A historic partnership that brings heritage to new audiences
With nearly 300,000 titles available, the collection is one of the largest catalogues of historical works commercially available in France.
Each copy is printed only when ordered – a mode of production that offers a selection of several hundred thousand items without the need for storage or destruction of unsold books, ensuring production matches demand.
The books are printed at Hachette Livre’s distribution site in Maurepas, where Lightning Source France technology is used to make facsimiles from digital files found in the BnF collections. Out-of-print novels, travel writing, scientific works, historical essays, local monographs and literary texts are finding their way back into the hands of readers, researchers and bibliophiles.
Several hundred thousand copies have been sold since the creation of the collection – a clear indicator of the public’s interest in works that would otherwise largely only remain accessible in heritage libraries.
Extending the collection to partner heritage libraries
After more than a decade of helping readers rediscover the historical works at the BnF, the collection is now marking a new milestone by expanding to include titles from six major heritage libraries in France that are BnF partners: the national and university library of Strasbourg, as well as municipal libraries in Bordeaux, Toulouse, Le Havre, Montpellier and Nîmes.
The extension of the print-on-demand service will provide a wide audience with access to thousands of works that could previously only be read on site at libraries or digitally on the Gallica platform. The expanded service shines a spotlight on major heritage collections while also removing barriers to vital resources for regional history, knowledge and literary creation. The first titles from these libraries will be gradually be made available beginning in September 2026 via the usual book distribution channels, both at bookshops and the main online marketplaces.
Collections that encompass French heritage in all its diversity
The partner libraries are contributing works on a vast array of topics, including:
- Bordeaux municipal libraries: the history of Bordeaux, as well as the Gironde, Guyenne and Gascogne regions, travelogues, maritime trade, navigation, and regional heritage. The collection also includes works related to great intellectuals from southwest France, such as Montaigne and Montesquieu.
- Le Havre municipal library: the history of Le Havre and its port, maritime trade, navigation, international trade, Norman heritage, geography, natural sciences, and works documenting the economic and social development of coastal areas.
- Émile Zola multimedia library in Montpellier: the history of Languedoc and the Mediterranean basin, French and European literature, regional scholarship, the humanities, sciences, and knowledge.
- Carré d’Art – Jean Bousquet library in Nîmes: the ancient and archeological heritage of Nîmes and Roman Gaul, local history, architecture, natural sciences, as well as a significant collection of literary and theatrical works.
- National and university library in Strasbourg: the history of Alsace and the Upper Rhine, Germanic culture, theology, humanism, European history, early printed books, and works documenting intellectual exchanges between the French and German worlds.
- Toulouse municipal library: the history of southern France, Occitania and the Pyrenees, Occitan literature, archaeology, Toulouse’s scholarly traditions, the Floral Games, as well as collections devoted to music and the region’s major cultural figures.
The collection will continue to grow over time.
“This new phase of development advances the Hachette-BnF collection’s mission to pair the new possibilities offered by digitization and print-on-demand with the distribution of historical written works. Opening the program to the collections of France’s main heritage libraries will help keep this written memory alive and pass it on to future generations,” says Roei Amit, Managing Director of BnF-Partenariats.
Philippe Lamotte, Executive Vice President, Operations, Digital, and Sales Development Division at Hachette Livre, adds: “I’m delighted to see the expansion of this partnership with the BnF, which is now taking root across the regions of France. Harnessing technological innovation to promote culture by providing broader access to reading is at the core of Hachette Livre’s mission. Print-on-demand will enable us to rise to the challenge of breathing new life into our regional treasures and bringing this shared literary heritage within the reach of all readers.”
Visit the Hachette-BnF website: https://www.hachettebnf.fr/