Résumé :

This article proposes to study the collections of geographical pieces published in the French domain in the 17th century by observing what the compilers do with them. The case of a collection published by Augustin Courbé in 1651, during the Fronde, and placed under the patronage of the Dupuy brothers, allows us to observe the activity of a whole network which, over a period of twenty years, built up the geographical pieces as resources before publishing them at an opportune moment – when it seemed possible to bend the monarchy’s colonial policy. Secondly, we look at the various publications of a very short piece, the Relation de la Guiane et de ce qu’on y peut faire. Depending on the collection in which it appears, its significance changes.