The des Fontaines jesuit library :
an overlook

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Sciences and Literature

Most of the scientific books from the des Fontaines collection were purchased by the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie of La Villette, Paris.

Nevertheless, the remaining documents exemplify Chantilly’s library’s open-mindedness: ground breaking books in medicine (Avicenna in Arab for example), physics and mathematics can be found in the collection.

In their times, the Jesuits did not hesitate to purchase works as polemical as Darwin’s On the Origin of Species in its French translation.

Many books in French literature from the Middle Ages to the 20th century can also be found.
This collection distinguishes itself by its numerous first editions including Voltaire, Chateaubriand, Zola, Saint-Exupéry, Claudel and Beaumarchais: sometimes even with a dedication.