Between the early 1760s and the French Revolution the Mémoires secrets ('dit de Bachaumont') chronicled the cultural world of ancien régime Paris. This new study contests the erroneous attribution to Bachaumont, examines the Mémoires secrets as a text in its own right, and offers a ground-breaking reappraisal of this unique periodical in view of the latest approaches from cultural history, the history of the press, art history and literary criticism.