François-Vincent Toussaint

François-Vincent Toussaint (1715-1772) was a French writer most famous for "Les Mœurs" (The Manners). The book was published in 1748 andimmediately prosecuted and burned by the French court of justice.

He contributed to the first volumes of the "Encyclopédie" of Jean le Rond d'Alembert and Denis Diderot. With the latter and Marc-Antoine Eidous he had worked before on the French translation of Dr. Robert James "A Medicinal Dictionary", London, 1743-1745, fol. 3 vols to "Dictionnaire universel de medicine", Paris, 1746-1748, fol. 6 vols.

Besides writing he was a novelist, proof reader, project maker, a publisher of magazines and a translator. He translated Tobias Smollett's "The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle" and composed thetable of contents for a 1749 edition of "L'Esprit des Lois" ("The Spirit of the Laws") by Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu.

He was a trained lawyer, yet always involved in the booktrade. Hehad luck when "Les Mœurs" came out, because he was acquainted with the minister of the Navy, Maurepas. The book wasa scandal (and a huge success, reprinted 13 times in the very firstyear) for several reasons, including a character depicted in it which was believed to depict the oversanctimonious queen Marie Leszczynska.

It was only in 1757 that Toussaint got into trouble over hisbook. This was the period when
Robert Damiens attempted to assassinate Louis XV of France.On the other hand, Claude Adrien Helvétius legally published hisbook "De l'Esprit" in 1758. It was then that the enemies of the Enlightenment saw their chance to destroy the hated Encyclopédists. This was the moment when "Les Mœurs" came to beregarded as a book that could lead to regicide. Also Toussaint illegallysold 400 exemplaires of an illegal reprint of "De l'Esprit".

He left for Brussels, and in 1764 moved to Berlin. He had becomeexternal member of the Prussian Academy of Science in 1751,but now he was appointed proper member. He published an"Éclaircissement" (Explanation) of his book "Les Mœurs" in 1763, in which he showed that every one was mistaken and the book was not at all offensive. Besides that he worked as a teacher in Frederick II of Prussias newly founded military school.

When he died in 1772, he was quite poor, leaving behind a wife and several children.

As for "Les Mœurs", even if it were his biggest success, he felt sorry for having written it almost all his life. Parts of the book were re-used in several articles of the "Encyclopédie".

Literature

A short summary is to be found in
*"The Encyclopedists as individuals: a biographical dictionary of the authors of the Encyclopédie" by Frank A. Kafker and Serena L. Kafker. Published 1988 in the "Studies of Voltaire and the Eighteenth century". ISBN 0-7294-0368-8

It is basically an excerpt of a more extended discussion, theunpublished thesis of
*"Margaret Elinor Adams: François Vincent Toussaint: Life and Works." Dissertation, Boston University Graduate School 1966.

She also corrects lots of flaws and errors in the other biggerresearch on Toussaint by
*"Toussaint, François-Vincent: Anecdotes curieuses de la cour de France sous la régne de Louis XV. Texte original publié pour la première fois avec une notice et des annotations par Paul Fould." Paris: Plon 1905.

External links

*For a bibliography of "Les Mœurs" see http://www.encore.at/toussaint/lesmoeurs.html
*For an unpublished letter see http://www.encore.at/toussaint
*For his speeches at the Prussian Academy see http://www.bbaw.de/bibliothek/digital/index.html
*A summary in German and a picture of a titlepage of "Les Mœurs" to be found at http://ub-dok.uni-trier.de/argens/pic/pers/Toussaint.php