Un Atlantique des lumières ? D'après l'Histoire générale des voyages de l'abbé Prévost

The young Michel Wébert from Saverne arrived in Paris in 1785 to work in a bookshop. His business developed during the Revolution and his bookshop under the wooden galleries of the Palais-Royal became the meeting place for the capital's monarchists and defenders of the King. His shop, specialised in daring prints and counter-revolutionary pamphlets, was raided by the police in October 1790. He worked for Actes des Apôtres, the paper published by Gattey, in which several engravings are advertised as being sold cà Paris, chez Michel Wébert3 ; nothing however indicated that he was an engraver rather than a simple seller of prints. His shop was raided for the last time during the winter of 1794, after he had fled, and a list of his customers was seized ; through it we can see the diversity and the extent of his trade (in particular his contacts with the colonies). After his trial, in which no external complicity was proved, he was guillotined in Paris on 20th May 1794.Albertan-Coppola Sylviane. Un Atlantique des lumières ? D'après l'Histoire générale des voyages de l'abbé Prévost. In: Dix-huitième Siècle, n°33, 2001. L'Atlantique, sous la direction de Marcel Dorigny . pp. 301-316