For the castle’s scientific team, all the staff and outside researchers, the research library holds about 8,000 works, which are listed in the collective catalogue of the French national museums and can be consulted online:
The collections include both historical and contemporary works.
The area covered is very broad, due to the long period of activity of the castle and the variety of the collections.
The historical works cover the periods from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, with a particular emphasis on the period of the French Empire and a section devoted to local history and the town of Fontainebleau, including guides and catalogues of the castle. There are also publications on the other royal and imperial residences.
The area of art history concerned is Western art, from the 10th to the 19th century and, in a rather limited way, Asian art, in connection with the Chinese museum.
All fields of creation are represented in the castle’s collections; the holdings cover architecture, sculpture, painting, drawing, printmaking and the decorative arts.
The library’s collections include monographs, catalogues of collections, museums, exhibitions and sales, and more than 100 French and foreign periodical titles.
The library’s collections grow by about 150 books per year and more than 200 journal issues. The CRES subscribes to 52 periodical titles.
