A Literary Tour de France
The STN and an Author: J.P. Brissot

The STN did not publish many original manuscripts; and when it did, it usually produced them at the expense of the author, functioning in effect as a vanity press.  In such cases, it also handled marketing, shipping, and other services.  Jacques-Pierre Brissot, who would become famous as a leader of the “Brissotins” (later the Girondins) in the French Revolution, commissioned the STN to print his most important works while attempting to break into the ranks of respectable men of letters during the 1780s.  His correspondence with the STN is so extensive that it serves as an unequaled source of information about literature as a vocation and a career.  The letters also contain so many details about publishing—everything from printing and proof reading to smuggling and negotiating with booksellers—that they complement themes from other material in this website, showing how they appeared from an author’s point of view.

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Article on J.P. Brissot by Robert Darnton

Brissot's Correspondence with the STN

Additional Letters related to Brissot

4 Accounting Statements of J.P. Brissot

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