Heir to the collections of the abbey of the same name, which bear the mark of major donations and were preserved for the benefit of the Nation by the French Revolution, the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève saw its role strengthened by the award of the Dépôt légal imprimeur in 1828 and then by its move in 1851 into the setting custom-built by Henri Labrouste. The administrators and curators then asserted an ambitious and coherent policy of enriching the collections thus assembled.
Alongside the routine purchases and institutional acquisitions that are subscriptions and other exchanges, donations occupy an essential place: substantial ensembles built up over the years by collectors, scholars or publishing professionals, but also a few books offered by modest readers who wish to give back to the library what it gave them: the widest possible access to an encyclopedic and universal collection. It is this dynamic, still at work, and these privileged relationships with a plural readership that invite you to discover the exhibition of about a hundred books, objects and archival items.
Free admission by reservation during the opening hours of the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève.