Collections of Bibliotheque Nationale de France

For this post, I again relied mainly on internet searches to find the information I was looking for.  I also went to Swinburne library again to use some of the books there.  Again, with searching online, the language problem where some results were not in English was an obstacle.  I also found it a little difficult making sure the information I found in the books and on the internet was on the right French library, as there is another with a similar name and it was sometimes unclear which was being referred to.


The collection of books at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France is about 12,000,000
volumes, with a further collection of about 180,000 manuscripts.  The remainder of the library's collection is made up of prints, maps, drawings and paintings, sheet music, phonograph records, and medals and antiques (Encyclopaedia Britannica 2010). 

The library has a number of major collections, these being the Archives of the Bastille; the Fonds Prosper Enfantin collection, the Fonds Lambert collection (a collection of items connected with the writer Joris-Karl Huysmans (New World Encyclopaedia 2009) the collection of Louis-Sébastien Mercier Papers; the Fonds Lacroix collection; the Fonds Péladan collection (another writer, this one with a particular interest in the occult); the José-Maria de Heredia Collection (a poet, who was also a librarian at the the library); the Fonds Georges Douay collection (a collection of items associated with French theatre) and the Archives Parlementaires, the official, printed record of the French National Assembly from the 1789 Revolution forward (New World Encyclopaedia 2009).  The library also has an extensive collection of prints, charts and plans, and music.

A museum, known as Cabinet des Médailles (or Cabinet de France) also forms part of the Bibliotheque de Nationale de France.  The museum is known mainly for its coin collections, although it also holds other items, such as this cup, The Sassanian "Cup of Chosroes," from Saint-Denis (New World Encyclopaedia 2009).

Image courtesy of New World Encyclopaedia

References:

1. 'Bibliothèque nationale de France' 2010, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica, viewed 19 September 2010.

2. 'Bibliotheque nationale de France' 2010, New World Encyclopedia, New World Encyclopedia, viewed 19 September 2010.

3. Raven, J (ed.) 2004, Lost libraries: the destruction of great book collections since antiquity, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, U.K.