Marginal annotations to printed books are a little studied aspect of the history of books and the transmission of ideas, providing a commentary on published texts which is conventionally anonymous, critical and economical. While many annotations are no more than individual comments on or disagreements with what an author has written, in a significant number of cases marginal notes have been found to be authorial, often adding an important new dimension to the original text.

This examination concentrates on the beginnings of Neoclassicism and explores the philosophical and scientific underpinnings of the Enlightenment, in which Pajou played an important part.

Includes its Report, 1896-19 .