History

The first volume of the Année Philologique, founded in Paris by Jules Marouzeau (1878-1964), covered scholarly works published in the years 1924-1926. The idea was to continue the previous Dix Années de Bibliographie Classique by Marouzeau himself (referring to the period 1914-1924), through the regular publication of volumes that indexed scholarly works published during the previous year.

This ambitious project continued a prestigious tradition, which included valuable bibliographical tools for Greek and Latin antiquity, such as the Bibliotheca Scriptorum Classicorum by W. Engelmann and E. Preuss, the Bibliotheca Scriptorum Classicorum et Graecorum et Latinorum by R. Klussmann and the Bibliographie de l’antiquité classique by S. Lambrino. Further, the project was an expression of the widespread need to renew, in the field of classical studies, the international cooperation interrupted by the war, and thus to create an instrument shared by all.

Upon Marouzeau’s death, the direction of the Année Philologique passed to Juliette Ernst (1900-2001), who was from the beginning a key figure in the development of the project: at first, in her home in Paris, she was the only one in charge of compiling the APh, by using small handwritten cards. Under her impulse, a fortunate decentralisation process started,
which led to the creation of other editorial offices –among which, starting from 1996, the Italian Office (CIAPh). The offices built an international network that was responsible of producing the annual printedvolume and the online database.

The increasing growth of material to be reviewed led, in the mid-nineties, to a strong delay in compiling the volumes, which put the entire bibliographical endeavour at risk. These difficulties, however, were overcome with the complete computerisation of the production – and, today, fruition – of the bibliography, thanks to the AnPhil software, developed by Richard Goulet. The last volume compiled with traditional methods was the no. LXV (2001), dedicated to the memory of Juliette Ernst.

For further information on the history of the Année Philologique, see F. Montanari, L’«Année Philologique» e il «Centro Italiano» (CIAPh). L’informazione bibliografica dal XX al XXI secolo, «Eikasmós» XVII (2006), 461-472.