BACHAUMONT

bachaumont, louis petit de (1690-1771), french litterateur, was of noble family and was brought up at the court of versailles. he passed his whole life in paris as the centre of the _salon_ of madame doublet de persan (1677-1771), where criticism of art and literature took the form of malicious gossip. a sort of register of news was kept in a journal of the _salon_, which dealt largely in scandals and contained accounts of books suppressed by the censor. bachaumont's name is commonly connected with the first volumes of this register, which was published anonymously under the title _memoires secrets pour servir a l'histoire de la republique des lettres_, but his exact share in the authorship is a matter of controversy. it was continued by pidansat de mairobert (1707-1779) and others, until it reached 36 volumes (1774-1779). it is of some value as a historical source, especially for prohibited literature. extracts were published by p. lacroix in one volume, 1859. an incomplete edition (4 vols.) was undertaken in 1830 by ravenal. see, in addition to the memoirs of the time, especially the _correspondance litteraire_ of grimm, diderot, d'alembert and others (new ed., paris, 1878, 17 vols.); ch. aubertin, _l'esprit public au xviii^e siecle_ (paris, 1872).