles Le Roy printed the announcement in 1785. Dances were also the occaion for musical spectacles, for example L’Ombre de Nostradamus au bal donné à Caen par M. de Vastan, le 2 octobre 1729, au sujet de la naissance de Monseigneur le Dauphin, printed in Caen by Gabriel Briard[84].

If the interest in music was enough to justify the presence of specialized music sellers like Lafontaine in Caen (1778-1781) or Le Jeune in Bayeux (1787), it is above all music printed in Paris that they sold.

A7. Leisure reading and the Bibliothèque bleue

Established booksellers and the authorities were worried about the reading habits of the public. In his Projet d’une bibliothèque publique, chez Le Roy, libraire, à Caen, Gilles Le Roy declared in 1759[85]:
Il seroit trop long de parcourir tous les différens genres de littérature : il suffira de dire qu’on fera choix des meilleurs livres, & surtout de ceux qui sont propres a entretenir ou former le bon goût, comme tous les livres de poësie & de critique ; c’est proscrire les livres propres a corrompre les mœurs qui inondent depuis si long-tems la ville, & qui, au lieu de présenter une nourriture à l’esprit des jeunes gens, ne portent dans leur cœur qu’un poison mortel par les mauvaises impressions dont on est susceptible dans un pareil âge ; ce n’est qu’un intérêt vil & déshonorant pour la librairie, qui puisse inspirer l’envie de répandre dans la societé des livres aussi dangereux.

But other booksellers did not share his scruples. In his Catalogue des livres qui se vendent chez P. Le Baron, l’aîné, libraire, à Caen, ruë Froide-ruë, Pierre Le Baron announced in 1769 that he sold "des almanachs chantants & autres calendriers".

Almanacks and other chapbooks of popular literature which made up the Bibliothèque bleue circulated widely in the region. The hawkers did not only obtain them from major centres such as Troyes or Rouen. In Caen, the Chalopin family, Pierre-Jean-Aimé especially, specialsed in supplying the hawkers with chapboosk. Titles such as La Terrible et épouvantable vie de Robert le Diable (1788), Le Mari mécontent de sa femme (1788), as well as many undated titles like L’Histoire de la belle Hélène or l’Histoire de Jean de Paris, roi de France abounded in the bales carried by the hawkers, even if they have for the most part disappeared today.

Some of these texts were published under false addresses, or without an address at all, but they are nonetheless identifiable, very often thanks to the ornaments and the material used. For more details, see the notice dedicated to Pierre-Jean-Aimé Chalopin.

A8. The public and social groups

The list of subscribers of the fifth edition (in-4 °) of the Encyclopédie, published in 1777, shows that there was a considerable public for a work of this scope. This list contains 8,011 subscriptions in total, including 7,257 in France, spread over 120 localities. The list does not provide the identity of each client but only the names of the booksellers who acted as intermediaries to collect subscriptions. In Lower Normandy, there are 362 subscriptions collected by ten booksellers in eight different cities:
VilleSouscriptions / villeLibraireSouscriptions / libraire
Alençon34Jouanne34
Argentan3Le François3
Caen221Le Roy208
Manoury13
Falaise45Bouquet45
Lisieux27De Launay23
Mistral4
L’Aigle3Glaçon3
Mortagne-au-Perche22Peguchel22
Saint-Lô7Fabulet7
Total362362
Subscriptions for the 5th edition of the Encyclopédie

In France only Lyon (1,079 subscriptions), Paris (575), Toulouse (451), Bordeaux (356) and Besançon (338) exceed Caen in number of subscriptions - Rouen, for example, only having 125 subscribers. The list is drawn up for the settlement of accounts in February 1780, and it should be noted that the sale of previous editions of the Encyclopédie may have had an impact on its sales, but the figures are nonetheless impressive, especially for the smaller towns in the region[86].

A8.1. Freemasons

Freemasons settled in Caen in the 1740s and an anonymous criticism of this organization was already known in 1741: Statuts et règlemens de la société des Free-Massons[87].Many lodges were established in Normandy, so that after 1774 there were four in Caen, or as many as in Rouen. Les Cœurs sans fard, lodge born in 1761, and Constante Amitié, which was founded in 1765, were two of the oldest in Caen. They decide to merge around 1780 to join forces and constitute a new workshop. This one then takes the name of lodge of Saint-Jean under the title of the Hearts without make-up and of the Constant Friendship. Important personalities of Caen, civil or military, were members. In 1785 twenty-two "brothers" formed the college of officers, including Jean-Jacques-Georges (Le) Paulmier, royal professor of rights, syndic of lawyers, former rector of the university, sub-delegate of the intendant and inspecteur de la librairie[88].Among the other Caen lodges is that of Thémis, established in 1783; we know about this from the printing of a Discours prononcé dans la loge de Thémis à l’occasion de l’enregistrement de la déclaration du Roi de septembre 1788, by a "frère visiteur" from the lodge of the Pure Vérité. This speech was issued under the imprint: "À l’Orient de Caen, chez Jakin, imprimeur de l’ordre"[89].

The members of the lodges were often Protestants, such as Michel-Louis Lamy des Vallées (1728-1800), son of Jean Lamy (circa 1689-1768), haberdasher and engraver, member of the Union and Fraternité à l'Orient lodge. Caen. The Caen printer Louis-Jean Poisson, a Catholic, entered freemasonry at the Union and Fraternity lodge on January 4, 1787 and became master of it in 1788.

Jean Castaing, amateur printer, was the founder of the first Masonic lodge in Alençon, Saint-Louis-des-Cœurs-Zélés, from 1752, and Jean-Zacharie Malassis junior also created a lodge in the city. His printshop worked for the lodges, for example publishing a work by Louis Du Bois: Les Frères : vaudeville maçonnique chanté au banquet de la Saint Jean d’été dans la loge de la Fidélité, à l’Orient d’Alençon le 11 messidor an 13 (30 juin 1805) [90].

The engraver Pierre-François Godard of Alençon produced masonic emblems for the lodges of Alençon, Mortagne, L’Aigle, Bellême, Falaise and Rennes.

A8.2. The social status of owners and buyers of books

An analysis of post-death inventories shows a slight increase in the proportion of families with books over the century. J. Quéniart studied from this angle nine cities in the West of France including Caen and Rouen for Normandy. The table below, taken from this author's work, summarizes for four chronological sections the proportion of inventories mentioning books in the localities taken into account[91].
Town1697/16981727/1728 1757/17581787/1788
nonebooks%nonebooks%nonebooks%nonebooks%
9 villes69924225,7753409 34,6 93554736,71 07754434,6
Caen1644220,31529137,4989950,5805741,9
Rouen916140,11148241,88410555,56110362,8
Rennes572631,3727731,4586552,8674942,2

For the city of Caen, the survey, covering a total of 783 inventories, reveals a proportion of 20.3% of families holding books in 1697/1698 against 41.9% in 1787/1788.

Jean-Claude Perrot[92] leafed through the inventories for Caen after death from the decades 1730-1739 to 1770-1779, and discovered a hundred private libraries there. We can cite the Morant de Rupierre family, from the parish of Saint-Jean, who in 1752 had a considerable collection with works on China, the East, America, memoirs, works by Marivaux and English authors. In the libraries of the Catholic clergy, notably those of Jacques Transon or Jean Fossard, there were a large number of controversial works around Jansenism. The Huguenot Dubisson, emigrated to England during the 1730s, had books published in the following decade as well in Bale, Delft, Utrecht, Amsterdam, as in Lyon and Poitiers, and among them works by Saint Augustine, Erasmus, Jean Bodin, Duplessis-Mornay, Abraham Bosse or many Latin authors.

Aristocratic libraries sometimes contained imposing collections. The Lacour family, Marquis of Balleroy, had 3,680 volumes at the time of the Revolution in their Château de Balleroy, representing fine arts, sciences and literature. The collection was transferred to Bayeux in 1794 by the local arts commission.

That said, in addition to the local inhabitants, we must consider visitors, merchants, travellers. The Caen and Guibray fairs attracted a multitude of traders to the region throughout the century; booksellers in Paris and Rouen bring books and other goods. Pilgrimages, such as that of Douvres-la-Délivrande, encouraged merchants to "vendre & debiter des livres durand [sic] le terme de la saison d’été, moment des pélerinages qui rendent chaque jour l’endroit aussi frequenté qu’en tems de foire"[93].

What was still missing at that time was today's tourism industry, with its abundance of guides and descriptions of the area. Some works of local history do appear however, which were of interest to visitors. The most notable is probably l’Histoire abrégée du Mont Saint Michel en Normandie, par un religieux bénédictin de la congrégation de Saint Maur, printed in Avranches by François Le Court in 1777, a little book of 68 pages in duodecimo. Le Court was certainly responding to a demand for this type of vade-mecum since in 1788 he reprinted the little book of François Feuardent (1539-1610), Histoire de la fondation de l’église et abbaye du Mont-St.-Michel, les miracles, reliques et indulgences données en icelle, le tout recueilli des archives dudit lieu, a booklet of 32 pages in duodecimo[94].

Enfin la Description d’une feste donnée à Caen… le dix décembre 1738… par messieurs les pensionnaires, sujets du Roy de la Grande Bretagne, à l’occasion de l’anniversaire de la naissance de Sa Majesté Britannique provides a very rare example of local imprint for a foreign clientèle. But this is a brochure intended more for curious French nationals than for English[69].
References

[1]. See also the map of the region of Coutances in section F6
[2]. Verdier (2009) p.13-17 ; 53-56.
[3]. Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. Territoire et population, 1800-1890 (table T116 Territoire et population, 1801-1836 : chefs-lieux et villes).
[4]. AD Calvados, C 2887, pièce 14.
[5]. Girard (1998) 0420.
[6]. Girard (1998) 4012.
[7]. Girard (1998) 5913.
[8]. Des exemplaires de ces deux publications sont conservés à la Bibliothèque nationale de France.[1]. Girard (1998) 8839, 8840.
[9]. Girard (1998) 8839, 8840.
[10]. AD Calvados, C 2886.
[11]. Girard (1998).
[12]. Perrot (1975) p. 283 ; AD Calvados, 8E 2976 (15 avril et 18 septembre 1752) ; 8E 3006, fol. 317.
[13]. Statuts synodaux pour le diocèse d’Avranches, lus et publiés dans le synode tenu à Avranches, l’onzième septembre M.DC.XCVIII (Bibliothèque municipale de Caen).
[14]. Statuts synodaux pour le diocèse d’Avranches lus et publiez dans le synode tenu à Avranches le 27. jour de septembre 1714 (Bibliothèque municipale de Cherbourg).
[15]. Bibliothèque municipale de Valognes.
[16]. Manuale Abrincense, auctoritate... Josephi-Francisci de Malide, Abrincensis episcopi, editum (Bibliothèque municipale de Rouen).
[17]. Le livre condamné est un ouvrage de Pierre Cally, imprimé à Caen par Guillaume-Richard Poisson. Cf. Girard (1998) 0113.
[18]. Statuts pour le diocèse de Bayeux, publiés par monseigneur Paul d’Albert de Luynes... dans son synode, tenu le vingt avril mil sept cens trente cinq (Bibliothèque municipale de Bayeux).
[19]. Exemplaire de l’édition de 1781 à la Bibliothèque nationale de France.
[20]. Par exemple : Heures nouvelles à l’usage du diocèse de Bayeux contenant l’office de l’année avec celui de la Sainte Vierge en entier, la conduite pour entendre la sainte messe, la méthode de la confession et communion et les nouvelles proses, Caen, Pierre Chalopin, 1743 (Bibliothèque nationale de France).
[21]. Paroissien ou livre d’église à l’usage de Bayeux et de Rome (Bibliothèque municipale de Caen).
[22]. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Ms., n. a. f. 399, et exemplaire de l’édition du catéchisme de 1713 à la Bibliothèque municipale de Caen (Girard 1303).
[23]. Statuts et reglements faits par monseigneur... Leonor de Matignon, évêque de Coutances, au synode de son diocèse, tenu le 21 jour d’avril 1673. Renouvelés & augmentés par monseigneur... Charles François de Loménie de Brienne, évêque de Coutances, en son synode tenu le 19. may 1676 (Bibliothèque municipale de Valognes).
[24]. Bibliothèque nationale de France.
[25]. Bibliothèque municipale de Valognes.
[26]. AD Calvados, C 2886.
[27]. Bibliothèque nationale de France.
[28]. Bibliothèque municipale de Amiens.
[29]. Bibliothèque municipale de Lisieux.
[30]. Bibliothèque municipale de Caen.
[31]. Bibliothèque nationale de France.
[32]. Bibliothèque nationale de France.
[33]. Bibliothèque nationale de France.
[34]. Alencon
[35]. BNF
[36]. Bibliothèque municipale de Lisieux.
[37]. Girard (1998) 0424, Bibliothèque nationale de France.
[38]. Girard (1998) 7708, 108 pages, Bibliothèque municipale de Caen.
[39]. Girard (1998) 1786.06, 41 pages, Bibliothèque municipale de Caen.
[40]. Girard (1998) 8609, 182, 160 pages, Bibliothèque municipale de Caen.
[41]. Girard (1998) 8704, 45 pages, Bibliothèque municipale de Caen.
[42]. Girard (1998) 2705, 11 pages, Bibliothèque municipale de Caen.
[43]. Girard (1998) 8426, 8 pages, Bibliothèque municipale de Caen.
[44]. Girard (1998) 6313, 8833, 6316, 7613.
[45]. Exemplaires à la bibliothèque de l’évêché de Sées.
[46]. Girard (1998) 6216. Pour d’autres exemples la même année, voir 6205, 6206, 6207, 6214.
[47]. Exemplaire à la médiathèque Louis-Aragon, Le Mans.
[48]. Bibliothèque municipale de Caen.
[49]. Bibliothèque municipale de Alençon.
[50]. Exemplaires de la Bibliothèque municipale de Caen. Pour les Statuts et règlemens, de la confrérie du Saint Esprit, voir Girard (1998) 5311.
[51]. 124 pages, Bibliothèque nationale de France.
[52]. 3 parties en 1 vol. avec le directoire d’emploi et le cérémonial, Bibliothèque nationale de France.
[53]. Girard (1998) 0207.
[54]. Girard (1998) 6620. Contient de la musique notée. Publié avec l’approbation de divers maîtres de musique de Caen et de Bayeux.
[55]. Girard (1998) 6908.
[56]. AD Calvados F5421 fol. 104.
[57]. This is probably a new edition of Vérités de la religion chrétienne tirées des divines Écritures, de l’abbé Jacques de Guerville (3e éd., Caen, Veuve de Jean I Poisson, 1689). Copies of both publications are held in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.[1].
[58]. Dawson (1992)
[59]. AD Calvados, C 2887/46.
[60]. Quéniart (1978).
[61]. AD Calvados, C 2887.
[62]. Copy in Bibliothèque municipale d'Alençon.
[63]. Exemplaires des ANF, collection Lantz AD/XXIB/ 104.
[64]. Bibliothèque nationale de France Ms., n. a. f. 399, fol. 198.
[65]. Girard (1998) C05, C06, C07.
[66]. Girard (1998) 4621, 4718 4826, 4931, 5109, 5215, 5422, 5423, 5710, 6914, 6915, 7529, 8033, 8853 ; Dawson (1992).
[67]. Exemplaires des Bibliothèque municipale de Bayeux et Alençon.
[68]. Dawson (1992).
[69]. Exemplaires de ces publications aux ANF, collection Lantz AD/XXIB/ 300, 239, 242.
[70]. Quaestio physiologica publicis agitanda disputationibus in scholis medicorum celeberrimae Cadomensis academiae, pro baccalaureatus gradu consequendo M. Joanne-Francisco-Renato de Parfourru, regio medicinae professore & facultatis decano, praeside. An oculi speculum animae ? Proponebat Cadomi Joannes-Stephanus Robillard de Canturgy. Bibliothèque municipale de Amiens. [71]. Girard (1998) 2025, 2025. Exemplaires de la Bibliothèque municipale de Caen.
[72]. L’université possède également une bibliothèque qui sera traitée dans la section F7 de cette introduction.
[73]. Quéniart (1978).
[74]. Girard (1998) 0509, 0910, 3111, 3116, 3118, 3120, 3209, 3210, 6312 ; pour les Mémoires : 5414, 5714, 6006.
[75]. Le Journal couvre les années 1652-1733, et a été publié pour la première fois d’après un manuscrit de la bibliothèque de Caen et annoté par G. Mancel (Caen, Charles Woinez, 1848). Exemplaires de la Bibliothèque municipale de Caen, de la Bibliothèque municipale de Bayeux, etc.
[76]. Quéniart (1978), p. 976 ; Nouvelles littéraires, 1741, p. 240.
[77]. Girard (1998) 4011, 4018, 4109, 4414, 4212, 4302, 4313.
[78]. Young, Arthur (1792).
[79]. Girard (1998) 8517.
[80]. Bibliothèque municipale de Rouen.
[81]. Exemplaire des ANF, collection Lantz.
[82]. Pour plus de détail, voir la notice de Jean-Jacques Godes.
[83]. Gilles Le Roy, 32 pages, cf. Girard (1998) 8020.
[84]. Girard (1998) 1313, 8526, 2925.
[85]. Girard (1998) 1919, P06.
[86]. Darnton, L’Aventure de l’Encyclopedie. Annexe B. Bibliothèque de la ville de Neuchâtel, ms. 1220 (registre secret de Duplain).
[87]. Girard (1998) 4115. Bibliothèque municipale de Caen. La même année les francs-maçons sont mentionnés dans les Nouvelles littéraires p. 219-220.
[88]. Union et Fraternité à l’Orient de Caen. Histoire de la franc-maçonnerie du Calvados http://www.uf-caen.org
[89]. Girard (1998) 8808. Bibliothèque municipale de Caen.
[90]. Bibliothèque municipale de Caen.
[91]. Quéniart (1978), p. 544.
[92]. Perrot, Jean-Claude (1975), 283-285 ; AD Calvados, 8E 2976, fol. 989 (Morant de Rupierre) ; 8E 3006, fol. 526 (Transon) ; 8E 2973, fol. 855 (Fossard) ; 8E 2973, fol. 1102 (Dubisson).
[93]. AD Calvados: C.2887/45. Inventaires de livres trouvés à Douvres-la-Délivrande,1786.
[94]. Exemplaires de la Bibliothèque nationale de France.
[95]. 4 pages, Caen, sans nom d’imprimeur, cf. Girard (1998) 3804.
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