L'Invention de la collection au XIXe siècle : le cas de la "Bibliothèque Charpentier", 1838, et de la "Bibliothèque nationale", 1863
Institution:
Paris, EHESSDisciplines:
Directors:
Abstract EN:
The book collections called "popular" for their small formats and inexpensive prices multiplied during the nineteenth century in france and europe. An editor, gervais charpentier, created a flourishing movement of "popular" books by organizing a veritable editorial revolution. The invention of a new format - called "in-18 jesus velin" - lowered the price of a compact volume by 25% and founded a new genre of editorial practice: the collection in the form of a "library" which assembled several literary categories including the classics, contemporary authors, and educational works. Each category created its own reading public, a loyal readership dedicated to compiling a part or all of a series. Two dominant models shared in the production of these collections: the type pioneered by charpentier and the type adopted later by the workers' collective that launched the "bibliotheque nationale" in the format "in-32" whose price varied from 0,25 to 1 franc. These collections would reach a varied public - the intellectual elite, bourgeois women, working-class autodidacts, and peasants alike - by a massive utilization of all the circuits of diffusion (libraries, colportage, book stations, direct sales, etc. ) and by attention lavished upon the material quality of the book and its public - a great diligence toward the quality of
Abstract FR:
Les collections que l'on a coutume d'appeler "collections populaires" parce qu'elles sont de petit format et bon marche se multiplient en france au xixe siecle. Un editeur, gervais charpentier, provoque une veritable revolution editoriale en lancant en 1838, sa "bibliotheque charpentier"; par l'invention d'un nouveau format - le in-18 jesus velin - qui donne un volume compact d'un prix inferieur a l'edition traditionnelle de 25% (3,50 francs au lieu de 15 francs), et par l'invention d'un nouveau editorial, la collection sous la forme de "bibliotheque", celle qui regroupe plusieurs categories litteraires dans des series distinctes capables de se creer chacune leur propre public. Deux modeles dominants se partagent desormais la production de collections de petit format : le modele inaugure par charpentier et celui adopte par les ouvriers typographes qui lancent la "bibliotheque nationale", le format in-32 dont le prix du volume varie entre 0,25 et 1 franc. Ces collections vont atteindre des publics varies - l'elite intellectuelle bourgeoise, la femme bourgeoise, l'ouvrier autodidacte ou le paysan - par une utilisation massive de tous les circuits de diffusion (librairies, colportage, bibliotheques de gares, vente directe, etc. ) et par l'attention portee a la qualite materielle du livre et a sa lecture, notes, prefaces, notices, commentaires historiques et litteraires, etc.