A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume Two

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A Bibliographical, Antiquarian
and Picturesque Tour in France
and Germany, Volume Two

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Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume Two, by Thomas
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Title: A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France
and Germany, Volume Two
Author: Thomas Frognall Dibdin
Release Date: November 19, 2005 [EBook #17107]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ***

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A
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL
Antiquarian AND
PICTURESQUE TOUR.

PRINTED BY WILLIAM NICOL, AT THE Shakespeare Press.

[Illustration: ANN OF BRITTANY. From an Illustrated Missal in the
Royal Library at Paris.]
London. Published June 1829. by R. Jennings. Poultry.

A
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL
Antiquarian AND
PICTURESQUE TOUR
IN
FRANCE AND GERMANY.
BY THE REVEREND THOMAS FROGNALL DIBDIN, D.D.

MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY AT ROUEN, AND OF THE
ACADEMY OF UTRECHT.
SECOND EDITION.
VOLUME II.

DEI OMNIA PLENA.
LONDON:
PUBLISHED BY ROBERT JENNINGS, AND JOHN MAJOR.
1829.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.

CONTENTS.
VOLUME II.

LETTER I.
PARIS. _The Boulevards. Public Buildings. Street Scenery. Fountains_.
1
LETTER II.
_General Description of the Bibliothèque du Roi. The Librarians_. 42
LETTER III.
The same subject continued. 64

LETTER IV.
The same subject continued. 82
LETTER V.
PARIS. Some Account of the early printed and rare Books in the Royal
Library. 101
LETTER VI.
_Conclusion of the Account of the Royal Library. The Library of the
Arsenal_. 144
LETTER VII.
_Library of Ste. Geneviève. The Abbé Mercier St. Léger. Library of the
Mazarine College, or Institute. Private Library of the King. Mons.
Barbier, Librarian_. 169
Introduction to Letter VIII. 209
LETTER VIII.
_Some Account of the late Abbé Rive. Booksellers. Printers. Book
Binders_. 214
LETTER IX.
_Men of Letters. Dom Brial. The Abbé Bétencourt. Messrs. Gail,
Millin, and Langlès. A Roxburghe Banquet_. 251
LETTER X.
_The Collections of Denon, Quintin Craufurd, and the Marquis de
Sommariva_. 279
LETTER XI.

_Notice of M. Willemin's Monumens Français inédits. Miscellaneous
Antiquities. Present State of the Fine Arts. General Observations upon
the National Character_. 317
LETTER XII.
_Paris to Strasbourg. Nancy_. 343
LETTER XIII.
STRASBOURG. _Establishment of the Protestant Religion. The
Cathedral. The Public Library_. 374
LETTER XIV.
_Society. Environs of Strasbourg. Domestic Architecture. Manners and
Customs. Literature. Language_. 413
[Illustration]
_LETTER I._
PARIS. THE BOULEVARDS. PUBLIC BUILDINGS. STREET
SCENERY. FOUNTAINS.[1]
_Paris, June 18, 1818_.
You are probably beginning to wonder at the tardiness of my promised
Despatch, in which the architectural minutiæ of this City were to be
somewhat systematically described. But, as I have told you towards the
conclusion of my previous letter, it would be to very little purpose to
conduct you over every inch of ground which had been trodden and
described by a host of Tourists, and from which little of interest or of
novelty could be imparted. Yet it seems to be absolutely incumbent
upon me to say something by way of local description.
Perhaps the BOULEVARDS form the most interesting feature about
Paris. I speak here of the principal Boulevards:--of those, extending
from _Ste. Madelaine_ to _St. Antoine_; which encircle nearly one half

the capital. Either on foot, or in a carriage, they afford you singular
gratification. A very broad road way, flanked by two rows of trees on
each side, within which the population of Paris seems to be in incessant
agitation--lofty houses, splendid shops, occasionally a retired mansion,
with a parterre of blooming flowers in front--all manner of
merchandize exposed in the open air--prints, muslins, kaleidoscopes,
(they have just introduced them[2]) trinkets, and especially watch
chains and strings of beads, spread in gay colours upon the ground--the
undulations of the chaussée--and a bright blue sky above the green
trees--all these things irresistibly rivet the attention and extort the
admiration of a stranger. You may have your boots cleaned, and your
breakfast prepared, upon these same boulevards. Felicitous junction of
conveniences!
This however is only a hasty sketch of what may be called a morning
scene. AFTERNOON approaches: then, the innumerable chairs, which
have been a long time unoccupied, are put into immediate requisition:
then commences the "high exchange" of the loungers. One man hires
two chairs, for which he pays two sous: he places his legs upon one of
them; while his body, in a slanting position, occupies