Mercure de France

The magazine's goal was to inform elegant society about life in the court and intellectual/artistic debates; the gazette (which appeared irregularly) featured poems, anecdotes, news (marriages, gossip), theatre and art reviews, songs, and fashion reviews, and it became fashionable (and sometimes scandalous) to be mentioned in its pages.

The Mercure galant was a significant development in the history of journalism (it was the first gazette to report on the fashion world[2] and played a pivotal role in the dissemination of news about fashion, luxury goods, etiquette and court life under Louis XIV to the provinces and abroad.

The newspaper published propaganda intended to bolster Louis XIV and promote his domestic and foreign policies.

The periodical eventually became a financial success and it brought Donneau de Visé comfortable revenues.

In 1724 its title was changed to Mercure de France and it developed a semi-official character with a governmentally appointed editor (profits were invested into pensions for writers).

Jean-François de la Harpe was the editor in chief for 20 years; he also collaborated with Jacques Mallet du Pan.

It is on the pages of the May 1734 issue of the Mercure de France that the term "Baroque" makes its first attested appearance – used (in pejorative way) in an anonymous, satirical review of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie.

Vallette was closely linked to a group of writers associated with Symbolism who regularly met at the café la Mère Clarisse in Paris (rue Jacob), and which included: Jean Moréas, Ernest Raynaud, Paul Arène, Remy de Gourmont, Alfred Jarry, Albert Samain and Charles Cros.

Over the next decade, the review achieved critical success, and poets such as Stéphane Mallarmé and José-Maria de Heredia published original works in it.

Rachilde held a salon on Tuesdays, and these "mardis du Mercure" would become famous for the authors who attended.