French nineteenth-century literature is an area of strength in Davis Library. An important figure in French Romanticism is Charles Nodier, 1789-1844. Nodier was a librarian in Besançon and later at the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in Paris. He is generally conceded to be one of the tone-setting founders of the French Romantic Movement and to have significantly influenced Hugo, Sainte-Beuve, Vigny, Lamartine and Musdet. He very early on pointed to the importance of Shakespeare and wrote a wertheresque novel.

Our holdings were increased in 1984 when we received a collection of some 40 volumes of editions and secondary studies of Nodier from Mrs. Margaret D. Oliver of Washington, Pennsylvania. The collection was assembled by A. Richard Oliver during a stay in Paris to research his monograph, Charles Nodier: Pilot of Romanticism.

Since that time other volumes other volumes have been purchased on the French fund and others to enrich the holdings. A comparison of the holdings of other libraries via online searching showed that we hold about twice as many entries as the Library of Congress does. This collection is very rich and supportive of original research and bibliographic work at a high level.