The Fortunes and Misfortunes of a Leading French Bookseller-Printer: André-François Le Breton, Chief Publisher of the Encyclopédie

Abstract

The Fortunes and Misfortunes of a Leading French Bookseller-Printer: Andre-Franqois Le Breton, ChiefPublisher of the Encyclopedic FRANK A. KA FKE R The truth is that M. Le Breton, so clear-sighted in matters of profit, is one of the most narrow-minded men in France, . . . that he has never had any idea of literature, still less of philosophy; that he is as cowardly and fainthearted as he is narrow-minded. Frederic-Melchior Grimm, Correspondance litteraire, January 1, 1771 Andre-Francois Le Breton is best remembered as Grimm de­ scribed him and as one of the villains of the eighteenth century; for he was the publisher of the great French Encyclopedic who took it upon himself to censor its last ten volumes of letterpress, an act its chief editor Denis Diderot regarded as one of the most infamous in the history of printing. But Le Breton was much more than a villain. He was also one of the century’s very successful publishers and one of its ablest businessmen. Yet his life, apart from the Encyclopedie, has received scant attention from scholars. This 371 372 / FRANK A. KAFKER brief study of his career and of his two biggest publishing ventures has two main aims: to introduce a man who deserves thorough investigation as an entrepreneur and to illustrate the pressures and anguish endured even by the official and most favored publishers in eighteenth-century France as they attempted to become pros­ perous. Le Breton’s parents died while he was still a child, and he was brought up in Paris by his maternal uncle Charles-Maurice d’Houry, the son of the publisher Laurent d’Houry. When AndreFranqois reached adulthood, there was some question whether he should take over his late father’s minor judicial office dealing with Parisian tax matters or become a publisher. His decision to enter the book trade was prompted in good part by the death of Laurent d’Houry in 1725 when Le Breton was seventeen years old. A family squabble followed over who would control the rights to his grandfather’s major publishing venture, the Almanack royal, a semi-official who’s who that annually listed the rulers of Europe and the leading noblemen and royal officials of France. Le Breton’s uncle-stepfather Charles-Maurice claimed the exclusive rights to the publication,which Laurent’s widow contested. The case went to court, and the decision left the widow in sole control. She disinherited her son and chose her grandson Le Breton as her heir apparent.1 The grandson’s drive, determination, and resourcefulness in the pursuit of profit were quickly evident. Although his grandmother lived until 1750, he assumed many of the burdens of publishing the Almanack royal. While serving as an apprentice to the printer Claude-Louis Thiboust from 1727 to 1732, he redesigned the Almanack, greatly expanded its coverage, and helped make it even more of a financial success. To be mentioned in its pages became an important status symbol. As Louis-Sebastien Mercier satirically said later in the century: “Those who rush along the roads of ambition consult the Almanack royal with a studious atten­ tion. . . . Pity the person not included in that book! He has neither rank, nor public office, nor title, nor occupation.”2 Like Laurent d’Houry earlier, Le Breton and his grandmother Fortunes ofa French Bookseller-Printer I 373 protected their investment in the Almanach by striving to outdo its chief competitor, the Calendrier de la cour. In addition to printing a regular edition, they published an abridgement resem­ bling in size and content the rival publication, which was edited by the Collombats. This family enlarged the Calendrier to cut into the Almanack's market. Suits and countersuits followed, each side accusing the other of violating the law by printing a work different from the specifications stipulated in the royal publication licenses and in various governmental resolutions.3 While this dispute flared off and on inconclusively, Le Breton’s career flourished. In 1733 he was received as one of the one hundred or more official master booksellers in the Paris Corpora­ tion of Booksellers and Printers; in 1740 he was appointed one of the Printers...