Panorama of Paris

by Louis-Sébastien Mercier

This work offers English-language readers an introduction to one of the forgotten masterpieces of French literature, Louis-Sebastien Mercier's 12-volume "Le Tableau de Paris" (published from 1781 to 1788), an important and original work that helped shape many kinds of French writing. The text provides a portrait of everyday life in Paris on the eve of the French revolution, describing the interactions of workers, street peddlers, prostitutes, police spies, actresses, noblemen, parish priests, servants, and criminals. Based on Helen Simpson's 1933 abridged translation, this edition includes seven newly translated chapters and an introduction by Jeremy D. Popkin. Earlier authors had described Paris's monuments and the lives of its wealthy elites, but Mercier was the first to try to capture in words the texture of its everyday life. His text, contemporary with Rousseau's "Confessions", is the first attempt to write the autobiography of a unique urban community. His writing deeply influenc