Jammes Collection

453 books, pamphlets and leaflets in French or Latin that had been condemned and suppressed by ecclesiastical and civil authorities, as well as commentaries on those writings. They extend from the rise of Jansenism in the second quarter of the seventeenth century to the French Revolution.

Europe Religion and philosophy

Key items in the collection

There are 453 items in the Jammes Collection, ranging from multi-volume books to pamphlets and leaflets of only a few pages. They are almost entirely in French or Latin and extend from the rise of Jansenism in the second quarter of the seventeenth century to the French Revolution at the end of the eighteenth century.

Part of the collection comprises Bulls, Censures, Arrests by the Conseil d’Etat, Mandements and other instruments used to suppress books and pamphlets. They include:

Collection d’arrêts, sentences, déclarations, mandements condonnant différents livres, pamphlets et factums publiés officiellement ou clandestinement à propos de la Bulle Unigenitus (1714–80, 194 items in one volume)
Pièces concernant la thèse de l’abbé de Prades (1752–54, six items in one volume)
Mandement de Mgr. l’Archevêque de Paris portant condemnation d’un livre qui a pour titre De l’Esprit (1759)

The remainder of the collection comprises books and pamphlets that had been condemned and suppressed by ecclesiastical and civil authorities, as well as commentaries on those writings. The writers include Antoine Furetière (1619–1688), Pierre Jurieu (1637–1713), Pierre Bayle (1647–1706), Madame Guyon (1648–1717), the Baron de Montesquieu (1689–1755), Voltaire (1694–1778), Gabriel de Mably (1709–1785), Helvétius (1715–1771), Pierre de Beaumarchais (1732–1799) and the Marquis de Mirabeau (1749–1791). Voltaire is particularly well represented, with 38 of his books and pamphlets. There is one work in English:

Brown, Thomas, Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1672)

Background to the collection

The Jammes Collection (Livres Condamnés) formed part of a collection of books and printed documents assembled by the antiquarian bookseller Paul Jammes (1890-1983) of Paris, which he entitled Le bûcher bibliographique. The material selected was purchased by the Library in 1968. The full collection comprised 916 lots, most of which consisted of single works but some of which were made up of a number of related documents.

The Jammes Collection has been kept together as a formed collection within the Rare Books Collection. They are numbered in accordance with the Paul Jammes catalogue. The call numbers have the prefix RB JAMMES.

This guide was prepared using these references: