
Prosper Marchand (11 March 1678 – 14 June 1756) was an 18th-century French
bibliographer, who moved to the
Dutch Republic
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands ( Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...
in December 1709. He became a famous annotator and publisher of philosophical, religious and historical works, skilled in systematic
table of contents
A table of contents, usually headed simply Contents and abbreviated informally as TOC, is a list, usually found on a page before the start of a written work, of its chapter or section titles or brief descriptions with their commencing page number ...
and
bibliographic indexes.
Biography
The son of a king's musician, a native of
Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris.
Inhabitants are called ''Saint-Germanois'' or ''Saint- ...
, studied in Versailles. He studied with much success and was then placed by a bookseller to learn the trade. Fascinated from childhood by books, he acquired in a short time all the necessary knowledge and was admitted in 1698 in the guild of booksellers. He established his shop only by the end of 1701, in association with Gabriel II Martin. He opened
rue Saint-Jacques, under the banner ''Phénix'', a store that soon became the meeting place for bibliophiles of the capital.
Eager of literary anecdotes, he would forward them to
Jacques Bernard, who then wrote in Holland the ''
Nouvelles de la république des lettres
''Nouvelles de la république des lettres'' (''News from the Republic of Letters'') was a periodical devoted to reviews of current publications, edited and in large part written by Pierre Bayle. It began publication in 1684, and is the first kn ...
'', and he formed at the same time for his personal use, collections which were very useful to him. Marchand became
anti-clerical and went to Holland in winter 1709 to more freely profess the
reformed religion he had embraced. He settled in Amsterdam and continued for two years the bookselling business; but, disgusted with the lack of good faith of most of his colleagues, he gave up entirely to indulge only in studying.
Together with
Bernard Picart
Bernard Picart or Picard (11 June 1673 – 8 May 1733), was a French draughtsman, engraver, and book illustrator in Amsterdam, who showed an interest in cultural and religious habits.
Life
Picart was born in rue Saint-Jacques, Paris ...
he took refuge in The Hague for matters of religion and moved to Amsterdam in the year after. He abandoned the profession of bookseller around 1713. From 1713 to 1723, he was proofreader at Fritsch and Böhm in Rotterdam, then editor at the ''Journal littéraire'', founded by
Willem Jacob 's Gravesande
Willem Jacob 's Gravesande (26 September 1688 – 28 February 1742) was a Dutch mathematician and Natural philosophy, natural philosopher, chiefly remembered for developing experimental demonstrations of the laws of classical mechanics and the ...
and
Justus van Effen
Justus van Effen (21 February 1684 – 18 September 1735) was a Dutch author, who wrote chiefly in French but also made crucial contributions to Dutch literature. A journalist, he imitated ''The Spectator'' with the publication of the Dutch-lang ...
. He moved back to the Hague in 1723, but between 1726 and 1735 he lived in London; he corresponded with
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his '' nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...
and
Jean-Baptiste de Boyer
Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens (24 June 1704 – 11 January 1771) was a French rationalist, author and critic of the Catholic church, who was a close friend of Voltaire and spent much of his life in exile at the court of Frederick the ...
. The lack of cash is chronic. He was booksellers catalogs editor, a review editor and author of the ''Dictionnaire historique ou Mémoires critiques et littéraires'' (1758–1759).
Marchand was involved in the publication of "
Dictionnaire Historique et Critique" by
Pierre Bayle. Following in Bayle's footsteps, Marchand constantly invites his readers to make comments, additions and corrections. The editions he successively published of various books became rare made him advantageously known, and he found himself looked after by all scholars of Europe who shared his tastes. The habit of a frugal life had fortified his naturally robust health, and he rarely left his office, but he was receiving all those who came to benefit his knowledge and communicated with them with pleasure. He succeeded, amid these peaceful occupations, at an advanced age, and died June 14, 1756. He bequeathed in his will, the fruit of his savings to the company of the poor of The Hague, and his rich library to the
Leiden University. At the end of his life, he was attached to Daniel Monnier, a librarian in The Hague He sold his prints by
Jacob van der Schley to
Willem Bentinck van Rhoon.
Publications
Marchand took part in the ingenious satire of the ''Chef d'œuvre d'un inconnu'' and was one of the main writers of the ''Journal littéraire'' (The Hague), one of the best periodical books in Holland.
He also left:
* The ''Catalogues des bibliothèques d'Em. Bigot'', 1706 ; by ''
Jean Giraud
Jean Henri Gaston Giraud (; 8 May 1938 – 10 March 2012) was a French artist, cartoonist, and writer who worked in the Franco-Belgian ''bandes dessinées'' (BD) tradition. Giraud garnered worldwide acclaim under the pseudonym Mœbius (; ) ...
'' and ''Joachim Faultrier'', 1709, in-8°. This catalog is rare and sought after by curious because Marchand prefaced it with his ''Nouveau système bibliographique'' (''Epitome systematis bibliographici''). All books were divided into three main classes: philosophy, theology and history. Marchand's system did not prevail though but we owe him significant improvements in catalography such as the arrangement of books in order of topics, without distinction of size, the exact indication of titles in different languages, that of the anonymous authors, publishers, printers, etc. ;
* ''L'Histoire critique de l'Anti-Cotton'', satire composed by César de Plaix, lawyer. It was published as a sequel of ''l'Histoire admirable de don Inigo de Guipuscoa'' (translated by Charles Levier), The Hague, 1738, 2 vol. in-12° ;
* ''Histoire de la Bible de
Sixte-Quint, avec des remarques pour connaître la véritable édition de 1590'', inserted in the ''Amœnîtates litterariœ'' by SchelKorn, vol. 4 ;
* ''Histoire de l'origine et des premiers progrès de l'imprimerie'', la Haye, in-4°. There is a lot of research and scholarship in this book, but little order and method: Incidentally, the progress made by literary history have shown a large number of errors; they were identified in part by the abbot
Barthélemy Mercier de Saint-Léger
Barthélemy Mercier de Saint-Léger (4 April 1734, Lyon – 13 May 1799, Paris) was a French abbot and librarian.
Publications
# ''Lettres sur la Bibliographie instructive de M. Debure'', 1763 ;
# ''Lettre de M. Mercier,… à M. Capperonnier, ...
, in his ''Supplément'' ;
* ''Dictionnaire historique, ou Mémoires critiques et littéraires concernant la vie et les ouvrages de divers personnages distingués, particulièrement dans la république des lettres'', La Haye, 1758–1759, 2 tomes in 1 vol. in-folio This book follows the ''Dictionnaires'' by
Pierre Bayle and
Chauffepié. The author left the manuscript but he instructed Jean Nicolas Allamand Samuel, his friend and executor, to review and publish it. To meet his confidence, Allamand spent four years putting in order Marchand's notes, most of them written on scraps of paper in a disorganized manner. It can be seen in the warning of the editor, all the trouble he had to store these notes and to supplement the omissions of Marchand. This book contains many interesting facts and curious anecdotes; but, there are also a lot of meticulous; the style is weak and incorrect; there are many serious errors and misprints; Finally, we can blame the author's passion with which he criticized the abuses of the Roman religion.
He also published many helpful books he had enriched with prefaces, letters, notes and instructive remarks, but obvious shortcomings. We owe him an edition with notes of the ''Lettres choisies'', by
Pierre Bayle, Rotterdam, 1714, 3 vol. in-12°, which has not been surpassed by that of
Desmaiseaux and he gave the most beautiful and most esteemed edition of the ''Dictionnaire'' of this famous critic.
We still owe him editions of the following works: the ''Cymbalum mundi'', by
Bonaventure Des Périers, Amsterdam, 1711, in-12;
[The 1732 Amsterdam edition in-12, is not by Prosper Marchand, as one might imagine from the frontispiece; it was published in Paris by Bernard de la Monnoye] it iw preceded by a ''Lettre critique'' which includes the history, analysis and advocacy of this book; the ''Voyages'' by
Jean Chardin, Amsterdam, 1735, 4 vol. in-4° ; - ''l'Histoire des révolutions de Hongrie'', by abbot Domokos Antal Ignácz Brenner, The Hague, 1739, 2 vol. in-4°, or 6 vol. in-12° ; the ''Œuvres'' by
Brantôme (with Leduchat), ibid., 1740, 15 vol. in-12° ; - the ''Œuvres'' by
François Villon
François Villon ( Modern French: , ; – after 1463) is the best known French poet of the Late Middle Ages. He was involved in criminal behavior and had multiple encounters with law enforcement authorities. Villon wrote about some of these ...
, ibid., 1742, in-8° ; - the ''Lettres'' of
comte d'Estrades, London (The Hague), 1743, 9 vol. in-12° ; - the ''Mémoires'' of
comte de Guiche, ibid., 1744, in-12° ; - ''Direction pour la conscience d'un roi'', by
Fénelon, ibid., 1747, in-8° and in-12° ; -the ''Nouvelle histoire de Fénelon'', ibid., 1747, in-12°. (See the article Salignac in the ''Dictionnaire'' by Marchand.)
References
Sources
*
Bibliography (selection)
* ''Le métier de journaliste au dix-huitième siècle. Correspondance entre Prosper Marchand, Jean Rousset de Missy et Lambert Ignace Douxfils''. Oxford, The Voltaire Foundation at the Taylor Institution, 1993, ()
* Jean Nicolas Samuel Allamand, « Avertissement de l'éditeur », dans Prosper Marchand, ''Dictionaire historique : ou mémoires critiques et littéraires concernant la vie et les ouvrages de divers personnages distingués, particulièrement dans la république des Lettres'', vol.1 (A-I), La Haye, Pierre de Hondt, 1758
Online
* Christiane Berkvens-Stevelinck, ''Prosper Marchand. La vie et l'œuvre, 1678–1756'', Leiden, Brill, 1987, (
* Christiane Berkvens-Stevelinck, ''Catalogue des manuscrits de la collection Prosper Marchand'' avec la collaboration de Adèle Nieuweboer. Leiden, Brill, 1988, ()
External links
Prosper Marchandon
data.bnf.fr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marchand, Prosper
18th-century French writers
18th-century French male writers
French bibliographers
People from Saint-Germain-en-Laye
1678 births
1756 deaths