A short history of the famous French children's imprints "Bibliothèque Rose" and "Bibliothèque Verte" put together as part for my Children's Literature in Traslation studies module in my MA Children's Literature.

1. Mélanie McGilloway
The bibliothèques rose et verte are a children’s imprint from French publisher Hachette which was born in the second
half of the nineteenth century and has mainly focussed on the publication of series.
I was born in the 1970s and became a reader in what is known as its age d’or (1970s-1980s), and it influenced my
development as a reader hugely. In terms of impact and nostalgia factor, it is similar to Ladybird books in this country.

2. Louis Hachette, self-made creator of the Hachette publishing empire, was born in 1800 and
started as a humble bookshop owner, specialising in school books. Gradually building up his
business, he came across the WH Smith railway station outlets while visiting London for the
1851 Great Exhibition. On his return to Paris, he decided to implement something similar and
despite much resentment and opposition from fellow bookshop owners and navigating tight
publishing laws, Hachette launches in 1853 his Bibliothèque des Chemins de fer (‘railway
library’) to be sold in his railway station outlets.
In 1856, Hachette launches a new children’s collection as part of the Bibliothèque des
Chemins de fer. The corresponding colour will be pink, and thus is born the
Bibliothèque Rose Illustrée.
Designed to be small and cheap, the collection is divided into several genres, and each
genre has a corresponding colour.
How it all started …

3. A Star is born: La Comtesse de Ségur
It seems incredible to think that Hachette found his most valuable asset by chance. While
negotiating contracts for his station outlets in 1855, Hachette meets the president of Eastern
Railways, Eugène de Ségur, whose wife Sophie writes stories for their grandchildren. After one
meeting with her, Hachette decides to publish her stories and so begins the career of one of the
most famous children’s writers in France, at the grand age of 56.
Her first book, Nouveaux Contes de Fée, will be published in 1856. The first book in her most
famous trilogy, Les Malheurs de Sophie, is released two years later. The publication of this series
sets the imprint of the path of publishing mainly series, which is still the case today.
From the onset of her literary career, de Ségur sets herself as quite unlike any other. Neglected by her husband, she has
retired to the countryside with her family and has created a ‘micro-society’, much of which is mirrored in her trilogy of
Sophie’s adventures. Determined to claim her independence, she chooses to write under her maiden name, Rostopchine.
Eventually, she will demand and gain financial independence from her husband, which is unheard of at the time.
Her uniqueness does not end there; in some of her books, she steps away from Christian moral, offering no forgiveness or
redemption to her characters. Her books also offer a very potent discourse about nineteenth-century France, including living
conditions of the poor.
She died in 1874. By 2010, 29 million of her books had been sold.

4. 1914 1963 1973 1989
20061930
“Les Malheurs de Sophie”: covers across the ages

5. When Hachette buys off the catalogue from competitor Hetzel in 1914, the publisher acquires works by authors such as
Victor Hugo and Jules Verne. Indirectly, the acquisition of these titles helps develop a collection for older readers, and
the Bibliothèque Verte will finally ensue in 1924.
The series includes many classics as well as epic stories such Jack London, Melville, Stevenson, Kipling, and is aimed
primarily at boys aged 10 and above.
Birth of La Bibliothèque Verte
The imprint will be divided as ROSE for girls and VERTE for boys until an editorial reshuffle in the 1950s amends the
organisation of the titles. The collections then become mixed with ROSE being for younger readers (7 to 11) and VERTE
for more mature readers (12 to 16).

6. The post -war years
The Baby Boom generation of the post-war years will allow the imprint to turn a new page in its
history. As readers, they are more discerning, more modern and are after more contemporary books.
Like many European countries, France is attracted to the American dream which will also influence
editorial choices.
Thanks to the back catalogue of the Bibliothèque Verte, Hachette has strong links with British and
American publishers and in 1956 they acquire a new series by Caroline Keene, renamed Caroline
Quine in France (which is easily done, as she is not a real person!): Alice Roy, also known as Nancy
Keene, will have a huge success and is still published today (unlike in the UK).
Other American series published included Les Soeurs Parker (Dana Girls) also by Caroline Keen. Black
Stallion, and Alfred Hitchcock’s series for children, The Three Detectives.

7. The Enid Blyton phenomenon
Always on the lookout for series, Hachette acquire the first Famous Five series in 1954,
having witnessed Blyton’s success in her native Britain. They will be published in 1955,
with the rest acquired at a later time. These are published in a cheaper format, hoping to
appeal to a wider audience, un grand public. The publisher is not particularly interested in
following the order of the series and publishes them completely mixed-up, not caring
about consistency, something which will also come through in translations, done as
quickly as possible with an array of translators. In fact, the series is completely Frenchified,
including geographical references, which means that French readers have in
fact no idea the series is originally British or whether Enid Blyton iss a man or a woman. She will be kept very much at bay
by the publisher and will never visit France to meet her army of devoted readers.
All her other series will also be published in the imprint.
Like other series such as Alice and la Comtesse de Ségur’s, front cover designs were regularly reviewed so as to appeal to
new generations of children:
Simone
Baudouin
(1955):
Jean
Sidobre
(1971):
Frédéric
Rébéna
(2013):

8. Series: the French way
Due to the success of Anglo-Saxon series, Hachette begins to look back at native authors
in the hope to develop more series.
Many series will begin in this way, particularly for older readers in the Bibliothèque verte.
One most memorable to me is Jeunes Filles en Blanc by Suzanne Perrault, a series which
consists of 23 stories (written by 1968 and 1985) all focusing on young nurses and their
adventures. I think I have possibly read the whole series, which sold over 2 million copies.
However the most famous home-grown series remains Fantômette by George Chaulet, a
series comprising of 52 books (written between 1961 and 2011) about a teenager with a
double-life as a masked vigilante. She is easily recognisable by her costume, which was the
idea of the first illustrator, Jeanne Hives, rather than the author.

9. The imprints remained popular until the 1990s when it became to falter, possibly linked to educators and literature
specialists turning against series.
In twenty-first century and now nearly 160 years old, the imprints still publish series and focus mainly on novelisations of
popular films etc, as well as continuing to publish classics such as Comtesse de Ségur and Enid Blyton.
Les Bibliothèques today
The imprints have come under much criticism in the last few years, being accused of being more interested in making
money than bringing than publishing “quality” literature and “dumbing down” children’s books. While not all of this
criticism is unfounded, looking back to its heyday with nostalgia and possibly with rose-tainted (excuse the pun), many
critics tend to forget that the imprints were always about bringing “popular” fiction to young readers, and has never
claimed otherwise. Nonetheless Louis Hachette’s legacy cannot be underestimated. His vision allowed access to literature
for all, not just the privileged few.

10. Leroy, Armelle. La Saga de la Bibliothèque Rose. Paris: Hachette, 2006.
Leroy,s Armelle & Laurent Chollet. Le Club des Cinq, Fantômette, Oui-Oui et les autres … Les Grands Succès des
Bibliothèques Rose et Verte. Paris: Edition Hors Collection, 2005.
Wikipedia: Bibliothèque Rose https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliothèque_rose accessed 22 January 2016
Wikipedia: Comtesse de Ségur https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comtesse_de_Ségur accessed 22 January 2016
Wikipedia: Fantômette https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantômette accessed 22 January 2016
Wikipedia: Jeunes Filles en Blanc https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeunes_filles_en_blanc accessed 22 January 2016
Sources