It's our last day in Paris and it occurred to me that I hadn't posted anything about the BnF (Bibliotheque Nationale de France), which was the whole point of the trip. These photos are of the branch on Rue de Richelieu. They didn't really have what I was looking for, so I mostly hung out at the BnF Mitterrand.
I enjoyed Mitterrand, although I have no pictures. It's pretty ugly on the outside anyway. At Mitterand, I spent time in the Rare Books area. I got to read issues of the
Cabinet des modes, which were published in 1785. The
Cabinet des modes was an 18th-century fashion magazine. They were bound into a single volume. It was pretty cool handling a 225-year-old book! On the downside, the staff at both libraries were less fluent in English than I expected they would be. It was hard to communicate what I needed in broken French, and they found it difficult to respond. But we managed. I'm looking forward to another visit, but when my French improves.
I ordered lots of documents for reproduction. They should get to Lubbock sometime this summer. I had several documents digitized, and I ordered some microfilm. Also, from the Richelieu branch, I had reproductions made of some 18th-century engravings featuring the latest styles of the day. I'm very excited about those. All in all, a successful trip and I'm looking forward to starting my thesis.
It's our last day in Paris and it occurred to me that I hadn't posted anything about the BnF (Bibliotheque Nationale de France), which was the whole point of the trip. These photos are of the branch on Rue de Richelieu. They didn't really have what I was looking for, so I mostly hung out at the BnF Mitterrand.
I enjoyed Mitterrand, although I have no pictures. It's pretty ugly on the outside anyway. At Mitterand, I spent time in the Rare Books area. I got to read issues of the Cabinet des modes, which were published in 1785. The Cabinet des modes was an 18th-century fashion magazine. They were bound into a single volume. It was pretty cool handling a 225-year-old book! On the downside, the staff at both libraries were less fluent in English than I expected they would be. It was hard to communicate what I needed in broken French, and they found it difficult to respond. But we managed. I'm looking forward to another visit, but when my French improves.
I ordered lots of documents for reproduction. They should get to Lubbock sometime this summer. I had several documents digitized, and I ordered some microfilm. Also, from the Richelieu branch, I had reproductions made of some 18th-century engravings featuring the latest styles of the day. I'm very excited about those. All in all, a successful trip and I'm looking forward to starting my thesis.
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