The Royal Almanac () was a French administrative directory founded in 1683 by the bookseller Laurent d'Houry, which appeared under this title from 1700 to 1792, and other titles until 1919.
Each year the Alamanc presented, in the official order of precedence, the list of members of the royal family of France, the princes of blood, and the main body of the kingdom: great crown officers, senior clerics, abbots of large abbeys (with income of each abbey), marshals of France, colonels and general officers, ambassadors and consuls of France, presidents of the main courts, state councilors, and bankers.
Despite the fact that it consisted of a series of supposed lists, the publication enjoyed a wide circulation with a readership consisting primarily of financiers, politicians, and all persons who had an interest in knowing the administrative organization of France.
Although its edition was due to the action of a private publisher, being included in the lists of the Royal Almanac had an air of legitimacy and abuse was therefore punished. Consequently, a Poitevin, Pierre Joly, was interned in the Bastille at the end of the eighteenth century due to having seized the banking profession by having himself registered as a Poitevin in the Almanac.
The regular edition was in the 8vo format with a leather publisher's binding adorned with a sprinkling of golden fleur de lys.
History Founded at the request of the king Laurent d'Houry, a book binder and publisher, first envisioned a calendar, or Almanac, in 1683. The first edition contained only a few pages with a calendar and omens for the coming year. The last edition in this form, published in 1699, already shows some lists that foreshadow the upcoming Royal Almanac. Thus, we find lists of counselors of state with their ordinary homes, the commissioners of the Board, auditors general and stewards of finances, the Chancellor, archbishops and bishops of France, universities, the list of major exhibitions, sessions of the courts of Paris and the log of the Palace, and finally the addresses of messengers and post offices with indication of departure days.
In 1699, Louis XIV asked that the author describe his work in detail. His widow explained this work's beginnings as follows:
"Louis XIV, who wanted this glorious memory Almanac, made him ask the author, who had the honor to present to Her Majesty's what induced him to give the title of Royal Almanac, and to make it his principal occupation of this work. "
The same year, Louis Tribouillet, chaplain of the king and canon of Meaux, published the State of France. This book describes in detail the functioning of the Court of the King, all his ministers, the treatments they receive, and the various expenses of the state and clergy.
The first edition of the Almanac Royal appeared in 1700, at the same time as another book, Calendar of the Court, which was printed by John Colombat, one of the printers of the king. Parisians had a choice between three books with similar content: Houry's Almanach Royal, Colombat 's Calendar of the Court, and Tribouillet's State of France. At that time, the court around Louis XIV was highly structured, and since the expansion of the Palace of Versailles in 1684, it had continued to grow. In this context, recognition of peers was a valuable asset. The multiplicity of these publications showed the king's desire to "officially" refer his courtiers to positions created to keep them at his side at Versailles, and maintain jealousies between each other.
Even if the king gave his approval, publishing such a book was not without risk. In December 1708, Laurent d'Houry was being prosecuted for having established a printing press in his home and was forced to sell the equipment two months later. Then, in February 1716, he was imprisoned in the Bastille on complaint of the Earl of Stair, the British Ambassador, "to have been disrespectful in his almanac towards King George for not naming him as king of England, or rather of Great Britain", and mentioning the king as son of Jacques II Stuart, exiled to St. Germain.
Affirmation of a monopoly The Almanac and the Royal Court Calendar coexist peacefully for ten years and are highly profitable for their authors, but from 1710, Laurent d'Houry integrates more and more topics similar to those in Colombat's work. The conflict starts in 1717 when Houry releases his Abridged Almanac that follows the format of the Calendar of the Court and, simultaneously, files a lawsuit against his competitor. A Judgement of Solomon was made: Houry was now forbidden to continue the publication of his Abridged Almanac and from counterfeiting the Court Calendar. Meanwhile, Colombat was obliged to freeze the format of his calendar and was forbidden from expanding its content. This stops any development of the calendar of the Court, leaving the way open to the Almanac.
Upon the death of Laurent d'Houry in 1725, his family was destitute. Revenues from sales of the Almanac were not sufficient to cover the expenses of printing and bookselling. In these circumstances, his widow, Elizabeth Dubois, took over the business. Their son Charles-Maurice, who had, until then been a mere proofreader of the Almanac, was trying to dismiss his mother and filed a lawsuit against her. He prepared the 1726 edition, but a ruling forbade him from publishing it in his name alone. The ruling of 11 December 1726 forbade him from disturbing the affairs of his mother and from participating directly or indirectly in the development of the Almanac. That is why Charles-Maurice is mentioned as editor of the Almanac in the edition of 1726.
In 1731, Elizabeth Dubois filed a new lawsuit against Colobat, who had expanded the Court Calendar despite the ruling in 1717 that prohibited him from doing so. Unsuccessful, she resumed the publication of the Abridged Almanac, and Colombat files a complaint in turn. She agrees to abandon the publication of the Abridged Almanac "if Colombat returns to the 1718 format." The disputes became extinct with the death of the parties.
With the privilege of the Almanac being about to expire, Charles-Maurice d'Houry tried one last time to seize it, but a royal letter on March 27, 1744 confirmed definitively André-François Le Breton as sole owner of the rights.
A family of hegemony 131 years Directorate of André Le Breton In 1728, d'Houry's widow joined hands with her grandson André-François Le Breton, who was 18 years old at the time and an orphan under the guardianship of Charles-Maurice d'Houry. André-François had inherited, according to the will of the estate of Laurent Houry, half of the rights of the Almanac, and his widow having inherited the rest.
Under his leadership, the Almanac takes a new breath and adds new sections, which sometimes does not go without difficulties. For example, in 1768, Voltaire sent him an incendiary letter:
"I say as much to Le Breton, the Royal Almanach's printer: I will not pay him a dime for the Almanac he sold me this year. He had the rudeness to say that Mr. President... Mr. advisor..., lives in the cul-de-sac to Menard, in the cul-de-sac of the White Coats in the ass -de-sac de l'Orangerie. (. . .) How can you say that president lives in an ass?"
In 1773, Le Breton moved his print shop in a wing of the former Hotel d'Alegre, at 13 rue de Hautefeuille, which he acquired from William Louis Joly de Fleury and was previously occupied by the Portuguese Ambassador.
In the late eighteenth century, the weather was bad, and so were the wheat harvests. The price of this staple food increases disproportionately. At the time, a rumour was circulating that the government had a monopoly on wheat, thus perpetuating the high cost of this staple. This rumour became official when, in his edition of 1774, Le Breton accidentally added a "Treasurer of grain on behalf of the King" in the person of Sr. Mirlavaud. The edition of the Almanac had been proofread and approved by the Chancellor, but he was still sentenced to close his shop for three months and publish a revised edition, without the line in question.
In 1777, Le Breton was again being accused of inserting information seen as treasonous. It has, according to its critics, cited "Fleuri & les Polissons de Vergès & de Vaucresson", among the prosecutors and attorneys general of the Parlement of Paris, despite these being people who had been involved in a reform of parliament made by Maupeou against the venality of Parliament desired by Louis XV, but annulled by Louis XVI. In rebuke, Le Breton was made to cancel this section on any of the Almanacs that had not yet been sold, and to replace at no cost, the litigious Almanac issues of those who so request it.
Le Breton died on October 4, 1779 and his cousin, Charles-Laurent Houry, son of Charles-Maurice d'Houry, took over the business.
French Revolution The privilege granted to the family of Houry for the Almanac was threatened in 1789 when Camille Desmoulins, in his speech at the Lantern to the Parisians, said he would cease in favour of Baldwin, another Parisian publisher. This threat was not brought into effect since ownership of the Almanac remained with Houry.
Last generation Houry Following the death of Joan Nera, widow of Laurent-Charles Houry, publication of the Almanac was taken over by Jean-François-Noël Debure, husband of their daughter, Anne-Charlotte d'Houry. Debure was from a prominent and wealthy family of Parisian booksellers, especially allied with the Didot family. He has been a printer since 1784 with the title of printer to the Duke of Orleans.
Debure took over the printing of the family of Houry for a time, but his other businesses faced hardships, and he was forced to file for bankruptcy. To keep the property inherited from her family, Anne-Charlotte d'Houry initiated separation proceedings. In November 1791, the bankruptcy was declared, and she fought the creditors to preserve her inheritance. This opposition was ultimately futile, and a ruling allowed creditors to seize her belongings, but that does not appear to have been necessary due to a following decision allowing her to recover property that creditors had not taken from her husband.
Francois-Jean-Noel Debure died in 1802 in Loiret.
Stephen Lawrence Testu worked as a clerk in the Debure family home since 1788, and had gradually won the confidence of the household. Because of the absence of Mr. Debure, Anne-Charlotte was left alone with her two sons. Despite their age difference, he was 20 years younger than her; she married Testu in July 1795. Testu highlights his knowledge in the profession to convince her to transfer the management of printing to him. She accepted in 1797 and offered him priority over the rights of the Almanac in exchange for a perpetual annuity of 800 francs, and subsequently completely abandoned the Almanac. This influx of money appears to get to Testu's head, who indulges in gambling and develops a taste for the easy life. He neglects the direction of his establishment and constantly runs out of money. He takes on many loans, which gradually ruin his business. Relations were strained with his wife because he left the marital home in September 1801, and the only ties that bind the couple were the result of the multiple lawsuits they initiated against each other.
In 1810, Testu secretly sold the rights of the Almanac to Guyot, with whom he partnered. Anne-Charlotte d'Houry opposes this sale, who saw it as theft, but lost the case in 1812. In return, she got a pension of 1200 francs, which Testu failed to pay. Indeed, a decree in 1820 declared him in debt of more than 90000 francs. In 1814, due to the large sums invested by Guyot in the case, a legal order confirmed him to be the owner of the Almanac. Testu still obtains from Guyot the repayment of his debts and a life annuity of 2400 francs.