The document summarizes several notable French printed collections held at the British Library, including over 1 million printed volumes from France which is the second largest collection outside of France. It highlights collections on Mazarinades from the 17th century, French Revolutionary Tracts from 1780-1820, caricatures from the Franco-Prussian War and Paris Commune from 1870-1871, and First World War posters and ephemera. These collections provide opportunities for collaborative research projects and digitization.

1. Highlights from the
British Library’s
French printed
collections
Irène Fabry-Tehranchi
Teresa Vernon
(Romance collections)

2. www.bl.uk 2
The British Library’s
French collections
About one million printed volumes
Second only to the Bibliothèque nationale de France
Includes manuscripts, maps, music, newspapers,
government publications, sound and moving image…

3. www.bl.uk 3
French printed collections
with research potential:
1. Mazarinades (17th c.)
2. French Revolutionary Tracts
3. Caricatures from the Franco-
Prussian War and the Paris Commune
(1870-1871)
4. First World War posters and ephemera

4. www.bl.uk 4
Mazarinades
About 5,000
pamphlets relating to
the Fronde, (French
civil wars), 1648-1653
Mostly uncatalogued
French collections
hold an annotated
copy of Moreau’s
Bibliographie des
Mazarinades with BL
shelfmarks

5. www.bl.uk 5
Mazarinades
Key themes:
• French Monarchy
• Regency
• The role of the
aristocracy
• Political, moral,
social, clerical satire
• Courtly and popular
circulation of tracts
and leaflets written
in prose or verse,
songs…
Jules Mazarin by Pierre Mignard
(1658)

6. www.bl.uk 6
French Revolutionary Tracts
• 50, 000 original books,
pamphlets and serials
published between
1780 and 1820
Purchased through and
from John Wilson Croker
(1780-1857) in 1810s-50s
• Nb: set of 30 000
microfiches : The
French Revolutionary
Research Collection

7. www.bl.uk 7
French Revolutionary Tracts
• Estates General and
cahiers de doléances
• Taking of the Bastille
• (counter-) Revolution in
Vendée
• Building of the Nation-State
• Execution of the King
• Key political characters
• Revolution and the colonies
…
Potential for collaborative
research projects and
digitisation of the collection.
Key themes:

8. www.bl.uk 8
French
Revolutionary
Tracts
Guide: G. K. Fortescue and A. C. Brodhurst,
French Revolutionary Collections in the British Library (1979)
Webpage: https://www.bl.uk/collection-guides/french-
revolutionary-tracts
Brodhurst, Audrey C., ‘The French Revolution Collections in the
British Library’, Electronic British Library Journal (1976)
McTernan, Des , ‘The printed French Revolution collections in the
British Library’, FSLG Annual Review, 6 (2009-10), 31-44

9. www.bl.uk 9
Caricatures from the
Franco-Prussian War and the Paris
Commune (1870-1871)
 About 2,500 caricatures
(lithographs) in 55 bound volumes
 Mostly French, some German
 Wide range of artists: Faustin,
Cham, Moloch, Pilotell, etc
 Representations of women, colonial
troops, etc, as well as leading
figures from the period
British Library 14001.g.41.

10. www.bl.uk 10
Caricatures from the
Franco-Prussian War and the Paris
Commune (1870-1871)
Collection de caricatures et
de charges pour servir à
l'histoire de la guerre et de
la Révolution de 1870-1871
(BL 14001.g.41; Cup. 648.b.8)
A collection of French and
German caricatures…on
the Franco-German War
and the Commune
(BL Cup.648.b.2)
Not individually catalogued
British Library Cup. 648.b.8

11. www.bl.uk 11
Caricatures from the
Franco-Prussian War and the Paris
Commune (1870-1871)
Collaborative PhD project:
W. Jack Rhoden ‘Caricatural
representations of Louis-Napoleon
Bonaparte, 1848-1871’ (2007-2011)
Reference:
Morna Daniels, ‘Caricatures from the
Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and
the Paris Commune’, eBLJ
(2005)
http://www.bl.uk/eblj/2005articles/arti
cle5.html
British Library Cup. 648.b.8

12. www.bl.uk 12
First World War posters
and ephemera
• A collection of posters in 6 boxes (c.350, most text-based,
c.100 illustrated)
• A collection of posters and ephemera (c. 100)
• A small collection of postcards and ephemera (41 items)
• Key Themes: promoting national identity, sustaining the
morale of the home front, demonstrating solidarity between
the French army and the Allies, etc.

13. www.bl.uk 13
First World War posters
and ephemera
• Collaborative PhD projects :
-Bernard Wilkin ‘Allied Propaganda in Occupied
France and Belgium during the First World War’ (2011-
2014)
-Cherie Prosser, ‘A Comparative Analysis of Visual
Propaganda in France and Britain during the First
World War’ (2015-)
• 3 months British Library PhD placement :
Phoebe Weston-Evans, cataloguing and promoting
WW1 French posters (2018)

14. Getting in touch:
Email: Teresa Vernon, Lead Curator,
Romance Collections
teresa.vernon@bl.uk;
Dr Irène Fabry-Tehranchi, Curator,
Romance Collections,
irene.fabry-tehranchi@bl.uk
Blog: BL European Studies Blog
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/europ
ean/
Web: http://www.bl.uk/collection-
guides/french-printed-collections