Bnf – institutional website

It is the national repository of all that is published in France. The National Library of France is a public establishment under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture. Its mission is to constitute collections, especially the copies of works published in France that must, by law, be deposited there, conserve them, and make them available to the public.

It produces a reference catalogue, cooperates with other national and international establishments, as well as participates in research programs.

Bnf library

The first librarian of record was Claude Mallet, the king's valet de chambre, who made a sort of catalogue, Inventoire des Livres du Roy nostre Seigneur estans au Chastel du Louvre. Charles V was a patron of learning and encouraged the making and collection of books. It is known that he employed Nicholas Oresme , Raoul de Presles conseiller de Charles V [ fr ] , and others to transcribe ancient texts.

At the death of Charles VI , this first collection was unilaterally bought by the English regent of France, the Duke of Bedford , who transferred it to England in It was apparently dispersed at his death in Charles VII did little to repair the loss of these books, but the invention of printing resulted in the starting of another collection in the Louvre inherited by Louis XI in Francis I transferred the collection in to Fontainebleau and merged it with his private library.

During his reign, fine bindings became the craze and many of the books added by him and Henry II are masterpieces of the binder's art. Under librarianship of Jacques Amyot , the collection was transferred to Paris and then relocated on several occasions, a process during which many treasures were lost. The appointment of Jacques Auguste de Thou as librarian initiated a period of development that made it the largest and richest collection of books in the world.

Under de Thou, the library was enriched by the collections of Queen Catherine de Medici. The site in the Rue de la Harpe becoming inadequate, the library was again moved, in , to two adjacent houses in Rue Vivienne.