The Image of France, 1795-1880, is an enumeration of the printed imagery – engravings, lithographs, photographs, etc. – which was authorized for publication in France, according to the record of legal deposit.

The resource consists of an index of this documentation as found in the listings of (a) the journal La Bibliographie de la France (1811-1880, app. 109,000 listings), (b) its predecessor Le Journal général de l’Imprimerie (1810-1811, app. 198 listings), and (c) the manuscript registers of legal deposit of prints, 1795-1811, the era when the procedure was administered by the Cabinet des Estampes of the Bibliothèque nationale/impérale (app. 2000 listings).

The resource does not contain images of prints and photographs, themselves, but only the enumeration of their titles, the date of their listing and, usually, an indication of their responsible personnel – artists, printers and distributors. In accordance with law, however, copies of all of these works would have been placed in the collections of the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, where they would be found today.

As an addendum to the legal record of the publication of imagery in France, the Image of France also provides a transcription of several of the official registers of prints and photographs which were refused authorization for publication – i.e., listings of works which censored before publication – pursuant to legislation of 1822, renewed in 1835 and 1853, and abolished in 1881.