Newberry French Pamphlet Collection

The Newberry Library's French Pamphlet Collection primarily consists of material published between 1780 and 1810 from the French Revolution Collection (FRC), the Louis XVI Trial and Execution Collection, and several smaller collections of French Revolution era material. It charts the political, social, and religious history of the French Revolution. The material represents the opinions of all the factions that opposed and defended the monarchy during the turbulent period from 1789 to 1799 and chronicles the events—both dramatic and quotidian—of the First Republic.  The FRC collection was acquired by the Newberry between 1957 and 1961 from Michel Bernstein, a book dealer in Paris. There are complete runs of well-known journals ( portion provided here), as well as many rare and unknown publications. While the majority of the pamphlets were printed in Paris by the Imprimerie nationale, there are also significant numbers of provincial publishers and fictitious imprints.

This collection also includes about 3,000 French political pamphlets published between 1560 to 1653 that document a period of religious wars and the establishment of the absolute monarchy.  The bulk of the collection was purchased in the late 1940s from New York book dealer H.P. Kraus.