Durand Collection
Key items in the collection
The Durand Collection includes around 4,000 volumes, mostly published in France during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It also contains a smaller number of German, Italian and English works.
The collection is especially strong in Latin and Greek classical texts. It also features significant holdings on ancient history, archaeology, literary criticism, philology and art.
Notable items include:
- Classique garnier series (14 vols, 1930–40)
- Charles Daremberg and E Saglio, Dictionnaire des antiquités grecques et romaines d’apres les textes et les monuments (9 vols, 1877–1919)
- William S Dobson, Demosthenis et Aeschinis quae extant omnia … (10 vols, 1828)
- Estienne, Henri, Thesaurus graecae linguae (8 vols, 1831–65)
- Joachim Marquardt and Theodor Mommsen, Handbuch der Römischen Alterthumer (10 vols, 1876–82)
- Pro Alesia (1906–32)
- Revue des etudes grecques (1898–1961)
- Revue des etudes latines (1923–35).
About René Durand
René Durand (1864–1962) was a respected French scholar and teacher, known for his deep knowledge of Latin, ancient Greek and Old French.
Education and academic career
Durand was born in Perrusse, Haute-Marne, and studied at the lycée de Chaumont, the lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, and l’École normale supérieure. He taught Latin at the University of Dijon (1886–87), the University of Lyon (1887–98), l’École normale supérieure (1898–1904), and the Sorbonne (1904–32).
A life devoted to teaching
Although Durand was considered an exceptional Latinist and teacher, he published very little. A colleague described him as:
Contributions to classical scholarship
Durand spent much of his career revising classical texts for the Collection Guillaume Budé, a respected series of Greek and Latin works. He also played a major role in revising the Dictionnaire latin-français compiled by Félix Gaffiot (1934).
Ce savant qui connaissait à fond la langue et la littérature latines, n’a pas écrit de thèse et il n’a presque rien publié, parce qu’il s’est adonné à la passion d’enseigner et de renseigner.
(This scholar, who knew Latin language and literature in depth, did not write a thesis and published almost nothing, because he devoted himself to the passion of teaching and informing.)
Background to the collection
The Durand Collection was purchased from the booksellers Stechert-Hafner of New York in 1963.
The books in the Durand Collection have been catalogued individually and integrated in the general collection. A list of the titles can be found on the acquisition file.
This guide was prepared using these references:
- G Chabot, Durand, René, Dictionnaire de biographie française, vol. 12, Librarie Letouzey et Ané, Paris, 1970, p. 682.
- E Saint-Denis, de, René Durand (1864–1962), Bulletin de l’Association Guillaume Budé, 4th series, no. 3, October 1962, pp. 275–8.
Continue you journey
