Impolite Learning: Conduct and Community in the Republic of Letters, 1680-1750

416 Pages·1995·37.294 MB·English

by  Ms. Anne Goldgar

Impolite Learning

IMPOLITE L E A R N I N G
Conduct and Community in the Republic of Letters
z 680 75 o
-1
ANNE GOLDGAR
Yale University Press
New Haven G London
Copyright O 1995 by Anne Goldgar
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced,
in whole or in pan, in any form
(beyond that copying permitted by
Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law
and except by reviewers for the public press),
without written permission from the publishers.
Designed by Gillian Malpass
Set in Linotron Bembo by Best-set Typesetter Ltd., Hong Kong
Printed and bound at the Bath Press, Avon, Great Britain
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Goldgar, Anne.
Impolite learning : conduct and community in the Republic of
Letters, 168&1750/Anne Goldgar.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-300-05359-2
1. Europe-Intellectual life17th century. 2. Europe-
Intellectual life-18th century. 3. Learning and scholarship-
Europe--History-17th century. 4. Learning and scholarship-
Europe-History-18th century. 5. Enlightenment. I. Title.
CB203.G64 1995
94-48269
001 ' .1109409032-dc20
CIP
A catalogue record for this book is available from
The British Library
Frontispiece: The libraires of Fran~ois1 'Honork and Jaques Desbordes
in Amsterdam. From J.P. Ricard, Les loix et les coutumes
du change des principales places de /'Europe
(Amsterdam, 171 5)
For Professor].P. Watson

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations xiv
Textual Note
Prologue
1 Philosophical Transactions: The Republic of Letters as a
Community of Obligation
Honor Me with your Commissions
Pouring Each Other's Wine
Gentlemen and Scholars
The Little Sewices of a Voluntary Cadet
The Go-between
Literary Agents and the Professionalization of Letters
Projit and Gratitude
Agents, Scholars, and the Despotic Tyranny of Booksellers
2 Writing to the Papers: Learned Journals and the Republic
in Transition
The End of the World
Talking to Themselves
Authors, Libraires, and the Structures of Power
Behind the Scenes at the Bibliothtque germanique
The Box under the Arsenal Clock
The Journal as Person
The Journal as Personality
viii CONTENTS
3 How to Become an Homme illustre: The Formation of
Hierarchies in the Republic of Letters
Coste and Locke
Locke "aspers'd and blacken'd"
Des Maizeaux and Bayle
Burning the Temple of Ephesus
Tyrants over Texts
The Primacy of Reputation
Learned Lives, Learned Icons
Becoming an Homme illustre
Beyond the Pale
Knowing One's Place
ReJected Glory
The Preservation of Community
4 Of Two Minds: Religion, Politics, and the Competition of
Values
As a Man and as a Savant
Chevalier's Cabinet and the Intrusion of Opinion
of
Prejudice and the Nature Scholars
Exiles in Action
Internationalisms
The Jualing Huguenots
The Reftrge of Politeness
5 Talking about Nothing: Manners Old and New
A Terrible Itch
The Arch Pirouette and the Ordure of the Universities
Trapped in the Temple of Taste
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Je ne promets rien; il y a beaucoup de S~avans,q ui ne sont pas
traitables, & qui ne sont pas portis i communiquer la moindre
chose; mais je n'aime pas ces humeurs farouches.
Gisbert Cuper
J'avoue . . . que de la maniere dont la Litterature est minke
aujourd'huy par je ne sais combien de Gens peu dignes de s'en
miler en degoute presque absolum' & feroit quasi regretter de
savoir lire: mais c'est un Inconvenient qui a toi?jours it6 & sera
toi?jours, & dans la Republique des Lettres comme dans la
Republique Civile, il y aura toujours des fous & des hrieux pour
faire rire & pour tourmenter les autres.
Prosper Marchand
J'avouerai sans peine que leurs moeurs etoient grossikres, leurs
travaux quelquefois rninutieux; que leur esprit noyi dans une
Crudition pidantesque cornmentoit ce qu'il falloit sentir, et
compiloit au-lieu de raisonner. On Ctoit ass& Cclairi pour sentir
l'utiliti de leurs recherches, mais l'on n'itoit ni assis raisonable ni
assis poli, pour connoitre qu'elles auroient pii itre guidies par le
flambeau de la Philosophie.
Edward Gibbon