French Literature Reviews - 2026
The Archives of the East and Enlightenment France
History, Politics and Society
The Archives of the East and Enlightenment France. Guide to Archives and Unpublished Texts, edited by Georges Dulac and Sergei Karp with the assistance of Monique Piha, Marina Reverseau, Dominique Taurisson, and Sara Sophie Zarfin. Preface by Roland Mortier. ISBN 978-2-84559-044-1, 2007, 180 x 265 mm, 2 volumes, xxi + 870 pages, 7 illustrations, paperback, price 200 euros
Archives of the East
The "Archives of the East" series is dedicated to works, texts, and documents in the fields of literature, the arts, and ideas that testify to French-language relations between Western Europe and the countries of Eastern Europe. It is the result of international cooperation developed by the Eighteenth-Century Research Center of Montpellier with the support of the CNRS, the Maison des sciences de l'Homme, and the Russian Academy of Sciences. Its editorial board comprises representatives from the Eighteenth-Century Research Center—which has become the Institute for Research on the Renaissance, the Classical Age, and the Enlightenment (a joint research unit of the CNRS, Montpellier)—the Eighteenth-Century Research Center of the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow), and the International Eighteenth-Century Research Center (Ferney-Voltaire).
Long largely inaccessible to Western scholars, the archives and manuscript collections of the countries of the Russian Empire as constituted at the end of the 18th century (excluding Poland within its current borders) are exceptionally rich in documents concerning cultural relations between the Russian world and France. This sphere is all the broader given that most major European nations played a part in the exchange networks, the diverse forms of cultural transfer, and specific major debates regarding Russia, such as those concerning the paths to "civilization." Prepared by an international group of researchers, assisted by archivists and librarians, this work was designed to facilitate access for specialists across various disciplines to the archives and collections preserved in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kiev, Lviv, Odessa, Tartu, Vilnius, and Helsinki, while also sparking the scholarly curiosity they so richly deserve. To this end, a twofold approach is proposed: the analysis, supported by numerous examples, of several hundred archival collections, alongside twenty-six case files centered on particularly representative unpublished texts. Among these are two dissertations by Voltaire on serfdom, memoirs by Ribeiro Sanches on the means to "civilize" Russia, small epistolary collections involving Diderot, La Condamine, Johann Albrecht Euler, Gerhard Friedrich Müller, Abbé Galiani, Gilbert Romme and his pupil Pavel Stroganov, as well as other documents shedding light on the role of academies of sciences and fine arts, the activities of renowned émigrés such as the Duke of Richelieu, governor of Odessa and New Russia, and figures whose ties to Russia are sometimes underestimated, such as Rousset de Missy and Bartolomeo de Felice. "Through extremely diverse approaches," writes Roland Mortier in his preface, "this substantial volume, bringing together Russian and French signatures, restores Russia to its prominent place in 18th-century European culture while highlighting the role played within it by towering French figures. These two volumes [...] are [...] a major contribution to our understanding of an era when France's prestige reached its peak. An incomparable working tool, they open up the full richness of a vanished world to international research."
Preface by Roland Mortier
Abbreviations
Introduction
I. Archival Guide
Notice
Russia, Moscow
1. Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA)
2. State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF)
3. Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire (AVPRI)
4. Russian State Military History Archive (RGVIA)
5. Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI)
6. Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI)
7. State Historical Museum, Department of Written Sources (GIM-OPI)
8. Russian State Library (RGB), Manuscript Department
9. Central Historical Archive of Moscow (TsIAM)
Russia, Saint Petersburg
10. Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA)
11. Central State Historical Archive of Saint Petersburg (TsGIA SPb)
12. National Library of Russia (RNB)
13. Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg (AAN)
14. Archive of the Saint Petersburg Institute of History, Russian Academy of Sciences (SPII)
15. Institute of Russian Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Pushkin House), Manuscript Department
16. Saint Petersburg Theatre Library
17. Archive of the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Department of Manuscripts and Documentary Collections
Ukraine, Kiev
18. Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine (TsDIAK Ukraine)
19. V. I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine (NBOuV)
Ukraine, Lviv
20. Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine in Lviv (TsDIAL Ukraine)
21. V. Stefanyk National Scientific Library of Lviv (LNB)
Ukraine, Odessa
22. State Archive of Odessa Region (DAOO)
23. Odessa Gorky State Scientific Library (ODNB)
24. Odessa Regional History Museum (OIKM)
Estonia, Tartu
25. University of Tartu Library, Manuscript Department
Lithuania, Vilnius
26. Vilnius University Library
Finland, Helsinki
27. Helsinki University Library, National Library of
Finland, Manuscript Department
II. Unpublished Texts
Around the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences
1. Georges Dulac, A Project for a Literary Correspondence: Charles de Fieux, Chevalier de Mouhy, to Leonhard Euler (November 6, 1739)
2. Georges Dulac, The Public Relations of the Imperial Academy: Jean Rousset de Missy to [Augustin Nathanael Grischow, Secretary of Conferences of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences] (October 19, 1752)
3. Georges Dulac, Making the Imperial Academy of Sciences More Useful to the Public: Count Alexander Romanovich Vorontsov to Jacob von Stählin (December 16, 1767)
4. Michel Kowalewicz and Georges Dulac, Catherine II, the Imperial Academy of Sciences, and the Supplement to the Encyclopédie: Five Letters from Johann Albrecht Euler, Gerhard Friedrich Müller, and Alexander Mikhailovich Golitsyn, Vice-Chancellor (August–September 1771)
5. Georges Dulac and Claude Lauriol, The Life of Maupertuis, by La Beaumelle, Sent to Leonhard Euler: Six Letters from La Condamine (February 1773 – January 1774)
6. Claudette Fortuny, in collaboration with Georges Dulac, A Swiss Publisher-Bookseller Asks for the Assistance of the Secretary of the Imperial Academy: Fortunato Bartolomeo De Felice to Johann Albrecht Euler (October 22, 1777)
7. Claudette Fortuny and Georges Dulac, Book Trade and Literary News from Neuchâtel: Frédéric Samuel Ostervald to Johann Albrecht Euler (October 28, 1784)
The Philosophical Milieu and Russia
8. Michel Mervaud, Materials for Voltaire: A Letter from Baron Théodore Henri de Tschoudy to Gerhard Friedrich Müller (September 1759)
9. Georges Dulac, in collaboration with Marie Delouze, Two Memoirs by Ribeiro Sanches on the "Civilization" of Russia (1765 and 1771)
10. Vladimir Somov, Voltaire and the Competition of the Free Economic Society of St. Petersburg: Two Dissertations on Serfdom (1767)
11. Georges Dulac, France in 1768 as Seen by a Russian Diplomat: Echoes of Diderot in Five Dispatches by Dmitri Alekseevich Golitsyn (September–November 1768)
12. Georges Dulac and Anne-Lise Navarro, Diderot, the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, and Russian Pensioners Received in Paris (1767–1773)
13. Sergei Karp, Diderot and the Princes Golitsyn: Houdon or Shubin? (1774–1781)
14. Georges Dulac, The Foundling Hospital Attacked for Its Privileges: Echoes of Diderot's Remarks in a Letter from Ivan Betskoi to Catherine II (Mid-February 1775)
15. Georges Dulac, The Philosopher, the Son-in-Law, and the Courtier: Diderot to Count Otto von Stackelberg (May 19, 1778)
16. Alexander Stroev, Abbé Raynal and Russia: A Little-Known Project (1781)
17. Georges Dulac, The Neapolitan Abbé, the "Factotum," and the Empress of Russia: The Last Eight Letters of Ferdinando Galiani to Friedrich Melchior Grimm (May 1784 – August 1787)
"French Europe"
18. Alexander Stroev, Gilbert Romme and the Lodge of the Nine Sisters (July 1779)
19. Alexander Chudinov, Four Letters by Gilbert Romme and Pavel Stroganov Written from Paris in 1789–1790
20. Mikhail Safonov, The History of My Time by Pavel Alexandrovich Stroganov (1803)
21. Elena Polevshchikova, "Stupid Dummies" Versus Talented "Scoundrels": The Counter-Revolution as Seen by Count Alexandre de Langeron. Four Letters to Count Andrey Razumovsky, December 1793 – February 1794
22. Elena Polevshchikova, Europe and New Russia in 1808: Duke Armand Du Plessis de Richelieu to Empress Maria Feodorovna (December 4/16, 1808)
Autograph Collections
23. Sergei Karp, An Unpublished Letter from d'Alembert to Formey (November 1747)
24. Nadezhda Plavinskaya, Documents Concerning Montesquieu in the State Historical Museum (GIM) in Moscow
25. Pyotr Zaborov, Malesherbes to a Subscriber of the Encyclopédie (February 13, 1752)
26. Georges Dulac and Pyotr Zaborov, A Diplomat Nostalgic for Saint Petersburg: Chevalier Triqueti to Denis Fonvizin (March 11, 1774)
Principal Contributors
Bibliography
Academies, Learned Societies, Archives, Libraries, and Museums
General Index
List of Illustrations
The 18th-century Enlightenment was characterized by a dense network of intellectual exchanges, where the circulation of ideas, books, and correspondence transcended national borders. During this period, the Russian Empire emerged as a significant partner in European cultural life, engaging in debates regarding modernization and the paths to civilization. The archival materials preserved in cities such as Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Kiev provide evidence of these complex interactions. By documenting the role of academies, scientific institutions, and individual thinkers, these records highlight the mechanisms of cultural transfer that shaped the intellectual landscape of the Enlightenment.
The Archives of the East and Enlightenment France. Guide to Archives and Unpublished Texts, edited by Georges Dulac and Sergei Karp, documents historical relations between Western Europe and the Russian world through a survey of archival collections and unpublished documents. It includes correspondence and writings involving figures such as Voltaire, Diderot, and members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences, covering themes like serfdom and the institutionalization of knowledge. Readers interested in the history of 18th-century European cultural relations may find this guide particularly relevant for their research.