La commission des primes aux ouvrages dramatiques (1851-1856) : un échec instructif

In October 1851, Léon Faucher, the French Minister of the Interior, suggested the implementation of a system of awards for the best stage works. A committee was set up a year later and, from 1852 to 1854, awarded prizes. However, from 1855, this committee, formed of writers, refused to award any prizes for plays, despite the insistence of the authorities. This paper endeavours to explain that failure using the committee’s unpublished archives. This episode, which is completely unknown, but which involved figures as important as Sainte-Beuve, Théophile Gautier, Mérimée and Scribe, illustrates the way that the establishment of an official stage repertory in 19th-century France came up against the same conditions that affected drama production.