'The collection of Marat's bibliographer' at the British Library

'TELL me what you do and I shall tell you who you are.' We are reminded of this saying when considering the personality of Francois Chevremont, an enthusiastic collector, a scholar and the author of two works on Jean-Paul Marat. From 1845 onwards throughout fifty years of patient research, Chevremont assembled the most important collection of documents relating to the 'Friend of the People'. His works are highly regarded and yet we know almost nothing about this man, who was born in 1824 and died in 1907, who lived in Paris in the Avenue de Clichy, before moving to Lizy-sur-Ourcq in the department of Seine-et-Marne. His destiny is, therefore, especially connected with that of his work and his collection. It is with the fate of the latter that we shall be concerned here.