French Literature Reviews - 2026

Sophie Reculin, L'invention de l'éclairage public en France
History, Politics and Society

Foreword by Alain Cabantous

Why is it that in the collective memory public lighting remains associated with the invention of gas and electricity, rather than with the June 1697 royal edict requiring major provincial towns to light their streets using candle lanterns? Perhaps because cultural revolutions are quieter than technological ones. Based on an extensive study of archives from sixteen cities, this book offers the first mapping of the beginnings of public lighting in France and an archaeology of a vanished artifact that continuously evolved until the adoption of the street gas lamp (réverbère). By examining an ordinary yet overlooked piece of urban furniture—which initially met with resistance before petitions emerged in its favor on the eve of the Revolution—this study captures the mechanisms of a slow process of adoption throughout the 18th century, demonstrating how this technical innovation transformed the landscape, economy, and urban society of the early modern era.

This study belongs to the broad field of early modern urban history and the social history of technology, examining how material culture and municipal regulations shaped daily life before the industrial era. Historians of the eighteenth century have increasingly turned their attention to the sensory and infrastructural dimensions of the ancien régime city, exploring the gradual transformation of public spaces through civic planning, policing, and municipal administration.

Readers interested in the history of urban infrastructure, the Ancien Régime, and the evolution of everyday technology in France may find this volume relevant. Based on an extensive study of archives from sixteen cities, the book examines the beginnings of public lighting in France and an ordinary yet overlooked piece of urban furniture that initially met with resistance before petitions emerged in its favor on the eve of the Revolution, demonstrating how this technical innovation transformed the landscape, economy, and urban society of the early modern era.