Le Siècle des Lumières: Bibliographie chronologique. Tome XXIV. 1789. Ouvrages anonymes: A-L. Tome XXV. 1789. Ouvrages anonymes: M-Z (review)

The great enterprise has at last arrived at the fateful year 1789. These two volumes, comprising nearly 7000 entries, represent only the anonymous works published during that time. The authored works are yet to be documented, though no information is provided on this point. As has been the case throughout the series, the preparation of the catalogue is both comprehensive and immaculate. But the Introduction, which had already been rather disappointing in the previous number (see FS, 61.1 : 102), sadly leaves something to be desired. It takes the form of a calendar of events, drawn up in much useful detail, but lacking any relationship to the publications except for a couple of references. No attempt is made to characterize or classify these writings. Adresses, Almanachs and Avis, for instance, are set down without comment. The relationship of historical and literary event goes unremarked. Yet, the explosive increase in the number of entries (almost doubled from 1788, which included both authors and anonymous contributions), testifying to the political excitement of the time, surely calls for some editorial attention. So, the value of these volumes is correspondingly reduced, the more regrettably as the wealth of data presented here is so prodigious. One awaits what will presumably be the final volumes, reporting on the authors of 1789, in the hope that they will provide a fitting climax to one of the most ambitious ventures currently going forward on eighteenth-century French history.