Under the French Ancien Régime, royal censorship was the task of censors appointed by the Chancellor to judge the editorial legitimacy of a manuscript and to authorize its publication by an approval they signed. At the same time, a privilege in the form of letters patent granted in the King's Council, most often to the bookseller, guaranteed not the content, but the property of the publication against the counterfeiters. This renewable privilege was for three years, or even without limitation for certain basic works. Brochures of up to 48 pages in-12 were the subject of a simple permission granted by the lieutenant general of police of the place.
Object of censorship
was provided by specialists in a number of areas, from the humanities to the sciences in general. They were appointed by the Chancellor. Their judgment related to the content of the proposed manuscript and not to the form. They could ask the author for some corrections.
was the first to appoint experts assigned to this task by the edict of 1629. After the Fronde, Colbert created a direction of the Bookstore, responsible for ensuring the granting of permissions and privileges now mandatory for all impressions made in France. In 1701, Abbe Bignon, in charge of the bookstore business, promulgated a regulation of publishing in France which, modified in 1723 for Paris and generalized in 1744, remained in force until the French Revolution. Every manuscript must obtain the approval of a censor to obtain the editing privilege. Some manuscripts were however edited secretly under false address. This was the case of the Philosophical Letters of Voltaire or Émile, or De l'éducation de Rousseau. But most authors wishing to avoid censorship were publishing their books abroad: London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Basel, Geneva. The regulation stipulated that books could cross the border only by certain cities and after examination. But there was no provision to suppress smuggling.
Organization of censorship
The royal censors were appointed by the Chancellor, each in his specialty. The Royal Almanac published the list every year.
As early as 1701, the plays were in turn the subject of royal censorship: read before publication by the censors under the authority of the lieutenant general of police, the pieces were authorized either as such and received approval, or with cuts or corrections, when they were not simply prohibited. Voltaire paid the price for his Mohammed, Sedaine for his Deserter ; The Barber of Seville and the Marriage of Figaro de Beaumarchais escaped only thanks to the obstinacy of Marie Antoinette.
Theatrical censors
1701-1721: Marc-René de Voyer, Marquis of Argenson
