Almanach des Muses

The aim of the Almanach des Muses was to go beyond what previous almanacs had attempted by presenting to its readership a selection of recent poetry, with critical notes and information about the literary scene.

Appearing annually, the Almanach des Muses published a number of lesser-known writers such as Parny, Pierre Légier, Bertin, Roucher, Colardeau or Berquin, Legouvé, Bonnard, Arnault, well-known writers such as Boufflers, Delille, Dorat, de Fontanes, La Harpe, and also the work of extremely eminent figures such as Chamfort, Beaumarchais and Baculard d'Arnaud, above all Voltaire whose writings appeared 200 times between 1765 and 1819.

To be published in the Almanach des Muses, like Millevoye and Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, was to have "arrived" on the literary scene.

Mercier, Rivarol and Champcenetz never hesitated to attack it, dubbing it L'Almanach des Buses ("Almanac of Buzzards").

[1] The decline in reputation was slow but steady, and it ceased publication in 1833, superseded by the literary magazine as we know it today.