It enjoyed a wide audience in the various French-speaking countries of Europe during the 19th century.
The initial form of the journal was the Bibliothèque Britannique, which began publication in 1796, and focused on British science, techniques, literature and agriculture.
The Bibliothèque universelle went through many changes, which did not prevent its encyclopedic formula to become gradually obsolete.
[3] The Archives des sciences physiques et naturelles were edited until the first World War by Genevan men of science such as Auguste De la Rive, François-Jules Pictet-De la Rive (1809–1872), Casimir Pyrame de Candolle (1836–1918) and Edouard Sarasin (1843–1917).
Renamed Archives des sciences in 1947, this periodical maintained its three issues a year until 2004.