Bibliothèque nationale

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France's principal public library, one of the richest collections in the world. It originated in the private libraries of kings, particularly that of François I^er at Fontainebleau. In 1537 the system of dépôt légal was instituted, whereby a copy of all books published in France was deposited with the library. The Bibliothèque du Roi, as it came to be known, was greatly developed in the 17th and 18th c. on the initiative of Mazarin, Colbert, and others, and gradually became more accessible to scholars and the general reading public. From the second half of the 17th c. it occupied its present site in the Rue de Richelieu, although the main reading rooms date from the late 19th c. The Revolution brought the change to the present name (1792) and a great increase in holdings from the confiscated possessions of religious and other private libraries.

The library is now divided into four main departments (printed books, manuscripts, prints, medals) under the overall supervision of a conservateur. (There was a special section for obscene and blasphemous works known as the Enfer, which Apollinaire explored and exploited at the beginning of the 20th c.) In 1926 it was for a time grouped with the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, the Bibliothèque Mazarine (now administered by the Institut de France), and the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève (now a university library) in the Réunion des Bibliothèques Nationales de Paris. In the late 1980s plans were made for the move in 1995 to a monumental, purpose-built ‘Bibliothèque de France’ on the Left Bank of the Seine.

[Peter France]