Martial-Lapeyre Library

PRESENTATION

Industrialist Martial Lapeyre, a Napoleonic history enthusiast, built up this library which bears his name. It is now a place of study and discovery for all researchers (whether Napoleon enthusiasts or not) seeking to learn more about the First and Second French Empires.

 It was founded in 1987  and was opened to the public in 1994.

The library contains more than 7,000 titles published over the last 250 years. It includes not only works of European and American historiography, in languages such as French, English, German, Spanish, Italian and Russian, but also writings in Chinese, Japanese and other languages from further afield.

The aspects of the history of the First and Second French Empires covered include: events, politics, military history, economics, art, literature, religious life, and technology.

The Martial-Lapeyre library has an especially large collection of memoirs and accounts by contemporary eyewitnesses.

Book entries in the on-line catalogue include detailed descriptions of the work in question, and, what is more, searches in the catalogue include articles in general and specialist historical journals.