THE CORRESPONDENCE OF MARC-MICHEL REY, 1747-1778

PUBLISHER OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT

University Library Amsterdam, Library of the Netherlands Book Trade Association

on microfiche

Background

Marc-Michel Rey was without a doubt one of the major figures in the publishing history of the Enlightenment in the second half of the eighteenth century. He was born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1720 to a family of quite modest means. His father was a packer for a bookseller of Geneva and Lausanne, Marc-Michel Bousquet, to whom Marc-Michel was apprenticed from 1737 until 1744. In 1744 he moved to Amsterdam, whether as part of some grand design or just on impulse is not known. In any event, he was to remain a resident of the city the rest of his life, joining the congregation of the Walloon church there in 1744 and acquiring “burgher”-status in 1746, when he also joined the booksellers guild. In 1747 he married Elisabeth Bernard, daughter of the late bookseller Jean-Frederic.

His background as a Swiss business man living in the publishing capital of Europe of the time was a particularly favorable one and may have been responsible for his contacts with fellow Genevan Jean-Jacques Rousseau and later with Voltaire as well as other major figures of the Enlightenment, such as Diderot and d'Holbach. Rey was praised in print by Voltaire and it was Rey who persuaded Rousseau to write his memoirs. Enlightenment writings smuggled out of France in manuscript found their way to his hands in Amsterdam, where they were printed and in turn brought back into France clan-destinely. But he also made his mark publishing and selling editions of "legitimate" texts in French and Latin.

Rey had considerable success  and was a wealthy man when he died in 1780. After his death, however, he fell into oblivion until 1858 when the letters written to him by Rousseau drew attention and were published in Amsterdam by J. Bosscha (these do not form part of the current microfiche edition).

The collection

The present collection of more than 200 letters and a few other documents, such as notes and contracts, sent to Rey (with a few from him to others) in the period 1747-1778 forms a valuable source for the study of publishing in the Age of Enlightenment, all the more so since the rest of his business archive, including the bookkeeping, has been lost.

Correspondents

The letters originate from some twenty or so correspondents, fellow publishers and booksellers with whom he collaborated on copublications or used as distributors of his titles and other colleagues, all French or French-speaking, whom he relied upon to propose projects and maintain contacts with authors, correct proofs, or explore new markets. Details of joint publishing ventures, production, transport, distribution and payment are recorded in the letters. In addition to the business aspects of publishing, these documents also illuminate the more personal side, providing information on family situations, health problems and others.

Among the most prolific correspondents we find the Parisian booksellers and publishers Nicolas-Bonaventure Duschesne and

Pierre Guy, the French expatriate publisher Elie Luzac, established in Leiden, the editor-proofreader De Loches, who lived in Rotterdam and the editor-literary agent Voyard de Chenau, who worked with

Rey from Paris. Finally, there is also one letter from the celebrated Société typo-graphique de Neuchâtel, publishers of the

Encyclopédie.

Complete list of correspondents

• Coindet
• Desaint, Jean
• Deveria
• Duchesne, Nicolas-Bonaventure
• Duchesne, Veuve
• Guy, Pierre
• Hérissant, J.T.
• Hernandez
• De Loches
• Luzac, Jean
• Luzac, Elias, Jr.
• N.N.
• Polier de Bottens, N.
• Polier, Georges
• Robinet, Jean-Baptiste
• De Serionne
• Société typographique de Neuchâtel
• Voyard du Chenau