H-France Review Volume 15 (2015) Page 1 H-France Review Vol. 15 (January 2015), No. 8 Marie-Claude Felton, Maîtres de leurs ouvrages: l'édition à compte d'auteur à Paris au XVIIIe siècle . Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 2014. xxii + 306 pp. Illustrations, tables, figures, notes, bibliography, and index. $115 U.S. (pb). ISBN 978-0-7294-1081- 6. Review by Oded Rabinovitch, Tel Aviv University. Historians of the book have been aware for a long time that early modern authors sometimes chose to self-publish their works rather than sell the manuscript, or better, the manuscript and a privilege, to a book seller.[1] In the eighteenth century, the practice could lead to legal disputes. Parisian author Luneau de Boisjermain had to contend with the forces of order, which broke into his house on August 31, 1768, in order to impound copies of his works. The ensuing affaire revolved around the fact that selling the books one had written violated the rights of printers and booksellers, protected by the Code de la libraire et imprimerie de Paris . Luneau's case was the first time that the booksellers failed in their efforts to stop an author from usurping their role of publisher and bookseller, and Luneau was even awarded damages by Antoine de Sartine, the lieutenant général de police. This was a harbinger of things to come. In 1777, less than a decade after the Luneau de Boisjermain affaire and the public stir it created, the legal situation completely changed. Decrees promulgated in 1777 and 1778 redefined the rights of authors in their works. Now authors could sell their own books and turn a profit by exploiting the privileges, which formerly had to be ceded to a bookseller, in their own name. The consequences of this shift, as well as its importance for the emergence of the “modern author,” stand at the center of Marie-Claude Felton's thoughtful and meticulously researched book. Felton traces in detail the number of Parisian authors who chose to self-publish their works between 1750 and1791, which indeed rose dramatically after 1777, as well as the social and professional composition of this group of authors, the subject and design of their books, and their place in the literary economy of the late eighteenth century. She convincingly shows that authors who self- published were not marginal Rousseau des ruisseaux filled with resentment towards the institutions of the ancien regime, memorably portrayed by Robert Darnton.[2] Felton presents a much more positive take. Many of these authors were office-holders or army commanders, and some enjoyed pensions and connections to the institutions of the literary world. Self-publishing was a respectable choice for bringing one’s work to the public, not necessarily leading to the loss of face associated today with vanity presses. By cultivating the ownership of their works, these authors, Felton claims, in fact represent the figure of the modern author: “On peut en effet voir surgir la figure d'un auteur pleinement conscient de la valeur de ses écrits, qui considère l'écriture comme une activité professionnelle et qui, en ce sens, devient véritablement ‘moderne’” (p. 17). Felton's study is the first sustained and comprehensive discussion of self-publishing in the eighteenth century, establishing the contours of the phenomenon. It is based on a detailed survey of self-published authors active in Paris between 1750 and 1791, drawing on two main sources, the catalog of the BNF, used to trace books published in Paris “Chez l'auteur,” and the Catalogue hebdomadaire, a weekly publication running announcements on new books between 1763 and 1789. Complementing these sources with less systematic documents, Felton identifies 441 authors who self-published at least one work which was not completely engraved (and therefore published under different regulations). The quantification is simple yet highly effective. It is a “horse and buggy” counting, not relying on statistical inference or treatment that might deter readers, and is done with some dexterity. For example, Felton has to deal with the tricky question of how to classify