Bibliothèques protestantes et catholiques à Metz au XVIIe siècle

Protestants Books, Catholic Books in Seventeenth-Century Metz 338 inventories from the years 1645-72, including several book-sellers' inventories, illuminate book-ownership and reading patterns in a city with a large. Protestant minority. The Protestants were far more likely to own books of enough value to appear in the private inventories than were their Catholic neighbors, but the booksellers' records reveal a large, otherwise invisible body of cheap Catholic literature. The Catholic Reformation also spread the printed word, but it did not foster a devotional life based on the intensive reading of complex texts. Alongside the Bible and psalter, many Huguenots owned Crepin's martyrology, Calvin's works, and the controversial and doctrinal writings of seventeenth-century French Protestant theologians. Investigation of individuel libraries sheds light on the culture and religious formation of different members of the Protestant community, from pastors and professional men to learned artisans and military noblemen.Benedict Philip. Bibliothèques protestantes et catholiques à Metz au XVIIe siècle. In: Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations. 40ᵉ année, N. 2, 1985. pp. 343-370