''Histoire littéraire de la France'' is an enormous history of

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...

initiated in 1733 by Dom Rivet and the Benedictines of St. Maur. It was abandoned in 1763 after the publication of volume XII. In 1814, members of the

Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres The () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the . The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigraphy) and historical literature (see Belles-lettres). History ...

(part of the

Institut de France The ; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the . It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute manages approximately ...

) took over the project, which had stopped halfway through the 12th century, and continued where the Benedictines had left off. From 1865 to 1892, the first sixteen volumes were reprinted with only minor corrections, in parallel with the regular series. , 46 volumes had been published, covering the period up to 1590. To increase the pace and prevent the project from coming to a halt, the committee in charge decided in March 1999 to abandon a strict chronological order in favor of a less constrained structure.

Editors-in-chief

* volumes 1 to 9 : Dom Antoine Rivet de La Grange (1683–1749), mainly * volumes 10 to 12 : Dom Charles Clémencet and Dom François Clément * volumes 13 to 20 :

, mainly Pierre Daunou * volumes 20 to 24 (1842–1863): Victor Le Clerc * volumes 25 to 31 (1869–1893): Barthélemy Hauréau * volumes 32 to 34 (1898–1917): Paul Meyer * volumes 35 to 36 (1921–1926):

Charles-Victor Langlois Charles-Victor Langlois (; May 26, 1863, in Rouen – June 25, 1929, in Paris) was a French historian, archivist and paleographer, who specialized in the study of the Middle Ages and was a lecturer at the Sorbonne, where he taught paleography, b ...

* volumes 37 to 38 (1938–1949): Mario Roques * volumes 39 to 41 (1962–1981): Charles Samaran

Published volumes

Indices

References

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Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres
{{DEFAULTSORT:Histoire litteraire de la France French literature