par Collart, Muriel 
Référence Histoire et civilisation du livre, 20, page (287-309)
Publication Publié, 2024-11-08
Référence Histoire et civilisation du livre, 20, page (287-309)
Publication Publié, 2024-11-08
Article révisé par les pairs
| Résumé : | This article examines a little-known eighteenth-century edition of Montesquieu’s Lettres persanes published in 1760 for the Rouen bookseller Pierre Machuel. Recently identified archival documents preserved in the Seine-Maritime departmental archives shed new light on Machuel’s printing activities and on the subcontracting networks involved in the production of books in Rouen.Using these records together with a detailed bibliographical analysis of surviving copies, the study seeks to identify the specific edition corresponding to the printing recorded in the accounts of the Genevan printer Abraham-François Viret. Particular attention is paid to the material features of the book—format, foliation, typographical composition, ornaments, and paper—in order to reconstruct the circumstances of its production.The comparison of typographical ornaments and watermarks, as well as the analysis of the structure and textual content of the edition, makes it possible to clarify the relationship between different printings of the Lettres persanes circulating around 1760. This investigation illustrates the methodological value of material bibliography for identifying clandestine or uncertain editions and for reconstructing the practical organization of the eighteenth-century book trade.More broadly, the article contributes to the study of Enlightenment publishing networks by showing how printers and booksellers reused existing editorial models while adapting them to commercial and material constraints. |
