Oriental, with the title of Turkish Spy, Lettres chinoises, &c. These
productions were usually issued in periodical form, and, besides
an immense amount of worthless tittle tattle, contain some valuable
matter
During the first half of the century France has little of importance to show in periodical literature The Nouvelles ecclésiastiques (1728–1803) were first printed and circulated secretly by the Jansenists in opposition to the Constitution unigenitus. The Jesuits retaliated with the Supplement des nouvelles ecclésiastiques (1734–1748) The promising title may have had something to do with the temporary success of the Mémoires secrets de la république des lettres (1744–1748) of the marquis d’Argens. In the Observations sur les écrits modernes (1735–1743) Desfontaines held the gates of Philistia for eight years against the Encyclopaedists, and even the redoubtable Voltaire himself. It was continued by the Jugements sur quelques ouvrages nouveaux (1744–1745). The name of Fréron, perhaps the most vigorous enemy Voltaire ever encountered, was long connected with Lettres sur quelques écrits de ce temps (1749–1754), followed by L’Année littéraire (1754–1790). Among the contributors of Fréron was another manufacturer of criticism, the abbé de la Porte, who, having quarrelled with his confrère, founded Observations sur la littérature moderne (1749–1752) and L’Observateur littéraire (1758–1761).
A number of special organs came into existence about this period. The first, treating of agriculture and domestic economy, was the Journal économique (1751–1772); a Journal de commerce was founded in 1759; periodical biography may be first seen in the Necrologe des hommes célèbres de France (1764–1782); the political economists established the Ephémérides du citoyen in 1765; the first Journal d’éducation was founded in 1768, and the Courrier de la mode in the same year, the theatre had its first organ in the Journal des théâtres (1770), in the same year were produced a Journal de musique and the Encyclopédie militaire; the sister service was supplied with a Journal de marine in 1778. We have already noticed several journals specially devoted to one or other foreign literature. It was left to Fréron, Grimm, Prévost and others in 1754 to extend the idea to all foreign productions, and the Journal étranger (1754–1762) was founded for this purpose. The Gazette Littéraire (1764–1766), which had Voltaire, Diderot and Saint-Lambert among its editors, was intended to swamp the small fry by criticism; the Journal des dames (1759–1778) was of a light magazine class; and the Journal de monsieur (1776–1783) had three phases of existence, and died after extending to thirty volumes. The Mémoires secrets pour servir à l’histoire de la république des lettres (1762–1787), better known as Mémoires de Bachaumont, from the name of their founder, furnish a minute account of the social and literary history for a period of twenty-six years. Of a similar character was the Correspondance littéraire secrete (1774–1793), to which Métra as the chief contributor. L’Esprit des Journaux (1772–1818) forms an important literary and historical collection, which is rarely to be found complete.
The movement of ideas at the close of the century may best be traced in the Annales politiques, civiles, et littéraires (1777–1792) of Linguet. The Décade philosophique (year V., or 1796/1797), founded by Ginguené, is the first periodical of the magazine class which appeared after the storms of the Revolution. It was a kind of resurrection of good taste; under the empire it formed the sole refuge of the opposition. By a decree of the 17th of January 1800 the consulate reduced the number of Parisian journals to thirteen, of which the Décade was one; all the others, with the exception of those dealing solely with science, art, commerce and advertisements, were suppressed. A report addressed to Bonaparte by Fiévée[1] in the year XI. (1802/1803) furnishes a list of fifty-one of these periodicals. In the year XIII. (1804/1805) only seven non-political serials were permitted to appear.
Between 1815 and 1819 there was a constant struggle between freedom of thought on the one hand and the censure, the police and the law officers on the other. This oppression led to the device of “semi-periodical” publications of which La Minerve française (1818–1820) is an instance. It was the Satire Ménippée of the Restoration, and was brought out four times a year at irregular intervals. Of the same class was the Bibltothèque historique (1818–1820), another anti-royalist organ. The censure was re-established in 1820 and abolished in 1828 with the monopoly. It has always seemed impossible to carry on successfully in France a review upon the lines of those which have become so numerous and important in England. The Revue britannique (1825–1901) had, however, a long career. The short lived Revue française (1828–1830), founded by Guizot, Rémusat, De Broglie, and the doctrinaires, was an attempt in this direction. The well-known Revue des deux mondes was established in 1829 by Ségur-Dupeyron and Mauroy, but it ceased to appear at the end of the year, and its actual existence dates from its acquisition in 1831 by François Buloz,[2] a masterful editor, under whose energetic management it soon achieved a world-wide reputation. The most distinguished names in French literature have been among its contributors, for whom it has been styled the “vestibule of the Academy.” It was preceded by a few months by the Revue de Paris (1829–1845), founded by Veron, who introduced the novel to periodical literature. In 1834 this was purchased by Buloz, and brought out concurrently with his other Revue. While the former was exclusively literary and artistic, the latter dealt more with philosophy. The Revue independante (1811–1848) was founded by Pierre Leroux, George Sand and Viardot for the democracy. The times of the consulate and the empire were the subjects dealt with by the Revue de l’empire (1842–1848). In Le Correspondant (1843), established by Montalembert and De Falloux, the Catholics and Legitimists had a valuable supporter. The Revue contemporaine (1852), founded by the comte de Belval as a royalist organ, had joined to it in 1856 the Athenaeum française. The Revue germanique (1858) exchanged its exclusive name and character in 1865 to the Revue moderne. The Revue européenne (1859) was at first subventioned like the Revue contemporaine, from which it soon withdrew government favour. The Revue nationale (1860) appeared quarterly, and succeeded to the Magazin de librairie (1858).
The number of French periodicals, reviews and magazines has enormously increased, not only in Paris but in the provinces. In Paris the number of periodicals published in 1883 was 1379; at the end of 1908 there were more than 3500 of all kinds. The chief current periodicals may be mentioned in the following order. The list includes a few no longer published.
Archaeology.—Revue archéologique (1860), bi-monthly; Ami des monuments (1887); Bulletin de numismatique (1891); Revue biblique (1892); L’Année épigraphique (1880)—a sort of supplement to the Corpus inscriptionum latinarum; Celtica (1903)—common to France and England; Gazette numismatique française (1897); Revue sémitique d’épigraphie et d’histoire ancienne (1893); Bulletin monumental, bi-monthly; L’Intermédiaire, weekly, the French “Notes and Queries,” devoted to literary and antiquarian questions.
Astronomy.—Annuaire astronomique et météorologique (1901); Bulletin astronomique (1884), formerly published under the title Bulletin des sciences mathématiques et astronomiques.
Bibliography.—Annales de bibliographie théologique (1888); Le bibliographe moderne (1897); Bibliographie anatomique (1893); Bibliographie scientifique française (1902); Bulletin des bibliothèques et des archives (1884); Bulletin des livres relatifs à l’Amérique (1899); Courrier des bibliothèques (1910); Répertoire méthodique de l’histoire moderne et contemporaine de la France (1898); Répertoire méthodique du moyen âge français (1894); Revue bibliographique et critique des langues et littératures romanes (1889); Revue des bibliothèques (1891); Polybiblion revue bibliographique universelle, monthly; Revue générale de bibliographie française, bi-monthly.
Children’s Magazines.—L’Ami de la jeunesse; Le Jeudi de la jeunesse, weekly.
Fashions.—La Mode illustrée; Les Modes, monthly.
Fine Arts.—Les Arts (1902); Gazette des beaux-arts (1859), monthly, with Chronique des arts; Revue de l’art ancien et moderne (1897) monthly; L’Art décoratif, monthly, Art et décoration, monthly; L’Art pour tous, monthly; La Décoration, monthly; L’Architecture—journal of the Soc. centrale des Architectes français, weekly; L’Art (1875) is no longer published.
Geography and Colonies.—Bulletin de géographie historique; Annales de géographie (1891), with useful quarterly bibliography; Nouvelles géographiques—supplement to the Tour du monde (1891); La Vie coloniale (1902); La Geographie, monthly, published by the Soc. de Géographie (1900); Revue de géographie, monthly; Revue géoqraphique internationale, monthly.
History.—For long the chief organs for history and archaeology were the Bibliothèque de l’école des chartes (1835), appearing every two months and dealing with the middle ages, and the Cabinet historique (1855), a monthly devoted to MSS. and unprinted documents The Revue historique (1876) appears bi-monthly; there is also the Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine.
Law and Jurisprudence.—Annales de droit commercial (1877); Revue algérienne et tunisienne de législation et de jurisprudence (1885); Revue du droit public et de la science politique (1894); Revue générale du droit international public (1894).
Literary Reviews.—The Revue des deux mondes and the Correspondant have already been mentioned. One of the first of European weekly reviews is the Revue critique (1866). The Revue politique et littéraire, successor to the Revue des cours littéraires (1863) and known as the Revue bleue, also appears weekly. Others of interest are Antée, revue mensuelle de littérature (1904); L’Art et la vie (1892); Cosmopolis (1896); L’Ermitage (1890); Le Mercure de France, série moderne (1890), a magazine greatly valued in literary circles; La Revue de Paris, fortnightly (1894), and the Nouvelle Revue (1879)--
- ↑ The novelist and publicist Joseph Fiévée (1767–1839), known for his relations with Napoleon I, has been made the subject for a study by Sainte-Beuve (Causeries, v. 172).
- ↑ This remarkable man (1804–1877) began life as a shepherd. Educated through the charity of M. Naville, he came to Paris as a compositor, and by translating from the English earned sufficient to purchase the moribund Revue des deux mondes, which acquired its subsequent position in spite of the tyrannical editorial behaviour of the proprietor. Buloz is said to have eventually enjoyed an income of 365,000 francs from the Revue.
