Annuaire des Établissements français dans l'Inde.

Scope and content: This series was initially known as the Annuaire statistique des Etablissements Français dans I'lnde (i.e. Statistical Yearbook of the French Establishments in lndia). It was started by Pierre-Constant Sicé, Professor of French, Geography and Archaeology at the Royal College of Pondichéry and was published by the Government Printing Press. It is not clear exactly when it began to be published. The French National Library has the volumes from 1840, whereas the Gazetteer of Pondicherry mentions the publication years as being between 1838 and 1943 (see Gazetteer, p. 1670). The Gazetteer further states that between 1850 and 1856 the periodical was published by F.E. Sicé after which it was taken over by the government under the title of Annuaire des Etablissements Français dans l'Inde (Gazetteer, p.1491). So like the Moniteur officiel and the Bulletin officiel, the Annuaire became an official publication printed on government funds and destined mainly to be distributed to the various branches of government. In 1884, the print run of the Annuaire was 300 (259 for free distribution and 41 for sale) (see Bulletin officiel 1884 p. 179) and in 1888 its subscription rate was 1 Rs (see unnumbered annexe of the order of 29th March 1888 in the Bulletin officiel). The Annuaire typically carried the following information: concordance of the Indian months with the Gregorian year and physical and meteorological data; a brief account of the history of Pondicherry; chronology of governors and other functionaries who served in French India; an overview of the organisational structure of the Ministry of Colonies; details of the administrative set-up in French India together with a list of the functionaries in all the departments and services and members of various committees; festivals and public holidays. Besides data on the administration and services, the Annuaires carried economic and commercial information including taxes and duties, information on postal and telegraph services, maritime and railway services, lighthouse service, lighterage charges. They also included information on societies and associations, periodical publications etc. Some of the volumes ended with a glossary of agricultural and other terms used in the vernacular languages. The Annuaires also contained “reliable data” of the population of the establishments since 1838 (Gazetteer p. 305) as well as census figures when census were held, such as in 1851 and then 1891 and every ten years thereafter. Once in several years, the Annuaires carried a compilation of selected laws, rules and regulations of public importance. (Gazetteer, p. 897-898) The library of the French Institute of Pondicherry has the volumes for the years 1883, 1905, 1918 to 1923, 1925, 1927, 1930, 1932 and 1942-1943.