Ephémérides du citoyen ou chronique de l’esprit National

Abstract

French economic periodical issued in three series under different names from 1766 to 1772, 1774 to 1776 and in 1788. Published first as a bimonthly by its founder and first editor, l’Abbé Baudeau, it became a monthly as from January 1767 after Baudeau’s conversion to Physiocracy by Mirabeau and Le Trosne. Its contents included contributed articles on economic and political subjects, book reviews, comments and letters to the editor, together with a chronicle of public events of interest to its readership. This provided its format from January 1769, when Du Pont de Nemours took over the editorship. Although censorship problems troubled the journal persistently (as disclosed in the Turgot–Du Pont correspondence, for this reason many issues appeared well after the ostensible month of publication) the first series was terminated by l’Abbé Terray in November 1772, presumably because it contained much vigorous criticism of his abolition of domestic free trade in grain. The first series produced therefore six issues in 1766 as a bi-monthly and 63 monthly issues from January 1767 to March 1772 inclusive. Under the title Nouvelles Ephémérides ou Bibliothèque raisonnée de l’histoire, de la morale et de la politique, it was revived by Baudeau after Turgot became Contrôleur-général in 1774, publishing 18 issues in all from January 1775 to June 1776, that is, the month after Turgot’s dismissal from the ministry. A third series, Nouvelles Ephémérides économiques published three issues from January to March 1788, again under Baudeau’s editorship, but his failing mental powers were presumably the reason why this final series ended so quickly.