Arlette Farge's Le Goût de l'archive is widely regarded as a historiographical classic. While combing through two-hundred-year-old judicial records from the Archives of the Bastille, historian Farge was struck by the extraordinarily intimate portrayal they provided of the lives of the poor in pre-Revolutionary France, especially women. She was seduced by the sensuality of old manuscripts and by the revelatory power of voices otherwise lost. In The Allure of the Archives, she conveys the exhilaration of uncovering hidden secrets and the thrill of venturing into new dimensions of the past.

Originally published as Le Goût de l'archive. Editions du Seuil, 1989. Collection La Librairie du XXIe siècle sous la direction de Maurice Olender.

Foreword / by Natalie Zemon Davis -- Traces by the thousands -- On the front door -- Paths and presences -- She has just arrived -- Gathering and handling the documents -- Captured speech -- The inventory room is sepulchral -- Writing -- Notes -- Translator's Notes.