On the Paratexts of Early French Maritime Dictionaries (1670s–1770s): A Diachronic Study

Abstract

This article arises from my work on aspects of a voyage narrative published in 1773 by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (occasioning for me the pleasure of renewed contact with Margaret Sankey). It treats the topic, little examined by modern scholarship, of early French maritime dictionaries. Beginning with their emergence in the 1670s, I identify over the next hundred years six nautical dictionaries, of which two are bilingual. Each opens with one or more authorial paratexts—principally some form of preface—which constitute the main object of study here. They exhibit over this period considerable sociological and ideological changes. The subgenre itself latterly also shows signs of change.