' ("blue library" in French) is a type of

ephemera Ephemera are transitory creations which are not meant to be retained or preserved. Its etymological origins extends to Ancient Greece, with the common definition of the word being: "the minor transient documents of everyday life". Ambiguous in ...

and

popular literature Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term used in the book-trade for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre, in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre. A num ...

published in Early Modern France (between and ), comparable to the English

chapbook A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch. In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered bookle ...

and the German '. As was the case in England and Germany, that literary format appealed to all levels of French society, transcending social, sex, and age barriers. ' is in origin a term for a publishing scheme introduced 1602 in

Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near ...

by the brothers Jean and Nicolas Oudot, in association with the family of Claude Garnier (1535-1589), who had been printer to the king. Oudot produced prints in low quality and small format. Sold with a blue paper

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of copy ...

, these

brochure A brochure is originally an informative paper document (often also used for advertising) that can be folded into a template, pamphlet, or leaflet. A brochure can also be a set of related unfolded papers put into a pocket folder or packet or can ...

-like products came to be known as ''livres bleus'', or "blue books". The content matter was at first limited to local ephemera, but it was soon popularized and imitated in other cities such as

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the region of Normandy and the department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, the population ...

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Limoges Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label= Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the commune had ...

Dinan Dinan (; ) is a walled Breton town and a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in northwestern France. On 1 January 2018, the former commune of Léhon was merged into Dinan. Geography Its geographical setting is exceptional. Instead o ...

Épinal Épinal (; german: Spinal) is a commune in northeastern France and the prefecture of the Vosges department. Geography The commune has a land area of . It is situated on the river Moselle, south of Nancy. Épinal station has rail connecti ...

, and perhaps as many as sixty other towns, sold in urban bookshops and carted off into the countryside by itinerant colporteurs (peddlers). This wide distribution represented the historical origin of "popular mass media" in France. Later in the 17th century, the ''Bibliothèque bleue'' in Troyes became a family business run by the sons of Jean Oudot, Jean II and Jacques I, later Nicolas II and Nicolas III. The Oudot business soon encountered competition, notably by the

Garnier Garnier () is a mass market cosmetics brand of French cosmetics company L'Oréal. It produces hair care and skin care products. Launch ''Laboratoires Garnier'' was founded in France in 1904 by Alfred Amour Garnier. The company's first product ...

family. Nicolas III in 1665 married the daughter of a Paris librarian and established himself in the capital, and began to publish in great quantities, on subject matters including theatre, storybook (especially prose retellings of medieval

verse novel A verse novel is a type of narrative poetry in which a novel-length narrative is told through the medium of poetry rather than prose. Either simple or complex stanzaic verse-forms may be used, but there will usually be a large cast, multiple ...

s such as '' Fierabras,

Robert le Diable ''Robert le diable'' (''Robert the Devil'') is an opera in five acts composed by Giacomo Meyerbeer between 1827 and 1831, to a libretto written by Eugène Scribe and Germain Delavigne. ''Robert le diable'' is regarded as one of the first grand o ...

, '' and '' Jean de Paris''), satire ('' roman picaresque''), religious literature, almanacs, manuals on etiquette, cookbooks, songbooks and astrology, etc. After the death of Nicholas II, his widow continued the Troyes business, and became known throughout the kingdom as the ''veuve Oudot'' (widow Oudot), by the 18th century attaining a near-monopoly in the genre. Oudot went out of business in 1760, due to new legislation limiting the right to reprint works. Garnier persisted into the

Republican era Republican Era can refer to: * Minguo calendar, the official era of the Republic of China It may also refer to any era in a country's history when it was governed as a republic or by a Republican Party. In particular, it may refer to: * Roman Rep ...

, but went bankrupt 1830, as their business model had become outdated and could no longer compete with modern forms of printing publishing led by

Louis Hachette Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ...

and as a result of the centralization of the primary educational system. A significant collection of Bibliothèque bleue volumes is located at the .

References

Bibliography

* Lise Andries, ''La bibliothèque bleue au dix-huitième siècle : une tradition éditoriale'', Oxford, The Voltaire Foundation, 1989 * Alexandre Assier, ''La Bibliothèque bleue depuis Jean Oudot 1er jusqu'à M. Baudot (1600-1863)'', Paris, Champion, 1874 * Geneviève Bollème, ''La Bibliothèque bleue'', éd. Éditions Julliard, collection Archives,

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses ( February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events J ...

, rééd. Robert Laffont, 2003 *René Helot, ''La Bibliothèque Bleue en Normandie'', Rouen, Lainé, 1928, orné de 40 planches de gravures *Marie-Dominique Leclerc & Alain Robert, '' Desbloéditions au succès populaire, les livrets de la Bibliothèque bleue XVII-XIXe siècles : présentation, anthologie, catalogue'', Troyes, C.D.D.P., 1986 *Robert Mandrou,''De la culture populaire aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles : la Bibliothèque bleue'', Paris, Imago, 1985 * Charles Nisard, ''Histoire des livres populaires, ou de la littérature de Colportage, depuis le XVe siècle, jusqu'à l'établissement des la Commission d'examen des livres du Colportage'', 1852 * ''La Bibliothèque bleue et les littératures de colportage'', Actes du colloque organisé par la Bibliothèque municipale à vocation régionale de Troyes en collaboration avec l'École nationale des Chartes, Troyes, 12-13 novembre 1999 * Socard: ''Livres populaires imprimés à Troyes de 1600 à 1800''. Paris 1864 * Gérard Oberlé: ''La Bibliothèque Bleue. Livres de colportage du XVIIe au XIXe siècle''. Montigny-sur-Canne 1983.

External links

La littérature de colportageLa Bibliothèque bleueLa Bibliothèque bleue de Troyes
an

* '' ttp://le-bibliomane.blogspot.com/2008/10/la-bibliothque-bleue-1600-1863-daprs.html La Bibliothèque bleue : 1600-1863' d'après Alexandre Assier (1874)
Bibliothèque bleue , The ARTFL Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bibliotheque bleue 17th-century French literature 17th-century printing companies 18th-century French literature 18th-century printing companies Chapbooks Editorial collections