Abstract
At the end of the seventeenth century and in the first half of the eighteenth century there was an explosion of periodicals in the West-European world which filled a new need: information about the state of affairs in science. In the Republic of the Seven Provinces these periodicals could prosper because of the large extent of freedom of the press; that's why they are also called Journaux de Hollande. French Huguenots, who wanted to continue their activities as publishers after the abolition of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, came to the Republic to make advantage of the favourable climate. Among the many journals that were founded in the Netherlands there was also the journal Bibliothèque Francoise ( 1723-1746 ). After a difficult period under various editors it was, in 1730, taken over by Henri Du Sauzet, a Huguenot who was to be in charge of the periodical till 1746 and who was to make it prosper.In this thesis a research of the external history of this journal is carried out with special emphasis on the period from 1730 to 1746, because for this period important records were available, which had been unknown until recently. This material mainly consisted of the letters of Henri Du Sauzet to one of his assistants, Justinus de Beyer, a magistrate from Nijmegen. These letters provide a fascinating picture of this scholarly journal and also give a glimpse behind the scenes of the periodical business. Thus Du Sauzet's policy with regard to his periodical could be deduced from these letters. This research provided two remarkable data: 1 Du Sauzet edited and took care of the journal all by himself, which was in marked contrast with most important periodicals of the day.2 It appeared that the periodical provided plenty of space for the publication of 'original contributions' such as letters to the editor or short essays, much more than other journals did.
