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Joseph Joubert

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I

Name: The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I
Author: Joseph Joubert

Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.

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The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume IYEAR 1788. · Entry 152

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YEAR 1788. · Entry 152

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 303

ANNÉE 1788.

[Notes de carnet]

— 25 décembre 1787 dimanche. Jour de Sainte-Cathérine. Promenade à 10 h. du soir.

— 30 janvier, mercredi gras, 1788. Mariage d’Edmeton.

— 5 février, mardi gras. Réveil du matin. Souper. Soirée.

— 7 février. Arrivée de Fontanes. Promenade à Beaudemond, 19 mars, jour de Saint-Joseph; vin blanc. — A Val profonde, avril : chanson dans la vigne. Promenade à Baujard précédemment. Agneaux bêlants.

— 24 mars, lendemain de Pâques. Boulettes à Saint-Martin.

— 29 mars 1788. — Delicias domini... C’est un berger amoureux d’un jeune esclave.

— 7 mai, mercredi. Départ de ma cousine.

— 8, 9, 10, promenades et jeux du soir.

— 22, première fête Dieu.

— 29, Octave.

— 22, l’abbé.

— Mercredi 2 juillet, retour. Températ. d’été. Sculpture vue sur la porte d’un paysan. Réflexions.

— Jeudi 3, Promenade le matin. Ecritur. celle-ci, après-midi.

— 14. Passage de Mme R... au coche.

— 2 octob. 1788. — Rêverie du haut des colines à cinq heures du soir. Couché à 3 h. un 1/4 du matin.

S2.Source editor’s annotationIl n’y a, pour ainsi dire, rien de l’année 1788, si ce n’est un abondant travail relatif aux voyages de Cook.

S3.Source editor’s annotationCes petites notes sont, je l’avoue, peu intelligibles, et d’un petit intérêt.

S4.Source editor’s annotationCeci encore, sans date précise : « Payé par ma cousine, pommade 7 sols. Chocolat... » Ce 7 mai, Joubert lit le Camoëns de Duperron de Castera. Il en tire des extraits et des notes. — Un feuillet sans date contient ceci : « Tant une grande imagination est rare, même parmi celles qui sont déréglées. Du Camoëns. »

S5.Source editor’s annotationEst-ce l’abbé Moreau? Car Joubert était en relations déjà avec la famille Moreau.

S6.Source editor’s annotationVillevallier, à deux petites lieues au sud de Villeneuve, sur la route de Paris à Lyon.

S1.Source editor’s annotationMme R. : est-ce Mme Restif?

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1788.

p. 304

YEAR 1788.

[Notebook notes]

— December 25, 1787, Sunday. Saint Catherine’s Day. Walk at 10 in the evening.

— January 30, the Wednesday before Shrove Tuesday, 1788. Edmeton’s wedding.

— February 5, Shrove Tuesday. Morning awakening. Supper. Evening.

— February 7. Arrival of Fontanes. Walk to Beaudemond, March 19, Saint Joseph’s Day; white wine. — At Val profonde, April: song in the vineyard. Walk to Baujard beforehand. Bleating lambs.

— March 24, the day after Easter. Boulettes at Saint-Martin.

— March 29, 1788. — Delicias domini... It is a shepherd in love with a young slave.

— May 7, Wednesday. Departure of my cousin.

— 8, 9, 10, walks and evening games.

— 22, first feast of Corpus Christi.

— 29, Octave.

— 22, the abbé.

— Wednesday, July 2, return. Summer temperat. Sculpture seen on a peasant’s door. Reflections.

— Thursday 3. Walk in the morning. Writ. this, afternoon.

— 14. Passage of Mme R... on the coach.

— October 2, 1788. — Reverie from the hilltops at five in the evening. To bed at a quarter past 3 in the morning.

S2.Source editor’s annotationThere is, so to speak, nothing from the year 1788 except an extensive work concerning Cook’s voyages.

S3.Source editor’s annotationThese little notes are, I admit, scarcely intelligible and of little interest.

T1.The notebook block begins within the printed 1788 section but gives December 25, 1787, Sunday, Saint Catherine’s Day. The date, weekday, and feast do not agree. All are retained as printed; no alternative date is silently substituted. The following brief dates remain parts of this single notebook block, rather than dates invented for separate entries.

T2.Boulettes is retained in French. The ordinary word can mean small balls or dumplings, but this terse reference does not establish what took place at Saint-Martin.

T3.Delicias domini is Latin, literally the master’s delights, an expression that can refer to a beloved favorite. It remains beside Joubert’s own explanation. The text does not give the young slave’s age.

S4.Source editor’s annotationThis, too, without a precise date: “Paid by my cousin, pomade 7 sols. Chocolate...” On this May 7, Joubert is reading Duperron de Castera’s Camoëns. He takes extracts and notes from it. — An undated leaf contains this: “So rare is a great imagination, even among those that are unbridled. From Camoëns.”

S5.Source editor’s annotationIs this the Abbé Moreau? For Joubert was already acquainted with the Moreau family.

T4.Temperat. and Writ. preserve the abbreviated character of Températ. and Ecritur. The latter remains a fragment; its precise relation to this notebook is not supplied.

S6.Source editor’s annotationVillevallier, a little less than two leagues south of Villeneuve, on the road from Paris to Lyon.

S1.Source editor’s annotationMme R.: is this Mme Restif?

T5.Coche may mean a coach or a passenger boat. Coach is provisional here; the note does not establish the mode of transport.

About This Reading Edition

Joubert’s notebooks return to the work of thinking and writing, the demands of friendship, and questions of faith, beauty and conduct. This edition pairs the French with a new English translation, preserving the order of the chosen source and the unfinished character of its fragments. Dates and source references allow readers to follow a thought through time or return to its printed context.

Historical Text and Translation

The French text follows André Beaunier’s 1938 edition of Les Carnets de Joseph Joubert, published by Gallimard from Joubert’s autograph manuscripts. Volume I presents the entries on printed pages 32–475. French and English are aligned paragraph by paragraph, retaining the source order, printed dates and page references so readers can return to the facsimile.

About Diotimos Editions

Diotimos Editions prepared this new English translation directly from the French, preserving Joubert’s distinctions, recurring images, ambiguities and unfinished thoughts. Translator’s notes clarify wording, references and uncertain readings: Essential keeps notes that help explain a passage, while All includes technical detail. Annotations from the 1938 source edition remain distinct from the new translator’s notes.

Rights

The linked facsimile records identify the French source as public domain in the United States. The new English translation and editorial notes are © 2026 Diotimos, with source annotations and new editorial contributions credited separately. This edition pairs the complete French notebooks with an independent English translation, preserving the distinction between Joubert’s text and its accompanying notes.