Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

L OPOLD VICTOR DELISLE (1826– )

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 964 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

L OPOLD See also:

VICTOR See also:DELISLE (1826– )  , See also:French bibliophile and historian, was See also:born at Valognes (See also:Manche) on the 24th of See also:October 1826 . At the Ecole See also:des Chartes, where his career was remarkably brilliant, his valedictory thesis was an Essai sur See also:les revenus publics en Normandie au XIIe siecle (1849), and it was to the See also:history of his native See also:province that he devoted his See also:early See also:works . Of these the Etudes sur la See also:condition de la dasse agricole et Petal de l'See also:agriculture en Normandie au moyen See also:age (1851), condensing an enormous See also:mass of facts See also:drawn from the See also:local archives, was reprinted in 1905 without See also:change, and remains authoritative . In See also:November 1852 he entered the See also:manuscript See also:department of the Bibliotheque Imperiale (Nationale), of which in 1874 he became the See also:official See also:head in See also:succession to Jules Taschereau . He was already known as the compiler of several invaluable inventories of its See also:manuscripts . When the French See also:government decided on See also:printing a See also:general See also:catalogue of the printed books in the Bibliotheque, See also:Delisle became responsible for this See also:great undertaking and took an active See also:part in the See also:work; in the See also:preface to the first See also:volume (1897) he gave a detailed history of the library and its management . Under his See also:administration the library was enriched with numerous gifts, legacies and acquisitions, notably by the See also:purchase of a part of the See also:Ashburnham See also:MSS . Delisle proved that the bulk of the MSS. of French origin which See also:Lord Ashburnham had bought in See also:France, particularly those bought from the See also:book-seller See also:Barrois, had been purloined by See also:Count Libri, inspector-general of See also:libraries under See also:King See also:Louis Philippe, and he procured the repurchase of the MSS. for the library, afterwards preparing a catalogue of them entitled Catalogue des MSS. des fonds Libri et Barrois (1888), the preface of which gives the history of the whole transaction . He was elected member of the See also:Academic des See also:Inscriptions et Belles Lettres in 1859, and became a member of the See also:staff of the Recueil des historiens de la France, collaborating in vols. xxii . (1865) and See also:xxiii . (1876) and editing vol. See also:xxiv . (1904), which is valuable for the social history of France in the 13th See also:century .

The See also:

jubilee of his fifty years' association with the Bibliotheque Nationale was celebrated on the 8th of See also:March 1903 . After his retirement (See also:February 21, 1905) he brought out in two volumes a catalogue and description of the printed books and MSS. in the Musee See also:Conde at See also:Chantilly, See also:left by the duc d'See also:Aumale to the French See also:Institute . He produced many valuable official reports and catalogues and a great number of See also:memoirs and mono-graphs on points connected with See also:palaeography and the study of history and See also:archaeology (see his Melanges de paleographie et debibliographie (188o) with See also:atlas; and his articles in the See also:Album paleographique (1887) . Of his purely See also:historical works See also:special mention must be made of his Memoire sur les actes d'See also:Innocent See also:Ill (1857), and his Memoire sur les operations financieres des See also:Tern pliers (1889), a collection of documents of the highest value for economic history . The See also:thirty-second volume of the Histoire litteraire de la France, which was partly his work, is ;:if great importance for the study of 13th and 14th century Latin See also:chronicles . Delisle was undoubtedly the most learned See also:man in See also:Europe with regard to the See also:middle ages; and his knowledge of diplomatics, palaeography and printing was profound . His output of work, in catalogues, &c., was enormous, and his services to the Bibliotheque Nationale in this respect cannot be overestimated . His wife, a daughter of See also:Eugene See also:Burnouf, was for many years his collaborator . The Bibliographie des travaux de L.Delisle (1902), by See also:Paul Lacombe, may be consulted for a full See also:list of his numerous works .

End of Article: L OPOLD VICTOR DELISLE (1826– )
[back]
JOSEPH NICOLAS DELISLE (1688-1768)
[next]
DELITZSCH

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.