Book trade in its genre of commerce is worthy of esteem if he who practices it has the intelligence and knowledge that it requires. This profession should be regarded as one of the most noble and most distinguished. The commerce of books is one of the oldest that we know; beginning in the year of the world 1816, we saw already a famous library constructed under the care of the third king of Egypt.

Bookselling is divided naturally into two branches, old and new: by one, we mean the antiquarian book trade; by the other, that of new books. The first demands a very extensive knowledge of editions, of their variations and their value, and finally a daily study of rare and one-of-a-kind books. The late Monsieurs Martin, Boudot, and Piget excelled in this field; others today pursue this same career with distinction. In new book trade, this knowledge of editions, without being essential, or even necessary, is not at all useless, and can bring much honor to he who possesses it; his particular study should be that of the public’s taste, he should continually keep track of it, and anticipate it: sometimes it is evident, and all that remains is to follow it.

Charlemagne, associating book trade with the university, attributed to it the same prerogatives; from then on book trade shared with this body the same rights and privileges that rendered it free, clear and exempt of all taxes, loans, duties, levies, grants and taxations in place and that will be in place, imposed and that will be imposed on arts and trades . Philippe VI de Valois , thus honored book trade by protecting it with several prerogatives; Charles V confirmed them, and added other new ones; finally Charles VI was pleased to follow the example of his predecessors; Printing did not yet exist. The birth of this fortunate art, which infinitely multiplies with an admirable clarity and an incomprehensible ease, that which cost so many years to copy by pen, renewed book trade ; since then many enterprises have extended their commerce or rather recreated it! This precious discovery caught the eye of our sovereigns, and eight consecutive kings judged it worthy of their attention; book trade still shared their privileges with it. These exemptions, about which we spoke earlier, do not remain in their entirety today; time that destroys all, the necessity of sharing the responsibility of the state, and to be above all a citizen, has almost abolished them.

The chancellor of France is the born protector of book trade . When M. de Lamoignon succeeded M. d’Aguesseau in this capacity, of happy memory, knowing how important letters are to the state, and how much book trade is attached to letters, his first cares were to choose as leader a magistrate who was an admirer of scholars and sciences, himself a scholar. Under the new auspices of M. de Malesherbes, the face of book trade changed, took on a new form and a new vigor; its commerce grew, multiplied in such a way that a few years ago, and almost immediately, we saw considerable enterprises blossom and flourish. We can cite several of them here: the history of voyages, natural history, philosophical transactions, the catalogue of the king’s library, diplomatic affairs, historians of France, the collection of ordinances, the collection of Latin authors, Sophocles in Greek, Strabo in Greek, the collection of plates from the Encyclopedia; works to which we could certainly have even added the Encyclopedia itself, if unfortunate circumstances hadn’t suspended it. We admit here with gratitude what we owe to his benevolence. It is to this magistrate, who loves the sciences and who amuses himself with the study of its toilsome functions, that France owes this competitiveness that he kindled, and that he maintains every day among scholars; spirit of competition that gave birth to so many excellent and profound books, in such a way that even in chemistry, a field so neglected in the past, we have seen more treatises in a short time than there were experts of this occult science a few years ago.