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Liberation of Paris - resistants on car

The Liberation Collection is a comprehensive collection of over 3200 books and pamphlets in French on the subjects of the Second World War, the Occupation and the Liberation published during a period of just over two years, from August 1944 to the end of 1946.

The collection, donated by Sir Charles Chadwyck-Healey, led to an exhibition in Cambridge University Library in 2014. Its purpose is to show how the French used the medium of the book to express what had happened to them over the previous five years but the decision to collect everything published on three broad subjects within a limited period provides a unique opportunity to survey the state of book publishing and printing in France at a time when the country was just beginning its long recovery.

These pages describe the collection, explain how to use it and search it and provide access to articles and talks about the collection. We highlight key material from the collection at the links below, on our Flickr page, and on our Facebook group.

 

 

Spotlight on items from the collection

Illustrated books and humour in Cambridge University Library’s Liberation collection (1944-1946)

Purposes and Limits of Visual Humour in Early Post-War France through Cambridge UL’s Liberation collection (1944-46)

“Liberté… J’écris ton nom”: Eluard’s poem and the Cambridge UL Liberation collection

A paper on Visualization of French Book Covers from the Liberation Collection (1944-1946) at Cambridge University Library

“Sous la botte” (2): the German boot in the illustrated book covers of the Liberation collection (1944-46)

“Sous la botte” (1): the German occupation of France and Belgium in the literature of the Liberation (1944-46)

A Tragedy of Betrayal and Revenge

Songs of freedom : “Les chants de la liberté, 1789, 1830, 1848, 1870, 1944”

History in the making – thoughts on cataloguing the Liberation collection (Part 2)

History in the making – thoughts on cataloguing the Liberation collection (Part 1)

Songs of the Liberation for VE Day

Covers from the Liberation Collection

The Résistante and the Collaborationist: an odd connection in the Liberation Collection

“Former des hommes” by Jacques de Jésus: more than meets the eye?

Funding opportunity for a PhD on France and the Second World War: the Cambridge Chadwyck-Healey Liberation Collection (1944-1946)

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The Liberation of Paris, 19-29 August 1944: “Images de notre délivrance” by Georges Duhamel and Claude Lepape

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“Sombre est noir” by Amy Bakaloff and Óscar Domínguez (1945): war poetry, from anthologies to illustrated collections

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Judging books of the Liberation of France by their cover: a new feature of Cambridge University Library catalogue

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“Les alliés”: Belgian children’s literature in the Liberation collection, 1944-1946

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Recruitment and update on the Chadwyck-Healey Liberation Collection, 1944-1946

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“Holocaust Literature” in the Liberation Collection

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Un ouvrage exceptionnel, tout simplement

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Identities and identification in the Liberation Collection

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Lyon dans les chaînes, or how to illustrate suffering beautifully

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Radio broadcasting and the war

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Constantin Joffé: the fate of a prisoner-of-war

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Youth Culture at the Liberation: Résistantes and Résistants in Cardboard Cut-Outs

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Camus is outmanoeuvred

Albert Camus had spent the period from April 18 to May 7 1945 in Algeria. When he returned to his home in the rue Sébastien-Bottin, he found the manuscript of a novel about the French Resistance by André Salvet, together with a letter from the author asking Camus to supply a preface. Camus replied courteously, indicating that he felt such an introduction would not be entirely appropriate. “J’ai risqué beaucoup moins que votre héros, et ce n’est pas à moi de le présenter.” He also questioned the desirability of producing any sort of commentary on a novel which should stand alone. “Est-ce à l’écrivain que vous vous adressez? Mais, dans ce cas, il m’a toujours semblé qu’un livre, surtout lorsqu’il témoigne comme celui-là, devait se présenter seul et sans commentaires.”

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The book as a precious object

Bell, Book and Candle are symbolic objects in the term that describes an archaic form of excommunication, as well as being the title of a 1950s Broadway comedy, the book representing faith and learning. But I suggest that another term ‘precious object’ can be applied to individual copies of books which memorialize important relationships usually through inscription. Newton’s own annotated copy of his Principia in Cambridge University Library is an example of a precious object because of the intimate relation that particular copy has with the author through his annotations. But the precious object is the physical book itself not its printed text. Three examples of books that are ‘precious objects’ are in the Liberation Collection 1944-1946 in Cambridge University Library

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Infographics during the war – charting victory with cute statistics

By early 1945, the tide of the Second World War had turned. The allies were winning the war of armaments, raw materials, and battles; victory was now a question of when, rather than if.

It was within this context that Libération-Soir, the newspaper, printed a special entitled Vers la défaite totale de l’Allemagne.

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coal

Ceux du maquis and a new thesis from 1978

Thanks to the Liberation Collection, the level of modern material that we collect about French history from 1944-1946 has significantly expanded. A recent acquisition drew my attention:

Histoire de l’Occupation et de la Résistance dans la Nièvre 1940-1944 / Jean-Claude Martinet ; édition présentée par Jean Vigreux.(C210.c.7324).

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Hitler a menti - Cover

Newsflash! Hitler lied!

 

The Literature of the Liberation Collection aims to collect books that reflect the attitude of the French following the liberation of Paris: as the nation began to recover from—and come to terms with—the German occupation (and active French collaboration). Most of the books in the collection (and that we highlighted in the exhibition) are therefore about the French—what they suffered, how they can recover, and how they relate to their recent history. One book that is striking for its different subject matter is Hitler a menti : ce qu’il a dit, ce qu’il a fait / Pierre Deboeuf (Liberation.c.401).

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Hitler a menti - Cover