Books & eBooks

Literature  

The Literature collections comprise fiction, poetry, plays, essays, literary criticism and comment and anthologies as well as a small historical collection of works translated into European languages other than English. There are well over 30,000 works in the French literature shelfmarks.  The emphasis in the literature collection is, as elsewhere, on primary texts with critical works and commentaries acquired to a lesser degree.    

French literature is the largest collection of French language works in the Library.  Major authors’ works of essays, poetry, drama, journalistic writings are to be found here as well as works of criticism and commentary. Multiple editions of texts may be found where there is commentary and textual amendments or revisions. Most Oeuvres complètes are to be found here where they will include a writer’s output across a number of genres (poetry, drama, journalism etc.). The French form known as Cahiers are also to be found in the literature collection.  

Following the works of each individual author you will find literary criticism and commentary on them and their works in either French or English, with occasional titles in other European languages. Biographical works regarding these authors are shelved in the Biography collection.  

Individual plays or volumes of poetry are not generally acquired for the foreign language collections, but collections or collected works such as the Pléiade series will be acquired as appropriate.  

French fiction has its own shelfmark and includes all authors writing in French as their primary language. This includes works from French Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, North Africa and other French speaking nations as well as translations into French from works originally in e.g. Arabic or Vietnamese. Works translated into English will be found in the main Fiction collection in the Library.  

There is also a small number of additional shelfmarks in the Literature collection to cover various aspects of the Library’s French literary holdings. These include collections for Provençal, which covers works in Provençal, Occitane and Oc and has some crossover with the Troubadours collection, and there are separate collections for the history of Belgian, Canadian and Swiss literature.   

History

Within the Library’s History collections works are not subdivided by language, so relevant books in all languages will be found in the main sequence under the appropriate subject shelfmark. The Library has a rich collection of history in the French language collected in some depth since the Library began and key titles are still acquired.

French history is generally covered in two or three major shelfmarks H. France, H. France, Social and H. French Revolutions. There are many older works from the 18th and 19th centuries, often with more recent works on the same period revealing different views and new developments in historiography. There are in addition more than thirty smaller shelfmarks covering a great variety of subjects and events in French history. These include individual collections for kings and for some royal consorts as well as various members of the Bonaparte family that are pertinent to any interest in French history; they contain significant collections of biographical material and histories of the country in the period of their reigns.  

All the French colonies of the time have a discrete joint collection as well as a number of separate collections for Algeria, Morocco, Congo and Indo-China.  

Beyond France and its colonies, there are separate shelfmarks for Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Monaco, with some individual shelfmarks for Belgian monarchs. The Belgian colonies are covered in the collection for the Congo but may also be picked up in more general works about Africa or its regions.  There are around 15,000 works held in the specific French, Belgian, Swiss etc. history shelfmarks with a great many more in French on the history shelves but not pertaining to French history per se. French-Canadian history is held as part of the main collection for the history of Canada. 

Biography

The Library’s collections are particularly rich in biographical material; the collection comprises both autobiography and biography and includes journal/diaries, letters/correspondence and highly illustrated photographic works. There are a great many volumes of Correspondance in the Pléiades series with many collections and selections in both English and French. There are also a number of 18th and 19th century multi-volume works here, many of which have not been reprinted since. Subjects include artists, politicians, philosophers, literary authors, historical figures, scientists, composers, etc. and any notable – and possible notorious - individuals in French, Belgian, Swiss life and in their colonies. 

Art

Art is divided into over 40 sub-collections all of which contain some works in French.  Major and many minor French exhibition catalogues have always been acquired. Many works are of a large quarto format suitable to books in this subject. Works about major and many minor painters, sculptors, architects as well as other craftsmen have always been sought, as well as works in all the other Art shelfmarks that include architecture, painting and sculpture from the medieval to modern period, pottery (porcelain and ceramics), clocks, bronzes, cave painting, furniture, drawing, engraving, illuminated manuscripts, stained glass etc. There is no specific division by country or language in the Art collection so works in French are to be found alongside works in a great many other languages.  

Topography, Travel and Archaeology

The Library’s extensive topography collection covers a wide range and many works are of a large quarto format suitable to books of this nature, containing maps and other illustrative material. The collection includes works on the geography of France, Belgium, Switzerland and the French colonies in all their constituent parts, the history of individual countries, regions, cities and towns and occasionally individual buildings. It includes many accounts of travellers to these countries as well as broader collections covering the voyages of medieval explorers around the known and unknown world. There are particular strengths in 18th and 19th century editions, many containing maps and plans of cities. Some may now be part of the Special Collections in the Safe but all are available to consult in the Library on request. There are, in addition, guide-books to many countries, mostly published in the late 19th and early 20th century, which are kept in the separate Guide Books collection in the Issue Hall, and some atlases, statistical surveys and other official publications.  

The archaeology of France from the prehistoric period through to the Roman Empire and onwards forms part of the Topography collection; there are also numerous works in French about the archaeology of many other regions, especially Egypt.  

Reference works, dictionaries and Philology

There is an extensive range of French dictionaries held in the Reading Room or Philology collections, including a number covering regional dialects and cognates such as English-Jersey, Français-Occitan, Anglo-Norman, 17th and 18th century French.  Other reference-only works include several multi-volume encyclopedias.  Please note that the Library only subscribes to online reference materials and resources in English.

The reference collection includes biographical dictionaries across all subjects, in both French and English with works such as the 14 volume Dictionary of artists by Bénézit and the ongoing Dictionnaire de biographie française.  

The Philology collection contains a range of books about various aspects of the French language and its dialects and cognates including grammars, usage and history as well as broader works on Romance philology and Indo-European languages, but the Library does not acquire audio-visual or online material as teaching aids. Key writers here include Roland Barthes and Ferdinand de Saussure. 

Culture (Science & Miscellaneous)

Cultural aspects of the countries covered by the core languages collected are often to be found in the Library’s rich Science & Miscellaneous collection. Subjects here include Capital & Labour, Education, Medicine, Music, Photography, Political Science, and Political Economy, in all languages, as well as smaller collections ranging from Advertising to Life-boats and Logic to Zoology. Social Science, Political Science and Political Economy have many works by French intellectuals and there are many more in Philosophy itself.  

Religion

Works on the religion and theology of France, Belgium and Switzerland can be found in the Ecclesiastical History collections of these three cultures as well as throughout other shelfmarks in Religion depending on the aspect of the work.  Various editions of the Bible in French are held with some older Bibles now lodged in the Safe. There are additional shelfmarks for specific events in French religious history such as ‘Action française’, Albigenses, Huguenots, Jansenists and Port Royal. Other shelfmarks that cover works in French include Miracles (for Lourdes), Pilgrimage (for Saint Jacques/Santiago de Compostela), Religion & Philosophy of Religion (picking up commentaries on Bèze, Derrida, Fenelon, Foucault etc.), Religious & Theological Lit.,(for writers such as Jean Gerson, Teilhard de Chardin as well as earlier works in Latin by Abelard, Alcuin, Grosseteste etc.). There is also a separate collection for Jean Calvin which covers his works as well as biographies, commentaries and criticism.  

Philosophy

The emphasis of the Library’s Philosophy collection is on primary texts. There is no section on French philosophy per se nor on different aspects of philosophy, rather, all philosophy works are in one collection arranged by author with commentaries and critical works following sequentially. The works of French philosophers are also in English translation, and English-speaking authors write about French philosophy and French philosophers in English. Works by the major writers have been collected from the start and there are many 19th century and earlier editions possessed as well as a selection of later works in French and English.