French History, Politics, and Law

Special Collections holds French Revolutionary tracts as well as a large collection centering around the intersection between the history of French political institutions and the development of French law, but also includes many works on French and European history more generally.  The majority of the collection dates from the 19th century, but it includes over 200 items from the 13th to 18th centuries.

How to Use the Collection

With a few exceptions, the collections can be accessed and requested through the library catalog. Finding aids for individual collections are linked on this website. Materials are available for use in the Special Collections Reading Room (room 401) during regular hours. Materials do not circulate. 

MU Library Catalog

Finding Aids for French History, Politics, and Law

Jacques Flach Collection.

Biographical Sketch GeoffroiJacques Flach(1846-1919) was born in Strasbourg, France, the capital of the Alsace region, on February 16, 1846. His…

Rare Books

The Rare Books Collection is the default designation for materials in Special Collections that are acquired as individual items. Like Special…

Related Exhibits

In Their Own Words: The French Revolution in Print

Selected Items

An Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs, In Consequence of Some Late Discussions in Parliament, Relative to the Reflections on the French Revolution

"In this powerful political treatise, Edmund Burke defends the arguments he made in his earlier work, Reflections on the Revolution in France,…

Un autre monde : transformations, visions, incarnations ... et autres choses / par Grandville.

The Definitive Treaty of Peace and Friendship Between His Britannick Majesty, and the Most Christian King

"The Definitive Treaty of Peace and Friendship marks the formal conclusion of the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain and France. Signed…

Les vies des plus illustres philosophes de l'antiquité : avec leurs dogmes, leurs sytsêmes, leur morale, & leurs sentences les plus remarquables / traduites du grec de Diogene Laërce. Auxquelles on a ajouté la vie de l'auteur, celles d'Epictete, de Confucius, & leur morale, & un abrégé historique de la vie des femmes philosophes de l'antiquité.

Considerations on the present internal and external condition of France

"This anonymous pamphlet, published at the height of revolutionary upheaval, offers a sobering assessment of France’s condition both within its…

De l'esprit des loix : ou du rapport que les loix doivent avoir avec la constitution de chaque gouvernement, les moeurs le climat, la religion, le commerce / A Quoi l'auteur a ajoûte des recherches nouvelles sur les loix romaines touchant les successions, sur les loix français, & sur les boix feodales.

3 volumes : map ; 17 cm

The Anarchy and Horrors of France, Displayed By a Member of the Convention

"Published in 1793, The Anarchy and Horrors of France offers a stark and critical view of the chaos that had overtaken the French Revolution by its…

Quelques Notices pour L'histoire, Et Le Recit De Mes Perils

"Published on the eve of one of the French Revolution's most dramatic turning points, this pamphlet by Jean-Baptiste Louvet offers a deeply personal…

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