The Maclure Collection of French Revolutionary Materials

Book excerpt: Complete catalogue and index of one of the largest collections of its kind of French Revolutionary and Napoleonic newspapers pamphlets and official publications covering the years 1789-1815. Over 20,000 listings are preceded by an introduction giving a history of the collection, a survey of other notable French Revolution collections, and a biographical essay on William S. Maclure. William S. Maclure (1763-1840) was a wealthy Philadelphia merchant, a radical social reformer, and our first scientific geologist. His huge collection of French Revolutionary publications is one of the greatest libraries of its kind to be formed during the period of the Revolution. Maclure bestowed the collection on the Philadelphia Academy of the Natural Sciences in 1821, and the Academy in turn gave the collection to the Historical Society of Philadelphia, In 1949 it was acquired by the University of Pennsylvania.